Dear Friends,

We welcome the new season with a wide range of activity at Neue Galerie New York, highlighted by the opening of two new exhibitions: “Erich Heckel” and “Dagobert Peche: Ornamental Genius.”

The first U.S. showings of Erich Heckel's art both took place in New York: a 1923 group show of German modern art at the Anderson Galleries, and a 1930 solo show at Circle Gallery. The Neue Galerie co-founder, Serge Sabarsky, was drawn to German Expressionist art, and became especially enamored with Heckel. He organized numerous solo exhibitions devoted to the artist at his namesake gallery on the Upper East Side. His friend and later co-founder of the Neue Galerie, Ronald S. Lauder, also began to pursue works by Heckel when they became available. Thus, our museum has consistently presented this important German artist since we opened our doors in 2001.

Heckel has long had high-profile admirers. British rock star David Bowie and the American proto-punk musician Iggy Pop lived in Berlin in the 1970s, and developed an interest in German Expressionism. (Bowie was also known to frequent Sabarsky’s gallery when in New York.) They had seen the work at the Brücke Museum, and were especially taken with Heckel's Roquairol (1917), a portrait of fellow Brücke artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The album covers of Bowie's Heroes and Pop's The Idiot paid homage to this portrayal of a gesticulating literary anti-hero. It is a privilege to present a selection of Heckel’s works in a solo presentation at the Neue Galerie this season. We thank the Harvard Art Museums, in particular, for making Heckel’s magnificent triptych, To the Convalescent Woman (1912-13), available for display. I also applaud Vivian Endicott Barnett, editor of the accompanying exhibition catalogue.

Meanwhile, the Neue Galerie is delighted to spotlight one of the greatest Austrian decorative artists of his generation. “Dagobert Peche: Ornamental Genius” features approximately 50 objects, beautifully selected by Janis Staggs, Director of Curatorial at the Neue Galerie. Peche had a passion for the decorative, and he produced interiors and objects of incredible imagination and whimsy during a time of severe economic hardship. “German Masterworks from the Neue Galerie” and “Austrian Masterworks from the Neue Galerie” also remain on view, drawn from the museum’s core holdings, offering you an extraordinary, up-close view of the gems in our collection.

We look forward to welcoming you to the museum soon, and thank you for your ongoing support of the Neue Galerie. And, as always, my greatest thanks go to the Neue Galerie’s President and Co-Founder, Ronald S. Lauder, for his generous and longtime support of the museum and for making our work on behalf of German and Austrian art possible.

With best wishes,