Two artists see this city

Her almost abstract images tell of the post-war period and the spirit of optimism that prevailed at the time, depicting the political situation in Berlin during the Cold War and as a divided city from 1961 onwards. She would certainly have commented on the opening of the Wall on 9 November 1989: the rush to the shops, the tangible abundance before her eyes, so close to Christmas, and the empty shelves.


The reunion with the formerly familiar area of Unter den Linden and the opera house would also have been worth capturing in sketches. On the way back, she would have taken a walk through the Tiergarten, enjoyed listening to the blackbirds and savoured the green idyll in the middle of the big city. Her understanding for climate activ-ists would have been just as great as it was for the student demonstrations in 1967/68.
Per-haps she would also have gone to the Berghain to experience today’s club scene. In her day, she was very familiar with the bars and variety theatres around Nollendorfplatz, whose guests she enjoyed observing and drawing. As a chronicler of this city, she continues to convey the Berlin way of life to this day.


The artist Käthe Kollwitz, who spent a year studying at the Académie Julian in Paris in 1904, where Jeanne Mammen enrolled in 1907, is a kindred spirit. Perceiving social injustices, even though they themselves lived in much more comfortable circumstances, is just one thing these two artists have in common. Stylistically different, but very conscious of their female artistry, both made a striking mark and shaped the image of the “new woman”. It is not known whether they ever met, but it seems likely that they were familiar with each other’s work.


In an associative and historically grounded revue, both artists will meet and bring a moving era in Berlin back to life.

 
Dr. Martina Weinland was a research assistant at the Berlin City Museum from 1992 to summer 2024, where she served as cultural heritage officer from 2018 onwards, responsible for nine dependent art foundations, including the Jeanne Mammen Foundation, under the umbrella of the City Museum. Since 2022, she has been a lecturer in the guest student pro-gramme at the Free University of Berlin, focusing on women in art history – currently with the multi-year course topic “Art is female”. In January 2026, her biography of Jeanne Mammen will be published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Berlin artist’s death under the title: Jeanne Mammen – See you soon, my friends!


The lecture will be held in German.



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