Busch-Reisinger Museum Hosts Everyday Objects from Famed German Writer

"Goethe/Grcic: Quotidian Objects" Seeks Poetry in Common Thing

Goethe/Grcic installation.
Courtesy of the Harvard University Art Museums.
Photography by Adam Kellie.

Cambridge, MA (February 28, 2002) – By combining the talents of one of Europe's most prominent young designers and the great genius of German literature, an exhibition of common objects is transformed into a stimulating, unconventional, and elegant experiment. Goethe/Grcic: Quotidian Objects presents 63 everyday personal objects from famed German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's home collection, in an installation designed by Konstantin Grcic (b. 1965). It will remain on view through May 12, 2002, at Harvard's Busch-Reisinger Museum.

Goethe/Grcic: Quotidian Objects shows Grcic's subjective choice of Goethe's everyday private items. From a pair of the writer's boots, several buttons, and a glove to a small inkwell and keyring with three keys, Grcic created an exhibition that offers an unusual view of this talented writer as collector and human being. Rather than selecting from among some 50,000 drawings, sculptures, and natural science specimens collected by the writer and now in the archives of the Goethe Nationalmuseum in Weimar, Grcic instead opted to showcase personal, banal items: paperweight, hand warmer, boxes, sponge, and more. Grcic's installation presents these objects individually or in small groups, arranged in custom-designed display cases lit by a simple light-tube that runs through the exhibition.

According to Grcic, "I used my curiosity to craft an exhibition far from the stereotypes of art history. I'm interested in everyday objects as carriers of moods and images, associations, and fantasies. The stories that they tell are not stated overtly, but are inferred."

"We are grateful to the Casa di Goethe in Rome and the Goethe Nationalmuseum in Weimar for organizing this simple yet intriguing exhibition and facilitating its presentation at Harvard," said James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "We look forward to offering additional exhibitions like this, which continue to reflect on the distinctions between art and design, and between the artistic and quotidian object."

"The Busch presents this unconventional exhibition in the hope that its provocative approach to the relics of a quasi-sanctified national hero can raise stimulating questions about display, the archive, the aesthetics of useful artifacts, and even still-life," said Peter Nisbet, Daimler-Benz Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum.

Goethe/Grcic: Quotidian Objects was organized by the Casa di Goethe, Rome, in collaboration with the Goethe Nationalmuseum of the Weimar Classics Foundation, which has lent the objects on view. The accompanying trilingual 104-page catalogue, available for purchase in the Art Museums shop for $18, offers an introduction to the exhibition with contributions by the curators, Ludovico Pratesi and Cornelia Lauf, and a selection of illustrations of objects designed by Grcic.

Goethe Biography
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) is one of the greatest figures of German literature. Born into a middle-class family in Frankfurt am Main in Germany, he was educated by his father, and sent to university at the age of 16. After school, he practiced law in Frankfurt and Wetzlar. The publication of his first novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) gained early fame for the young author. In 1774 he was welcomed by Duke Karl August into the small court of Weimar, where he held many governmental positions. During an extensive journey through Italy (1786-88) Goethe found inspiration for some of his most acclaimed works. He also collected books, plaster casts of ancient statues and drawings, which would later allow him to transform his house in Weimar into a showcase for his love to Italy, which was expressed in his Italian Diary. With Wilhelm Meister's Years Of Apprenticeship (1795-96) and Wilhelm Meister's Years Of Wandering (1821-29) Goethe created the paradigmatic German novel of development. His masterwork was a drama, Faust (first part 1808, second part 1832), that occupied him for decades. He is credited with literary achievements as a lyric poet, novelist, and dramatist, as well as making significant contributions as a scientist and as a critic and theorist of literature and art.

Grcic Information
For further information about Konstantin Grcic and his work as a product and industrial designer, please visit www.konstantin-grcic.com.

