Report 3 - UK significance of the collection – Leicester's German Expressionist Collection

Leicester's Collection

Assessment of the significance of the collection as a key asset in the understanding of German Expressionism within the United Kingdom.

Points covered

The value of the collection to the UK public should be evaluated in relationship to the other major German Expressionist collections in the UK at National Galleries of Scotland and Tate.
Other significant holdings of German Expressionist work in public or private hands in the UK should be outlined.
We wish to establish that this collection is pivotal to British audiences understanding of and access to German Expressionist art.

How to Cite: Christian Weikop, 'Assessment of the significance of the collection as a key asset in the understanding of German Expressionism within the United Kingdom', Leicester's German Expressionist Collection, Leicester Museums Website. (http://germanexpressionismleicester.org/leicesters-collection/academic-reports/academic-reports-on-the-collection/report-3-uk-significance-of-the-collection/)

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Author

Dr Christian Weikop

Dr Christian Weikop is a specialist in modern and contemporary German art and has published extensively in this field. He is a Chancellor’s Fellow in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, and has given guest lectures, chaired and organised international symposia, and published essays on German art with many of the most important art and academic institutions in the world, including MoMA, LACMA, Harvard University, Humboldt University in Berlin, the Courtauld Institute, Royal Academy London, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and Tate Modern.

Much of Dr Weikop’s research has focused on pre-1945 German art, especially Expressionism and Dada, but increasingly he is working in a post-1945 field with respect to the German artists in ARTIST ROOMS as part of a research partnership with Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland. For this partnership, he co-edited a special issue of Tate Papers on August Sander following the symposium he organised with NGS in 2011, and more recently he has directed and contributed to an in-depth Tate ‘In Focus’ project on Anselm Kiefer. He has also written an extended exhibition catalogue essay for the major 2014 Kiefer retrospective at the Royal Academy, and he interviewed the legendary artist at his studio complex in Croissy on the outskirts of Paris in October 2013, as an envoy of the RA. Six months later he interviewed that other superstar of the post-45 German art scene, Georg Baselitz, also for the RA. In addition, he is preparing an RA exhibition entitled Expressionism: The Cult of Youth with his co-curators Dr Jill Lloyd, Dr Dorothy (Dot) Price and Dr Adrian Locke, and he has collaborated with Dr Lloyd and Dr Price on a project for the New Walk Museum on their important Expressionist collection. Part of this project relates to Dr Weikop’s on-going research interest in the British reception of modern German art, which he first explored for his edited volume, New Perspectives on Brücke Expressionism: Bridging History (2011).

Film of Christian Weikop discussing Leicester's German Expressionist Collection.