Born in Tilsit, East Prussia, in 1930, painter, musician and actor Armin Mueller-Stahl is an exceptional figure in 21st-century art thanks to the complexity of his artistic expressions. The artist's biography plays a prominent role in his various artistic activities: encounters in the German Democratic Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America have shaped the artist's life. Armin Mueller-Stahl's artistic oeuvre, which has grown in this way, comprises numerous paintings, drawings, lithographs, etchings and screen prints.
The Museum Schloss Moyland is dedicating a solo exhibition to the artist, in cooperation with the Kunsthalle Emden and the Kunst- und Kulturstiftung Opelvillen Rüsselsheim, in recognition of his multifaceted oeuvre. The aim of the exhibition is to present the artist's personality and work on the basis of a number of selected themes and groups of works.
In addition to the artist's often highly political works, the exhibition will also feature numerous impressions of his cinematic and acting work.
A catalogue with around 180 illustrations is available for €28 in the Moylandshop.
Curated by Antje-Britt Mählmann
Exhibition
The exhibition offers insights into the biography of Armin Mueller-Stahl. A timeline conveys the events of his life, historical occurrences, important exhibitions, and the artist's books and filmography. In the entrance to the exhibition, there are self-portraits alongside photographic portraits taken by fellow artists. A short introductory text provides an overview of Mueller-Stahl's artistic development and his preferred artistic techniques.
The presentation covers a wide range of media, from paintings and masterfully executed print cycles to new works on paper and the most recent portraits of Jewish friends and companions. Selected film clips in dialogue with newly painted images of Mueller-Stahl's film and theatre roles provide insight into his eventful filmography. In addition, video interviews with the artist provide extensive explanations of the artistic intentions behind the works and the personalities depicted. A film room allows visitors to immerse themselves in Mueller-Stahl's biography and his development as an actor and painter in the context of contemporary history.
GDR / FRG / USA
A central theme in the artist's biographical and historical explorations is the former East German regime and its impact on everyday life. Mueller-Stahl's relationship with the GDR was ambivalent. For example, he starred in films that portrayed the recent construction of the Berlin Wall as justified, and began his acting career in 1960 with the four-part series ‘Flucht aus der Hölle’ (Escape from Hell), in which he flees from West Germany to East Germany. In ‘... und deine Liebe auch’ (And Your Love Too) from 1962, he played the commander of an East German combat group who uses his weapon to prevent his brother from fleeing to the West at the Berlin Wall. Mueller-Stahl was voted the most popular actor in the GDR five times in a row. After supporting a petition against the expatriation of the dissident singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann in 1976, he was no longer able to work as an actor in the official GDR system. In 1980, he was granted permission to leave the country. From then on, Mueller-Stahl appeared in West German film productions. In 1984, he moved with his family to Schleswig-Holstein. With little knowledge of English, Mueller-Stahl decided in the late 1980s to make another new start in the USA, where the film industry welcomed him. Great successes in Hollywood productions continue to shape the artist's life and perception to this day. The exhibition places Mueller-Stahl's artworks (and film clips), which deal with the circumstances in the GDR, the FRG and the USA, in an exciting dialogue.
Night on Earth – Day on Earth
Printmaking techniques such as lithography have become increasingly important to the artist since the early 2000s. These individual works and picture cycles are often directly related to Mueller-Stahl's work as an actor. For example, the lithography cycle Night on Earth – Day on Earth, created in 2004, deals with the non-linear narrative structure and characters of Jim Jarmusch's 1991 film Night on Earth, in which the actor played New York taxi driver Helmut Grokenberger, a former clown from East Germany. The episodic film takes place simultaneously in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. In each city, a taxi driver encounters one or more passengers. The plot focuses on the encounter and the resulting dialogues. In this way, it presents different ways of life and attitudes. The unconnected individual fates in different parts of the world thus become humorous and poetic case studies of human existence.
The artist and the tensions of the present day
Mueller-Stahl's large-format paintings contrast with his small-scale print works, which are often narrative in nature and arranged as series. Variations are also a fundamental motif in these canvases, often linked to themes from classical music or jazz, which fascinate the talented musician just as much as his literary, cinematic and artistic predecessors. Biographical and historical tension is also present in these works. For example, there are paintings whose titles refer to Obama's Chicago or Donald Trump. Current global events, contemporary political movements, wars and, in particular, the situation of people forced to flee or migrate also move the artist.
Jewish friends and companions
Flight and migration also shape a large part of Jewish family biographies into the 21st century. A more recent cycle of works in the exhibition consists of Mueller-Stahl's portraits of famous Jewish personalities in world history and the present day. Among those portrayed are a particularly large number of cultural figures: artists, writers, musicians, philosophers, directors and publishers, but also religious leaders, politicians and scientists. The selection of portraits includes the philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin, the photographer Ilse Bing, the composer George Gershwin, the art historian Ernst Gombrich, the literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki, the writer Franz Kafka and the composer Fanny Hensel. All of the personalities portrayed by the artist have shaped the world in their own way. The places where those depicted worked and lived range from Germany and Austria to Israel and the USA.
New images from film and theatre roles
Armin Mueller-Stahl is currently working on a series of paintings and drawings on paper depicting his various film roles. Using a mixed technique of liquid and impasto paints applied to paper, the 95-year-old artist is revisiting memories of his acting career. With their partly gestural colour gradients, these new paintings often have an immediate emotional and atmospheric impact.
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Exhibition catalogue
Armin Mueller-Stahl. Nacht und Tag auf der Erde
Edited by Antje-Britt Mählmann, with texts by Eske Nannen, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Antje-Britt Mählmann, Beate Kemfert and Kristin Schrader.
Hardcover, German, 136 pages, over 160 colour illustrations.
Price in the Moylandshop: €28