Archive Newsletter No.5

December 2018

In addition to the permanent exhibition and the annual raffle of artworks from 1825 onwards, the 'Jahresgaben' (German for annual gifts) was among the achievements that helped to shape Kunstverein München.
As a material object that functioned as an incentive to recruit new members, the Kunstverein published annual print editions in addition to raffle sheets. These were automatically distributed to all Kunstverein members once a year.
Similar to the raffle mechanism, the distribution of 'Jahresgaben' also goes back to foreign role models. [1] Following the example of the Zürcher Künstlergesellschaft in Zurich about whose annual gifts the Kunst-Blatt [2] reported in 1824, the Kunstverein München also introduced its 'Jahresgaben'. [3]
The idea of graphic arts as an association gift goes back to a suggestion by Carl Wilhelm von Heideck, a former member of Kunstverein München. The basis for this was not only the idea of binding the members more closely to the association through a gift, but also the idea of supporting the community's architects, engravers, and lithographers. In the beginning, only works by artists who belonged to the association were accepted for the annual gifts. The copper engraver or lithographer responsible for the reproduction also had to be a member of the association. The 'Jahresgabe' of 1825 represented the drawing of a horse stable, which the initiator Heideck had made available. The print was lithographed by Friedrich Hohe. [4]

The concept of annual gifts was introduced concurrently with the growing interest in art of a middle-class group of buyers. Christoph Behnke notes that the ownership of art in the private sphere – unlike that of art that had representative functions within the framework of courtly life – had to be made accessible to demand in the first place. The attempt to bring art into the living rooms of the citizens forced artists to deliver smaller formats and made prints more attractive due to the possibilities of reproduction and price advantages. [5]
According to Behnke, bourgeois society, on the other hand, had an uneasy relationship to the market economy. Membership offered them the chance to become, on one hand, a selfless patron of the Kunstverein, while on the other hand, they received a material counter value, realized through annual gifts and lottery winnings. [6]
The German art associations have undoubtedly been an important driving force for the technical reproduction of works of art and the development of this sector. Already in the same year, when the invention of the daguerreotype was made public (1839), Kunstverein München presented the new medium.
In response to Walter Benjamin [7], however, Walter Grasskamp states that the advances in printing technology have by no means led to an increase in the quality of the artistic value (or the aura) of the originals. Rather, he sees in the annual gifts of the art associations a 'typical discrepancy of the 19th century between technical progress and aesthetic inertia' [8] .

From the middle of the 19th century onwards, the relatively varied motifs of the early 'Jahresgaben' were replaced by trivial genre representations. This is an indication that the taste of the public had become decisive.[9] In the 1880s and 90s, prints also lost prestige; instead, printed reproductions of paintings were now considered attractive.
But as late as 1905, Kunstverein München won 700 new shareholders with a portfolio of drawings by Franz von Lenbach as an annual gift. [10] This shows, on the one hand, the importance of the 'Jahresgaben' for attracting new members and, on the other hand, the conservative style of these association gifts into the 20th century.
After the Second World War and after regaining its license, Kunstverein München went on to show Munich artists through holiday exhibitions. Starting in the 1970s, prints from the Graphiken aus der Bildleihstelle (an organization that rents artworks) were exhibited in December, and were for sale. However, the distribution of prints as gifts to all members was not resumed. In 1975, the Jahresgaben exhibition of Kunstverein München was finally established, which still exists in its basic form today.

This year, Kunstverein München invited more than 80 Munich-based artists to exhibit their work, with a special scenography by Ivo Rick in the 1. OG. Additionally, videos by Munich artists are being screened daily in the Kino. On occasion of the Jahresgaben exhibition, Radio 80000 is broadcasting a radio program, in collaboration with 24 international radio stations, from 10am until 10pm from the Foyer. Although Kunstverein München originally sold all of the artworks it exhibited, today, Jahresgaben is the only moment when it sells original artworks. While the exhibition is open to the public, only members can purchase the works. The exhibition will be open until Sunday, 16 December.

Text: Theresa Bauernfeind
Research: Theresa Bauernfeind
Translation and Editing: Theresa Bauernfeind, Post Brothers and Christina Maria Ruederer