Heimatmuseum of Modern Art Ella Bergmann Michel – Robert Michel

This exhibition presents the work of Ella Bergmann-Michel (1896-1971) and Robert Michel, artists associated with the German avant-garde. Bergmann-Michel, who studied art from 1915 and was friends with Kurt Schwitters, explored graphic design, typography, photography, and film, developing a style close to Dada, Constructivism, and Purism. Robert Michel, after a pilot accident, studied art in Weimar and developed a unique style influenced by Futurism, speed, and technology, creating complex compositions with mechanical and fantastical elements. Both artists faced persecution during World War II, being banned from practicing and labeled as degenerate artists.

Following the war, Bergmann-Michel founded a film studio and lectured on art movements. She resumed creating in the 1960s, producing collages of Japanese paper and thread. Robert Michel's work from 1919-1921 is noted for its enigmatic, mechanical, and surreal landscapes populated with figures resembling marionettes, industrial elements, and symbolic imagery. The exhibition highlights their artistic output, which ceased during the Nazi era and resumed for Bergmann-Michel in later years.