Spendhaus

Spendhaus, located in the charming town of Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, stands as a testament to the region’s rich history and architectural elegance. This historic building, constructed in 1518, is one of the oldest surviving secular buildings in Reutlingen. It has witnessed the town's tumultuous history, including the devastating fire of September 1726, which destroyed approximately four-fifths of Reutlingen’s buildings. Yet, Spendhaus emerged unscathed, preserving its historical significance for future generations.

The History of Spendhaus

Originally built as a storage facility, Spendhaus served a vital role in the community by housing donations, primarily agricultural products, intended to support the town's poor and those in need. The name Spendhaus itself reflects this charitable purpose. The ground floor of the building is a sturdy stone construction, with a vaulted cellar that was used for wine storage, accessible through a round-arched portal from Spendhausstraße. Above the ground floor, three full stories rise in traditional half-timbered construction, each floor slightly projecting over the one below, creating a distinctive architectural profile. The steep, high-pitched gable roof encompasses three additional stories plus a narrow level beneath the roof ridge.

Spendhaus retained its function as a storage house well into the 19th century. In the 1840s, part of the ground floor was repurposed to house the town's book collections. By 1858, the building underwent significant renovations to accommodate the newly founded weaving school, the precursor to today's Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences. This transformation included the installation of large weaving rooms on the first two floors and a smaller weaving room, wood storage, and a library space on the ground floor. The weaving school later expanded to include a mechanical weaving department, complete with steam-powered looms and a boiler house with a chimney extending beyond the roof ridge.

From Storage House to Cultural Hub

In 1871, the town of Reutlingen acquired Spendhaus from the charitable organization for 20,000 guilders. Following the weaving school's relocation in 1891, the building became home to various collections, including those of the Natural Science Association and the newly established Association for Art and Antiquity, which formed the basis of the Reutlingen Local History Museum. The town library returned to the ground floor in 1898, and in 1934, the newly established Friedrich-List-Archiv was added, further straining the library's space. Despite renovations in 1935, the library's expansion hopes were dashed when the first floor was allocated to youth organizations.

After extensive renovations in 1950-1951, the town library finally gained a reading room and shared the first floor. The third floor was converted into exhibition spaces for the natural history collection, and the attic was transformed into a venue for art exhibitions. By the early 1970s, the growing library collections prompted the town administration to seek more spacious accommodations. In 1985, the library moved to a new building, and the Natural History Museum vacated Spendhaus in 1987, paving the way for a comprehensive renovation and conversion into the city’s central art museum, which opened in 1989.

Spendhaus as an Art Museum

On October 15, 1989, Spendhaus was inaugurated as the home of the Reutlingen Art Museum. The museum's collection focuses on modern woodcuts from the late 19th century to the present day. The building's renovation, awarded by the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects for exemplary construction, beautifully restored the early modern structure while creating a modern art museum environment. Spendhaus thus bridges the gap between contemporary art and the historical roots of the oldest printmaking medium.

The Art Collection

The Reutlingen Art Museum's collection and exhibition activities emphasize high-relief printing in the 20th and 21st centuries. This specific focus has historical roots, as two notable woodcut artists, Wilhelm Laage and HAP Grieshaber, were prominent Reutlingen artists whose works form the core of the collection. In 1980, the museum acquired a significant collection of Grieshaber's works, including woodcuts, drawings, watercolors, and designs. In 1988, a foundation by Alfred Hagenlocher added numerous works by Laage to the collection, and in 1989, nearly the entire woodcut oeuvre of Reutlingen artist Werner Höll was acquired. The museum also holds almost all the printing blocks of Wolfgang Mattheuer. The most recent significant donation came in 2004 from Hamburg collector Peter Kemna, who gifted his extensive woodcut collection to the museum.

Through systematic acquisitions and significant donations, the museum has built a representative collection of 20th-century high-relief prints, primarily from Germany, which continues to grow. The museum also aims to document the most important international trends in contemporary art alongside the works of German artists.

Exhibitions and Activities

Since 1989, Spendhaus has hosted numerous special exhibitions featuring both historical and contemporary artists. These exhibitions have included works by members of the Dresden Brücke group, such as Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Pechstein, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, as well as national and international artists like Strawalde, A. R. Penck, Bettina van Haaren, Hartwig Ebersbach, Francisco Toledo, Armando, Lucian Freud, Shiko Munakata, and Cees Andriessen. In 2016-2017, the museum honored the Reutlingen-born Jewish painter Alice Haarburger, who was murdered by the Nazis, with a solo exhibition.

Since 1997, the German woodcut association XYLON has been headquartered at the Reutlingen Art Museum. The association aims to gather artists in Germany who have achieved creative renewal in high-relief printing, particularly woodcutting. The museum also awards the Jerg-Ratgeb Prize and the HAP-Grieshaber Scholarship, originally founded by HAP Grieshaber and Rolf Szymanski.

In conclusion, Spendhaus is not just a historic building but a vibrant cultural hub that celebrates the rich tradition of woodcut art while preserving the historical essence of Reutlingen. Its walls tell stories of the past and present, making it an unmissable destination for art lovers and history enthusiasts alike.