PREVIEW

Ever since their childhood days together in Cologne a very special friendship is shared by Hans Thuar und August Macke.  When Thuar loses both legs in a streetcar accident at age 11, it is August Macke who, by means of his visits and humor, restores in Thuar the will to live. Inspired by Macke, Thuar also becomes an artist. Some paintings are done of the same motif by the two together. Their artwork places both artists in the ranks of the fiercely opposed expressionist modernists prior to the first world war. After Macke's death as a soldier in the first world war their friendship is continued by the families and climaxes in the marriage of Macke's son Wolfgang with Thuar's daughter Gisela.

With Thuar, the exhibition focuses on an artist whose highly expressive, luminously colored and original compositions have almost been forgotten. A short story in graphics by the young artist Yuka Masuko illustrates the friendship of the two artists on the basis of memoirs and excerpts from letters.