Juryfreie
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The Juryfreie Movement at the Munich Glaspalast

Muenchenkunst

One of the exhibition rooms at the Glaspalast in Munich where the young artists of the Juryfreie displayed their work.

(dma) - In 1929 Louis Christian Hess joined the group of Munich-based painters known as "Juryfreie" (Without Jury). He soon became one of the movement's most active members - taking part in exhibitions at the Glaspalast in Prinzregenstrasse and organising a wide range of events: cultural meetings, parties, concerts aimed at raising support for the group's activities. The German art critic Hans Eckstein has written about the artistic activity and the intellectual climate of the 1920's and 30's that formed the backdrop to the Juryfreie movement. Eckstein had met Hess in Munich in those years. In a passage from his essay for the Rediscovery Exhibition catalogue (Palermo 1974) the German critic writes :
"The 20's for young artists in Munich were by no means as rosy as was generally described in accounts of the times. The city, although owning a rich artistic tradition, was not particularly open towards avant-garde ideas, to new forms of expression whether in painting, sculpture or architecture.

Munich 1929 - Artists belonging to the Juryfreie at a
carnival party. Louis Christian Hess is drinking beer from a bottle.

The established, long-standing artistic groups were not keen to grant exhibition space to new young talent. Nor could the new wave expect much help from municipal or state arts bodies. So a small but enthusiastic band of young artists joined together in the movement they named "Juryfreie" with a founding charter based on mutual friendship and firm opposition to the entrenched power of the artistic establishment. Without doubt they saw themselves as revolutionaries; and they were. At the start of the 1930's anyone interested in meeting these new young artists and getting to know their work could go to the exhibition rooms the "Juryfreien" had set up on the corner of Prinzregenstrasse opposite the Prinz Carl Palace. Here visitors could see not only paintings by Juryfreie members but also work by artists which established galleries (both state-owned and private) still refused to show. Abstract and surrealist artists like Albers, Arp, Baumeister, Brancusi, Max Ernst, Mondrian, Picasso and Schwitters to name just a few were exhibited for the first time in Munich thanks to the Juryfreie. The group also featured work by modern architects whose designs would otherwise have been ignored. The movement also organised concerts of contemporary music featuring the work of composers like Karl Amadeus Hartmann and Milhaud among others.

A carnival poster by Hess

This poster was designed by Christian Hess for the Juryfreie's carnival party in 1933. The poster, of which we can see a detail in this tiny colour reproduction, is printed in its entirety in a black and white reproduction on page 499 of "Die Zwanziger Jahre in Munchen" - a huge 768-page catalogue published by the Munchener Stadt Museum (LIPP-Graphilsche Betriebe, Munchen 1979). Two years before, from 3 February-6 March 1977, the final stage of the travelling exhibition celebrating the rediscovery of Hess' work was held at the Kunstverein in Munich, thus completing the journey which began in Palermo at the end of 1974.

















 

 Sales of paintings at the exhibitions did not even cover expenses so the group organised carnival parties as a way of raising funds. The Juryfreie parties soon became famous in a city of inveterate partygoers. But the fun soon came to an end with the arrival of Hitler and his brownshirted national socialists. They would decide what was art and what wasn't. The banning of the Juryfreie movement was part of a broader cultural attack aimed at destroying bolshevik cultural organisations. Juryfreie members could now only paint, sculpt and make architectural designs in hiding. If I have described the situation in which young artists in Munich found themselves around 1930 and given an outline of the Juryfreie's activities, it is because it was at this time and in this situation that the painter Christian Hess was living in the Bavarian capital. I first saw his paintings at a Juryfreie exhibition. It was at one of the group's parties that I first met Hess. He was around 35 with sharp features and a pleasant, intelligent expression. He was not very tall, slim and seemed to possess a typically Bavarian temperament - but the almost impertinent openess clearly concealed a deep sensitivity. I remember one exhibition on Prinzregenstrasse I was looking at some paintings by Joseph Scharl (similar to Van Gogh) but I was far more struck by the quiet serene canvasses by Christian Hess which had been hung alongside. Of all the paintings which I viewed during that period in Munich those by Hess are without doubt the ones of which I maintain the clearest memory."

A Hess exhibition which caused a sensation

Hess at the time of the Juryfreie

Another eyewitness account of the Juryfreie movement was given in February 1977 by Prof. Günter Grassmann (1900-1993) during the conclusive stage of the travelling exhibition of the Rediscovery held at the Munich Kunstverein.
"I met Hess between 1928 and 1933 when we were both members of Juryfreie - which if I remember correctly was founded in 1912. In 1927 it was an association of young artists united by the common desire to break free from the rigid and severe traditions of the Munich art world. Christian Hess, along with Joseph Scharl, was one of the leading personalities among the group. Hess was attracted by the work of Max Beckmann - then a highly controversial artist. The Juryfreie had some huge exhibition rooms opposite the Haus der Kunst. This impressive exhibition space was largely financed by organising artistic parties at carnival time. All the Juryfreie members took part in the preparations including Hess. The parties were held in the same rooms where Juryfreie members and invited artists displayed their work in collective exhibitions. I remember one exhibition of around 30-40 paintings by Christian Hess which at the time caused a huge sensation. It was said Hess had painted them in just a few weeks, which was in line with his impulsive way of working. The Juryfreie movement which had sought to oppose the cultural policies of the national socialists was dissolved by the authorities in 1933. After that time I did not see Hess again."

The Glaspalast fire and the banning of the Juryfreie

The Glaspalast after the 1931 fire

The mysterious blaze on 6 June 1931 which destroyed the Glaspalast and all the paintings of a major exhibition was the first disturbing signal aimed at stamping out every idea of freedom of expression and independence among the young artists of the Juryfreie. For all those who had lost their work in the fire an extraordinary exhibition was held at the Deutsches Museum and in the two years following the disaster the Juryfreie movement sought to regroup and reorganise itself, setting up travelling collective exhibitions and promoting cultural events. But immediately after the carnival celebrations of 1933 the movement was banned by the Nazi regime which then issued a decree dissolving the group because of its bolshevist tendencies.

Art in Ashes

A photograph of the skeleton of the Glaspalast which Hess sent as a postcard to his sister Emma living in Sicily. The elegaic message reads: "Here lie my works: all burnt."

The atmosphere of concern among the Juryfreie members just before the group was formally dissolved may be seen in this letter written in Munich on 13 March 1934 by the sculptor Karl Röhrig to Christian Hess who was by then in voluntary exile on the Sicilian coast near Messina.

Internal dissension
within the Juryfreie

It opens: "Dear Hess! At last I can send you a few lines to let you know how things are going for us members of the Juryfreie. We safely received your letter of 17 January 1934 and we are all pleased you are well where you are."
Later: "On the 22nd of this month we will have the general assembly. You know it will be an explosive occasion. Please write as soon as possible to let the assembly know your opinion."
The long letter continues with details of certain political and financial disagreements among group members, with the majority urging the sharing out of the movement's funds - around 3,000 marks - given the probability that the Juryfreie would be banned by the authorities and forced to dissolve.
 




The monumental Haus der Kunst
in Munich which Hitler had long
dreamed of. Built in 1937
on the ruins of the Glaspalast.