HISTORY OF THE SCHWIND GALLERY
Galerie Schwind was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1989. The managing director at the time, Karl Schwind, had already been in contact with the young art scene in Leipzig and Dresden, which is why Leipzig artists have been represented by the gallery from the very beginning.
Origin and development of the gallery
After reunification, this exchange intensified, particularly with regard to the older generation of artists of the so-called Leipzig School, whereby the friendship with Wolfgang Mattheuer (1927-2004) was particularly influential. In 2000, Werner Tübke (1929-2004), the second protagonist of the Leipzig School, joined the gallery and consolidated the gallery’s program with his artistic contribution. The close contact with the city and the lively dialog with its artists led to the idea of establishing business premises in Leipzig at an early stage – so that when the opportunity arose to acquire Werner Tübke’s villa after his death, Karl Schwind moved the headquarters of Galerie Schwind to Leipzig without further ado, thus placing his own trading and working space in the immediate environment of the art he represented. Today, the historic Künstlerhaus at Springerstraße 5 houses the gallery’s exhibition rooms on the first floor, the Fritz P. Mayer – Leipzig School collection on the first floor and the Museum Tübke Atelier on the top floor. The premises in Frankfurt am Main remain as a branch and have been expanded. Finally, the third gallery in Berlin-Mitte was opened in 2011. In 2022, Karl Schwind handed over the management to his son Paul Gathof.
Galerie Schwind looks after the artistic estates of Werner Tübke, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Willi Sitte and Fritz Cremer.
We are constantly buying works by the artists we represent.
ARTIST’S HOUSE AT
SPRINGER STREET 5
ARTIST’S HOUSE AT
SPRINGER STREET 5
- Museum Tübke Studio
- Leipzig School, Fritz P. Mayer Collection
- Schwind Gallery
Leipzig School, Fritz P. Mayer Collection
On September 11, 2010, a permanent exhibition of works from the private collection of Fritz P. Mayer opened on the second floor of the Tübke Villa on Springerstraße in Leipzig.
It offers a unique insight into the oeuvre of the most famous artists of the so-called Leipzig School. The unique collection of the Frankfurt art patron, which has been assembled since 1994, comprises more than 200 works by Wolfgang Mattheuer, Werner Tübke, Bernhard Heisig, Willi Sitte, Michael Triegel, Arno Rink, Ulrich Hachulla, Erich Kissing and Wolfgang Peuker, among others. After parts of the private art collection were exhibited at the Museum Giersch in Frankfurt am Main in 2007, a representative cross-section of the collection is now permanently accessible to the public on the second floor of the Tübke Villa Leipzig.
The Fritz P. Mayer Collection contains numerous key works of East German post-war modernism, such as Wolfgang Mattheuer’s “Strange Incident” from 1984/91, Werner Tübke’s “Happening in Pompeii” from 1980 and Bernhard Heisig’s “The Painter and his Subject” from 1977/79, and is one of the most important collections of Leipzig art in Germany. It is constantly being expanded and, since the beginning of 2016, has also housed Karl Hofer’s “The Caller” from 1938, one of the most important German paintings of the interwar period, which was formative for artists in the GDR due to its generalizable motif and was taken up again and again.
Museum Tübke Studio
To mark the 20th anniversary of Werner Tübke’s death, the Museum Tübke Atelier on the top floor of Springerstraße 5 has been open to interested visitors since May 2024. In the permanent exhibition, parts of the studio have been restored to the state Tübke left behind after his death in 2004 using contemporary documents. Paintings, watercolors, drawings and sketches as well as prints provide an insight into the work of Werner Tübke, so that the “Tübke cosmos” can be experienced directly at his former place of work.
Both the special and the permanent exhibition are organized and supported by the non-profit association Tübke Atelier e.V.