Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, James Johnson Sweeney e Werner Haftmann: mettere in scena l’arte moderna a Houston e Berlino

Abstract

This article aims to trace the history of the exhibition device created by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, used during the mandate of the museum’s first director, Werner Haftmann (1912-1999), from 1967 to 1974. The solution devised by the architect for the glass hall on the ground floor of the museum, intended for temporary exhibitions and characterised by a completely open space with no walls, consisted of a set of panels suspended from the ceiling by metal cables that could be freely mounted, modulated and dismantled. They were ideally intended to meet the specific museographic requirements of each exhibition and different types of artwork. By analysing the displays of some of the major exhibitions at the Neue Nationalgalerie, the role played by James Johnson Sweeney (1900-1986), director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in the realisation of Mies van der Rohe’s ideas and exhibition projects in Cullinan Hall, a wing of the museum built by the architect in 1958, and the relationship between museography, works of art, museum space and visitors will be discussed and critical issues will be highlighted.