The artistic life's work of the painter FRITZ KELLER (1915-1994)December 03, 2024 until March 09, 2025
The painter Fritz Keller (1915 - 1994) belongs to the generation whose lives and artistic development were shaped by the Second World War and imprisonment. His artistic training and his personal radius of experience were initially severely restricted due to National Socialist ideology. A visit to the “Degenerate Art” exhibition in Munich in 1937 became a revival experience for him. Here he encountered Expressionist artworks for the first time, especially those of the “Brücke” and “Blauer Reiter” artists' groups. The defamatory intentions of this exhibition had the opposite effect on Fritz Keller. He was enthusiastic about this art and this was to shape him for the rest of his life as an artist. During his time as a prisoner of war in England, he came into contact with other modernist works by Picasso, Matisse and Braque through magazines and newspapers.
In the 1950s, Keller's clear orientation towards the Expressionism of previous generations in connection with the Formalism debate led to him being sidelined from public view. For many years he earned his living as a teacher and had hardly any exhibitions or sales. From the mid-1970s onwards, exhibition opportunities improved. The first solo presentations followed, for example at the Pablo Neruda Club Karl-Marx-Stadt and the Galerie oben. After reunification, he only had a few years under the new circumstances until his death in 1994.
Over the decades, Keller developed a gripping and powerful style of painting, characterized by the brilliance of his colors and the reduction of his forms. He mostly drew his motifs from his direct experience of nature. It is the striking elements of the landscape - trees, houses, fields and meadows - that underpin his works. Reflections and distortions on water surfaces suit his creative ideas. Figurative compositions or portraits can be found in his work as well as numerous depictions of animals or completely abstract pictorial inventions, which often have a musical reference.
The exhibition presents the unwavering loner from Glauchau in an extensive retrospective.Works from all creative phases are presented, predominantly oil paintings, gouaches and watercolors, supplemented by drawings, prints and sketchbooks, some of which have never been shown publicly before. Most of the exhibits come from the collection of the Neue Sächsische Galerie, which has around 200 works by the artist. Loans from the artist's estate and from private collections will also be included.
always Tuesdays 5 pm Public guided tour
Accompanying program
Sunday, December 8, 2 p.m.Art in the family: Let it shineOn the trail of Fritz Keller's black contours - we cut and glue luminous pictures.
Sunday, December 29 11 a.m.Curator's tour Alexander Stoll in conversation with Ursula Keller
Sunday, January 26 from 3 p.m.Art hut festivalAn afternoon for the whole family with music, art and hands-on activities with coffee and cake.
Tuesday, February 4, 7 p.m.The difficult yearsDifficulties and opportunities for independent artistic development in the 50s to 80syears in the GDR - in conversation with Ursula Keller and the historian Gunnar Decker.
Sunday, February 9, 11 a.m.Guided tour by curator Alexander Stoll
Sunday, February 9, 2 p.m.Art in the family: Blue trees, red cloudsExpressive painting
Museum educational offers
Bison, pelican and antelope(preschool and elementary school)
Black lines and bright colors(grades 5 - 12)
On the initiative of the art historian Werner Ballarin, committed citizens founded what was probably the first art association in what was then the GDR on January 24, 1990. Both in its naming and in its basic intentions, the new association saw itself in the tradition of the first Chemnitz art association - the Chemnitz Art Association, which was founded in 1860 and became an important cultural institution in the up-and-coming industrial city around the turn of the century. Under the aegis of the exhibition director Friedrich Schreiber-Weigand, the focus was primarily on modern art developments. The first exhibitions with works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff introduced the new direction of Expressionism. The Kunsthütte's extensive purchasing activities during these years also laid the foundation for the city of Chemnitz's later art collections.
In 1996, the Neue Chemnitzer Kunsthütte e.V. took over the sponsorship of the municipal art collection Neue Sächsische Galerie, which has been run in close partnership with the association since the fall of the Berlin Wall, but as an independent museum for the city of Chemnitz. Since then, the association has coordinated all museum and organizational matters of this unique institution in Saxony in a fiduciary capacity and ensures the constant growth and updating of the collection through purchases and the acquisition of donations.
The Neue Sächsische Galerie (NSG) is a museum for contemporary art and activity space of the Neue Chemnitzer Kunsthütte art association. It owes its existence to the committed advocacy of Chemnitz citizens during the reunification period. The local Stasi headquarters for state citizen surveillance became a place for free thought and creation - the Neue Sächsische Galerie. In the 1970s and 1980s the city produced a vibrant art scene. At that time, the potential for provocation, but also the value of intellectual self-determination, was experienced anew by artists and viewers alike. The gallery still feels committed to this idea today. Its core activities relate to art events in the wider area of Saxony, but also to the exchange with international contemporary art positions. She particularly focuses on artistic achievements that are aesthetically and intellectually striking and thus generate friction and conflict. In doing so, she takes up developments in classic art genres such as new media.
