In addition to the artist's work and creativity, the exhibition will present her networks and artistic environment. For the first time ever, the artistic oeuvre of the photographer Eva Wagner-Zimmermann (1928–2015) will be presented, a close friend and long-time companion of Evelyn Richter. Like Richter and Ursula Arnold, she studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig (HGB). After leaving the HGB in 1954 and moving to West Germany, Eva Wagner married the physicist Wolfhart Zimmermann in 1957. She often accompanied her husband on his trips abroad. Whenever possible, she photographed everyday life on the street – in Mexico, Paris and New York. The circle of friends is completed by the Berlin-based sculptor Christa Sammler (*1932).
The exhibition is divided into two sections in terms of content and space. On the third floor, works by the four friends Ursula Arnold, Evelyn Richter, Christa Sammler and Eva Wagner-Zimmermann are presented in three rooms. Their different life journeys are explored and put in context – also in order to approach the question of how women of their generation were able to become active as artists.
A second part of the exhibition in the basement focuses on Evelyn Richter as a photobook artist. The photobook offered Richter the ideal basis to present her picture concept. The book as a self-contained form enabled her to define a stringently composed series and to develop a narrative picture structure. Her completed book on Paul Dessau and the non-fiction book Entwicklungswunder Mensch will be presented in the form of layouts, proofs and portrait photographs. In addition, an unrealized book project on the subject of "Women in the GDR" will be on display for the first time., both from 1959, which have thus far received little attention. Unrealized book projects on the topics of "Women in the GDR" and "Library Buildings in the GDR" are on display.
The exhibition catalog is a collaborative effort and was produced in very close cooperation between the Evelyn Richter Archive, the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, the MdbK, Evelyn Richter's family, represented by Peter Richter, and Spector Verlag.It is available in a German and an English edition. The volume with 212 pages, numerous illustrations and texts by Linda Conze, Florian Ebner, Philipp Freytag, Sandra Starke, Jeannette Stoschek and Jan Wenzel is available for € 42 in the museum store MZIN and in bookstores.
The exhibition is a cooperation with the Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf and the Evelyn Richter Archive of the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung at the MdbK.It is sponsored by the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung together with the Sparkasse Leipzig and the BMW Group.
