Remembering Paul at Manifold Books, Amsterdam

Manifold Books #24
Remembering Paul
Paul Hoecker Research Group
with works by Paul Hoecker
and Philipp Gufler
21/09/'24-26/10/'24

Opening
21/09/'24, 4-6pm
location: MAP

We would like to invite you to the opening of Remembering Paul by the Paul Hoecker Research Group (art historians Nicholas Maniu and Christina Spachtholz, architect Stefan Gruhne and artist Philipp Gufler) with works by Paul Hoecker and Philipp Gufler.

Throughout his life, the Munich based artist and teacher Paul Hoecker (1854-1910) has been an inspiration to artists of various generations. A founding member of the Munich Secession and a true innovator, during his professorship at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts he brought his students in contact with new movements in painting, such as Impressionism. In 1898 however, a scandal forced him to resign from this position, as he allegedly used a male sex worker as a model for his depiction of the Madonna in the painting Ave Maria. However, the true underlying reason was likely the revelation of his own homosexuality. Although he continued to be supported by his students, following his death in 1910, his work was largely forgotten. Remembering Paul is not only an ode to the artist and his work, but it also makes space for queer histories and intergenerational grieving in a wider sense.

Remembering Paul showcases letters, sketches and photographs on loan from the grassroots archive Forum Queeres Archiv München (FQAM); two prints by Philipp Gufler after a portrait by Paul Hoecker of Nino Cesarini in Capri; as well as a small interior painting by the artist and a slide show comprising all of his paintings known so far. Many of Paul Hoecker's works were lost over time, but throughout this projection, these otherwise vanished pieces find representation within an exhibition, offering them a new life and audience. Consisting of members of the FQAM, the Paul Hoecker Research Group has been tracing back the individual paintings forming his oeuvre, spanning from Dutch genre paintings to religious moral paintings, landscapes, Pierrot figures, and, after his dismissal from the academy, also more homoerotic portraits. After having been almost entirely forgotten for over a century, this show stresses the urgency to celebrate his work and legacy.

Manifold Books
Kraijenhoffstraat 34
1018RL Amsterdam

Open
Fri + Sat 1 - 5 p.m. 
and by appointment

Mourning across time – An interview with Philipp Gufler

In light of Manifold Books exhibition series The Sphinx’s Riddle, Philipp Gufler, alongside the Paul Hoecker Research Group, orchestrated an archival exhibition centering the largely forgotten figure of Paul Hoecker, a 19th-century German painter and professor, who, after a scandal related to his sexuality, was essentially exiled from art history. Sara Giannini sat down with Philipp Gufler to discuss the significance of Paul Hoecker’s legacy and the archival methodologies and strategies the research group employs in their ongoing work of queer, transgenerational remembering.

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Photos: Lazimg or Lazoo