The major reform of the modern age is at the heart of the exhibition project at the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe. The special exhibition entitled “Art Nouveau on the Upper Rhine” presents the many facets of art and its regional variations along the shared borders of Germany, France and Switzerland circa 1900. The exhibition is part of the series “The Upper Rhine around 1900,” which is being held at many member museums to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Upper Rhine Museums Pass. Held at Karlsruhe’s palace, it shows a portrait of a cultural landscape where art, politics, history and business are closely intertwined and where the modern meets the traditional. This cultural-history exhibition features some 700 objects which illustrate several different kinds of artistic techniques: furniture, painting, graphics, metalwork, jewellery, textiles, fashion, ceramics, stained-glass windows, contemporary photos and documents. The broad scope of the exhibition also covers topics such as women’s emancipation, technical achievements, entertainment, consumerism, fashion and how people ate and drank. Academic documents as well as caricatures reflect the era’s cultural historic phenomena. An extensive schedule of related activities will transport visitors back to the exciting period of the fin de siècle.