Related Events

Leventritt Forum
The Eloquence of the Everyday
Saturday, March 2, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Christian Room, Fogg Art Museum
Free admission

Prompted by the exhibition and moderated by Peter Nisbet, Daimler-Benz Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, this unconventional forum on the value and problem of attending closely to ordinary things will offer a series of brief talks, interspersed with two readings of poetry and prose dealing with everyday objects. One reading will be selected and presented by Peter Sacks, poet and professor of English; for the other, Pulitzer prize-winning poet Charles Simic, professor of English at the University of New Hampshire, will read from his own poetry.

Speakers will include Stanley Cavell, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value, emeritus; Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History; Joachim Homann, Michalke Curatorial Intern in the Busch-Reisinger Museum; Raul Delgado-Rodriguez, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Comparative Literature; and Cornelia Lauf, co-curator of the exhibition.

Gallery Talks
Saturday, March 16, 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 17, 2 p.m.
Joachim Homann, Michalke Curatorial Intern, Busch-Reisinger Museum

Saturday, April 6, 11:30 a.m.
Sunday, April 7, 2 p.m.
Peter Nisbet, Daimler-Benz Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum

Saturday, May 4, 11:30 a.m.
Sunday, May 5, 2 p.m.
Raul Delgado-Rodriguez, Ph.D. candidate, Comparative Literature

Poetry
Faust Poetry Bash
Literary Café at the Goethe-Institut Boston
Saturday, March 23, 8 p.m.
Goethe-Institut, 170 Beacon Street, Boston

Figures and motifs from Goethe's drama Faust live on in contemporary culture like familiar objects handed down through time. Engrained in people's memory, phrases from Faust have become mundane tropes in the German language. Rediscover and celebrate the power of Goethe's dramatic poem at the Faust Poetry Bash with recitals, discussion, music, and period food. For information, call (617) 262-6050 or visit www.goethe.de/boston.

Goethe on Film
In conjunction with the exhibition, a film series will be presented by the Harvard Film Archive, located in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge. Admission is $7; $5 for Friends, students, and seniors. Visit the Harvard Film Archive website (www.harvardfilmarchive.org) or call (617) 495-4700 for further details.

Sunday, March 3, 7 p.m.
The Elective Affinities
(Italy/France/1996)
Directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani

Sunday, March 10, 7 p.m.
Wrong Movement (W. Germany/1975)
Directed by Wim Wenders

Sunday, March 17, 7 p.m.
Werther (France/1938)
Directed by Max Ophuls

Sunday, March 24, 7 p.m.
Clavigo (W. Germany/1970)
Directed by Marcel Ophuls

Sunday, March 31, 7 p.m.
Lotte in Weimer (E. Germany/1975)
Directed by Egon Günther and preceded by the short film The Woman Whose Mother
Once Saw Goethe (Germany/1979) by Hans Sachs and Hedda Rinneberg

About the Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums are among the world's leading arts institutions, with the Arthur M. Sackler, Busch-Reisinger, and Fogg art museums, the Straus Center for Conservation, the Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art, and the U.S. headquarters for the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, an excavation project in western Turkey. The 150,000 objects in the art museums' collections range in date from ancient times to the present and come from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Each museum also has an active program of special exhibitions that promotes new scholarship in its areas of focus.

The Harvard University Art Museums are distinguished by the range and depth of their collections, their groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of their staff. As an integral part of the Harvard community, the three Art Museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension to their areas of study. The public is welcome to experience the collections and exhibitions as well as to enjoy lectures, symposia, and other programs.

For more than a century, the Harvard University Art Museums have been the nation's premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and are renowned for their role in the development of the discipline of art history in this country.

Location and Hours
The Fogg Art Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum are located at 32 Quincy Street in Cambridge. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum is located next door at 485 Broadway. Each Museum is a short walk from the Harvard Square MBTA station.

Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., and the Museums are closed on national holidays. Admission is $5; $4 for seniors; $3 for students; and free for those under 18 years of age. The Museums are free to everyone all day on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, 10 a.m. until noon. The Harvard University Art Museums receive support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. More detailed information is available at 617-495-9400 or on the Internet at www.artmuseums.harvard.edu.