With the founding of the NSG, a collection of art from Saxony after 1945 was created. The starting point was the inventory of the Karl-Marx-Stadt District Art Center. On this basis, we strive to close important gaps through donations and targeted purchases and to continue documenting the development of art in the Saxon cultural area after 1990. Almost 12,000 works have been collected to date. They represent essential artistic development lines in Saxony with extraordinary works. In addition to works of fine art, the collection includes extensive holdings of applied art and industrial design from the GDR period as well as poster art. Due to a lack of purchasing funds, the works found their way into the collection almost exclusively through donations, transfers and sponsorship. The gallery would like to thank the artists for their trust and solidarity with the idea of this unique collection. NCK e.V. was able to make some purchases thanks to the collection among members. Since the NSG moved to the TIETZ in 2004, works from the collection have been presented in irregular sequence in exhibition modules such as “drawn”, “painted”, “designed for everyday life”, “photographed”, contemporary historical backgrounds and artistic production conditions are described, materials , tools and working methods of the artists are presented. The art collection of the Neue Sächsische Galerie will soon be made permanently and completely digitally accessible online.
catalogues and other publications
of the current exhibition every Tuesday, 5 p.m.
Guided tour of the current exhibitions (admission: €4, reduced €2, no tour fee) Further tours by arrangement (costs: entry plus 30 euros tour fee) People up to 18 years of age, trainees, students at Chemnitz University of Technology and members of German art associations (AdKV) have free entry
ask for tour in english: +49 371 3676680
You can find our group offers here.
Every month we invite you to a Sunday art walk in the gallery. Children and adults encounter the current exhibitions in a playful way, get to know artists personally and can also become artistically active together. You can find the next dates in our calendar.
Drawing Printing Bookbinding
The skills of drawing, printing and bookbinding can be acquired in challenging workshops, primarily for adults, for example • Trying out wet and dry drawing techniques • Making your own tools such as bourdon tubes • Trying out unconventional printing techniques, e.g. Lego printing • Experimental embossing on a printing press • Producing block stitching and other adhesive-free bindings • Creating paper and designing with natural and recycled materials • Building and obtaining small graphic folders and boxes Registration: info@nsg-chemnitz.de or 0371 3676680 You can find the next dates in our calendar.
Studio for original graphics for all age groups (registration via the gallery) Experience, experience and learn artistic printmaking.
The DRUCKSTOCK is a living workshop in which artists work in a variety of ways to create new graphics. Letterpress, gravure and stone printing are on the agenda here. Anyone who would like to take a look behind the scenes of the professionals or experience this working atmosphere in a sensual and active way is cordially invited to the following offers: • Technical workshop tours that explain what, how and why something is done during printing • Demonstrations of the various printing techniques, where the art historical references and developments are explained • Art education workshops in which all printing processes can be creatively tested, depending on the time frame, desired technology and group size The costs for the offers in the printing workshop depend on the group size and the amount of materials used. Registration: info@nsg-chemnitz.de or 0371 3676680
Supporting association of the Neue Sächsische Galerie
On January 24, 1990, committed citizens founded the art association "Neue Chemnitzer Kunsthütte e.V." on the initiative of art historian Dr. Werner Ballarin - probably the first association of its kind in the former GDR. Both in its name and in its fundamental intentions, the new association saw itself in the tradition of the first Chemnitz art association - the "Chemnitzer Kunsthütte", which had already been founded in 1860 and advanced to become an important cultural institution in the up-and-coming industrial city around the turn of the century. Under the aegis of exhibition director Friedrich Schreiber-Weigand, the focus was primarily on modern art developments. The first exhibitions with works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff introduced the public to the new direction of Expressionism.The extensive purchasing activities of the Kunsthütte in these years also laid the foundations for the later art collections of the city of Chemnitz.Like its predecessor, the Neue Chemnitzer Kunsthütte aims to actively contribute to the promotion of contemporary art in Saxony. Through exhibitions, art talks, lectures, symposia and other events, the association aims to provide a broad platform for the discussion of contemporary art.
In 1996, the association took over the sponsorship of the municipal art collection Neue Sächsische Galerie, which until then had been run in close partnership with the association, but as an independent museum of the city of Chemnitz. Since then, the association has coordinated all museum and organizational matters of this unique institution in Saxony on a fiduciary basis.
In 2021, the Kunstverein was awarded the Saxon Museum Prize for its "mediation approaches - both traditional and innovative - for contemporary art as well as the preservation and treatment of so-called 'Eastern Modernism'" in the Neue Sächsische Galerie.