Artists from Leipzig: Brave voices break the art monopoly!

Artists from Leipzig: Brave voices break the art monopoly!

The current focus on promoting artists in the German art scene is particularly strong in Leipzig. On January 24, 2025, the focus is on five artists who have come together since 2017 into a so -called kind of band to attract attention and to achieve fair prices in a art world dominated by men. This creative group consists of Miriam Vlaming, Claudia Rößger, Isabel Dutoit, Verena Landau and Katrin Hichel. Curator and art historian Wolfgang Merkel is planning a Germany -wide tour with the group of artists and has already set concrete stations.

The tour should lead through several German cities, including to Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Oberhausen, Pirmasens, Neunkirchen/Saar, Völklingen, Speyer, Mannheim and Reutlingen, the last stop will not be sought until 2028. The planning of the tour extends over the next two years, with the aim of probably only realizing the full art show of the Leipzig artists in 2027. It should be emphasized that Miriam Vlaming had a solo show in the Kunsthalle Mannheim in 2009 and an important exhibition in Israel.

Review of historical exhibitions

This advance for more visibility of artists is reminiscent of the challenges that women in the art world have always faced. An outstanding example is the Saxon-Thuringian industrial and commercial exhibition (Stiga) from 1897 in Leipzig. This event was largely devoted to industry and the trade, but also offered a platform for contemporary art. For the 125th anniversary of the Stiga, the Museum of Fine Arts (MDBK) is planning an exhibition that focuses on the artists exhibited at the time.

As part of this memorial event, the training situation of the artists and their role at the Stiga are discussed. At the Stiga, only 34 artists from a total of 362 exhibiting artists were represented, which underlines the challenges with which women in art are confronted across industries. The selection commission only consisted of men, which makes the structural discrimination against artists clear at the time.

• Some of the artists who took part in the Stiga are:
• Marianne Fiedler-First woman with a solo exhibition in the Kupferstich-Stich-Kabinett Dresden 1894.
• Emilie Mediz-Pelican-Active in the Dachau artist colony.
• Philippine Wolff-Arndt-initiated the association of the Leipzig artists and was a co-founder of the Royal Academy for Graphics and Book Industry.
• Ella Hagen- known for plant and flower studies.
• Bertha Schrader - Chair of the Dresden artist.

As part of the anniversary exhibition, an intervention by artists from the University of Graphics and Book Art is also shown, which deals with the structural discrimination against female and non-binary artists. These developments illustrate the approach to not only to initiate a look back at the history of the artists, but also current discourses about equality and visibility in the art world.