FRANKFURT, GERMANY.- The Staedelsches Kunstinstitut museum in Frankfurt/Main presents the exhibition Kirchner, Heckel, Schmidt-Rottluff, Nolde. The Brücke Artists in the Collection Hagemann, through January 23, 2005. The collection of the industrialist Carl Hagemann is one of the most important collections of German Expressionism and represents an invaluable part of the Städel’s collection of Classical Modern Art. These works were given to the Städel as long-term loans or donations by Hagemann’s family, which meant that after 1945 the museum came into immediate contact with the major collections of 20th-century art, and losses incurred during the NS-regime could partially be made good.

At the centre of the collection is the oeuvre of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, whom Carl Hagemann met in 1915 and with whom he stayed in close touch as his collector, sponsor and friend until his own death. Kirchner is represented in the collection with numerous paintings and an extensive body of prints and drawings. Furthermore, there are works by artists of his circle, particularly the Brücke-artists such as Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel, but also by August Macke.