Eerie
The Art of Fritz Schwimbeck
28.01.2023 - 23.04.2023 ,
Museum im Wittelsbacher Schloss (Museum in the Wittelsbach Castle)
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The artist Fritz Schwimbeck (1889-1977) was a master of staging the uncanny. Schwimbeck grew up in Friedberg Castle. However, he spent most of his life in Munich, where he moved in a circle of literati, artists and other intellectuals in the 1910s/20s. During these years, he designed expressive graphic cycles with motifs of the uncanny and illustrated contemporary books from the field of fantastic literature, such as Gustav Meyrink's novel "Der Golem" (1915) or Bram Stoker's "Dracula", as well as literary classics by William Shakespeare or Heinrich von Kleist.
Schwimbeck's graphics fascinate with their mysterious character, evoked by deliberately used light sources and moving shadow figures. The exhibition also traces works by artists Schwimbeck admired, such as Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) and Alfred Kubin (1877-1959). Short silent film sequences show the proximity to the then newly emerging medium of film, such as Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's famous horror film "Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror" from 1921.
Last edited on 26.11.2025
