Carl Maria Kiesel and Expressionist art at the mpk

Today, the mpk owns around 600 Expressionist prints and drawings. We owe this treasure to the first post-war director of the mpk, Carl Maria Kiesel (1903–1971). Kiesel, who was an artist himself, headed the then ‘Landesgewerbeanstalt Kaiserslautern’ (Kaiserslautern State Trade Institute) between 1947 and 1965. One of his great achievements was the purchase of outstanding Expressionist prints.

Kiesel’s purchasing policy was firmly aimed at rehabilitating artists who had been persecuted by the National Socialists. Between 1933 and 1945, a relentless campaign was waged against modern art, with countless so-called ‘degenerate’ works of art being removed from museums, sold or destroyed. The mpk itself lost more than 80 works. Works such as Hans Purrmann’s watercolour ‘Erziehung’ (Education), Paul Klee’s “Seiltänzer” (Tightrope Walker) and Käthe Kollwitz’s ‘Besuch im Krankenhaus’ (Visit to the Hospital) survived the ‘purge’.