15 April to 24 August 2015
Monika Bartholomé – Museum for Drawing

Monika Bartholomé has gained repute for her drawings, not least also for the works she completed recently for the hymn and prayerbook of the German-speaking Catholic dioceses. Less well known is her extensive archive on drawing, which consists of postcards, publications, newspaper articles, films and original drawings, and which is now being introduced to the public for the first time as “Museum for Drawing” at Kolumba. Monika Bartholomé has assembled this collection over many years. In doing so, she not only places her own art in a larger context, she also opens up a “musée imaginaire”, a cabinet of curiosities full of allusions and cross references, multimedial, interdisciplinary, independent, subjective, playful, poetic and informative.

The Museum for Drawing is an artistic project and a nomadic institution that comes to nest at a certain location where it attains a certain order or “exhibition”. Its temporary character becomes apparent, among other things, in the exhibition architecture, which consists of portable panels, tables, and stools made of simple plywood. The furnishings, designed by the artist herself, have the effect of a connecting element creating a unit that supports the idea of the collection, allotting it space in which it can be grasped physically and intellectually. The museum operates largely with reproductions, defining the notion of drawing in a broader sense than traditional art history does with its focus on the autonomous work. It seeks an anthropological explanation for drawing, bringing together exhibits that range from cliff drawings to book illuminations or tattoos. As a visual archive and as “a mobile space for thought” (MB), it combines art with research and confronts traditional notions of order and values with an open, versatile system of references.

For this first presentation at Kolumba, the Museum for Drawing is also integrating pieces from Kolumba’s own collection. Among these, in addition to children’s books and works by Oskar Schlemmer and Franz-Wilhelm Seiwert, are also Monika Bartholomé’s drawings for the “Gotteslob (hymn and prayerbook)”, which have recently entered the Kolumba collection as a gift from the Association of German Dioceses. Their first-time-ever presentation provides the occasion for this solo exhibition within the framework of the current annual exhibition “playing by heart”. This hymn and prayerbook, common to all German-speaking Catholic dioceses (with the exception of Switzerland), was completely reworked over a ten-year period with respect to its content and design by a working group led by Friedhelm Hofmann, Bishop of Würzburg, and subsequently introduced to the public at the end of 2013. Numbering six million copies in print today, it is certainly a bestseller. Among the work’s almost bibliophile features are the drawings comprehensively displayed here, which contribute to making the book a source of inspiration even beyond the words and hymns.


To accompany the exhibition there will be a workbook on the drawings in the “Gotteslob” hymn and prayerbook, which contains articles by Friedhelm Hofmann and Stefan Kraus.
In addition, as the first publication of the Museum for Drawing, an artist’s booklet on Monika Bartholomé will feature a conversation between Monika Bartholomé and Barbara von Flüe.


Events

Friday, 29 Mai 2015, 6 p.m.
drawing and building
Monika Bartholomé in a discussion with Peter Zumthor, architect
(normal admission fee, limited number of participants)

Monday, 8 June 2015, 6 p.m.
Drawing from a prehistorical point of view. Is there a connection to graffiti today?
Monika Bartholomé in a discussion with Tilman Lenssen-Erz, researcher of prehistoric cliff drawings in Africa and Jörg Neubig, architect und city planner
(normal admission fee, limited number of participants)

Monday, 17 August 2015, 6 p.m.
Why people prick themselves: Tatooing as a drawing means of self-assurance?
Monika Bartholomé in a discussion with Tobias Lobstädt, educator and author
(normal admission fee, limited number of participants)

Saturday, 22 August 2015, 3 p.m.
"I think myself into existence" – The KUNSTHAUS KAT 18
A tour with Monika Bartholomé, Jutta Pöstges, artistic director and artists of the studio collective
Meeting place: KUNSTHAUS KAT 18, Kartäuserwall 18, 50678 Köln
(limited number of participants: reservations at 0221-933193-32)

Art museum of the
Archdiocese of Cologne