Gunter Böhmer Foundation

The Gunter Böhmer Foundation Calw is a legally dependent foundation under the city administration Calw and was founded in January 1993. The chairmanship of the board of trustees of the "Gunter Böhmer Foundation" Calw" has the mayor of the large district town Calw inside. Of the four other members, two are appointed by the donor group and two by the city. Calw designated as voting members. Currently, the donor group is represented by Daniel Egli or David Rühle and Helmut John. The city Calw In addition to the mayor Florian Kling, the committee will be represented by City Councillor Irmhild Mannsfeld, Museum Director Timo Heiler, and Department Head Isabel Götz.

genesis

In 1977, an event took place at the Hermann Hesse Museum in the city. Calw The exhibition "Hesse - His Figure, Environment, and Poetry in Pictures by Gunter Böhmer" took place. Following this exhibition, the artist donated a work to the city. Calw A selection of his drawings. Gunter Böhmer and his wife Ursula continually expanded this initial donation in the following years; soon, the Böhmer collection of the writer Hans Walter was also added. Finally, in 1993, the "Gunter Böhmer Foundation" was established by Gunter Böhmer's widow. Calw"erected, after works by the artist had already been part of the permanent exhibition of the "Gallery of the City" since 1987 Calw"were visible."

After the sale of the "Casa Camuzzi" in Montagnola (Ticino), where Gunter and Ursula Böhmer had lived and worked for decades, the city Calw Rooms are available for the safe storage of Böhmer's graphic estate.

After the death of Ursula Böhmer (née Bächler) in 1995, it was possible to preserve her unique collection of works in Calw to stay together - not least thanks to the generous cooperation of the heirs living in Switzerland: Hanni Rühle (née Bächler), Dr. Arnold Bächler and Marietta Egli (née Bächler).

The close friendship with Gunter and Ursula Böhmer and the conception of a self-contained "Gunter Böhmer Archive" Calw"This has prompted the married couple Dr. Ulrike and Dr. Ansgar Walk to donate the majority of their extensive Gunter Böhmer collection to the city Calw to donate and thus, above all, to significantly expand the archive's holdings of books illustrated by GB.

Archive

The "Gunter Böhmer Archive" Calw"Unites all the artist's works owned by the city. With over 20000 works, this is the most comprehensive collection of Böhmer's drawings, who understood drawing as "an elemental impulse of human nature" and declared: "If drawing is more than graphic articulation, if the draftsman means more than can be said with lines, then I am a draftsman and nothing more. Concentration, diary, confession, play, experiment."

In particular, the 559 drawing and sketchbooks, often referred to by GB as "diaries," offer deep insights into Böhmer's world of thought and form a core part of the CalwThe GB archive. In addition to the drawings, watercolors and oil paintings, there is a collection of prints and the almost complete book art oeuvre in around 150 illustrated books and over 150 book covers and dust jackets designed by GB.

Objectives

The archive is currently being systematically processed – from meaningful classification and data collection to conservation measures.

The aim of this archival work is not only to preserve and maintain Gunter Böhmer's works – its primary purpose is to facilitate access to his complete oeuvre, or even to make it accessible in the first place. Exhibitions in the "City Gallery" Calw"Maintaining contact with experts and lending works to other institutions, as well as enabling scientific studies, expressly serve the goal of highlighting the importance of this great individualist for the art - especially for the art of drawing - of the 20th century more strongly than has been the case so far."

A selection of the works can be found here: https://bawue.museum-digital.d...