Works by Ernst Barlach, Marc Chagall, Otto Dix, HAP Grieshaber, Erich Heckel, Horst Janssen, Oskar Kokoschka, Käthe Kollwitz, Jeanne Mammen, Gerhard Marcks, Rolf Nesch, Pablo Picasso, Rudolf Schlichter, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and A. Paul Weber.
Figure, portrait, landscape: the thematic spectrum of the Sorst Collection is swiftly outlined. But beyond these blanket terms the sixty works brought together by the Hanover entrepreneur Ernst-Joachim Sorst (1931–2012) disclose a kaleidoscope of print styles, motifs and techniques in the art of the 1910s to the 60s. The love of nature of the Brücke expressionists’ Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff meets the biblical themes and eroticism of the French modernists Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso; the pictorial satires and New Objectivity of Otto Dix, Rudolf Schlichter or Jeanne Mammen encounter the highly colourful abstractions of HAP Grieshaber.
Most of the fifteen artists of the Sorst Collection are represented by small groups of work at least; a special role is taken by Gerhard Marcks, whose complex of woodcuts is supplemented by three sculptural works. Along with classics from Picasso’s Suite Vollard or the repertoire of the early Brücke prints, the presentation includes charming solitaires such as the delicately coloured Boy in a Sailor’s Suit, by Rolf Nesch.
On the death of Ernst-Joachim Sorst in November 2012, his collection initially went on permanent loan to the Sprengel Museum in Hanover. At the Ernst Barlach Haus it now continues an exhibition series that recently showed the private treasures of Helmut and Loki Schmidt.
