Hans Poelzig

Hans Poelzig

Hans Poelzig Stage designs 1923-1927

On display from January 28 to March 3, 2005 in the Aedes Extension Pavillon in the Hackesche Höfe will be an exhibition of virtually unknown original stage designs by the great Expressionist German architect Hans Poelzig.

These treasures from the holdings of the Poelzig legacy are presented now to the Berlin public for the time. Poelzig - who is familiar in Berlin mainly for his Haus des Rundfunks in Masurenallee - nurtured a lifelong passion for the performing arts. His fascination with the theater, opera and cinema found expression in countless designs for theater and cinema buildings, but also in stage designs.

Unfortunately, only a very few such projects came to fruition, among them the Große Schauspielhaus, the Babylon and Kapitol movie houses in Berlin, and the Deli Cinema in Breslau/Wroclaw. Among the stage designs, it was principally the collabora-tions with Max Reinhardt that were executed, among them his "Summer Night’s Dream” and his "King Lear.” All of Poelzig’s stage designs, which invariably betray the architect’s unmistakable handwriting, impress through their pronounced spatiality and Expressionistic vehemence, which often approach the realms of the mystical.

On display at AedesBerlin are works in pastel and charcoal for "Summer Night’s Dream,” "King Lear,” "Don Giovanni," "Gilles und Jeanne" and "Hamlet.”

Project management Aedes: Isolde Nagel. For further information and images please contact www.aedes-arc.de