Martin Opitz
Martin Opitz (1597-1639).
A photo and book exhibition in the Saxon State Library
November 10, 1999 - February 15, 2000
Organizer:
Oldenburg City and State Library
Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB)
Silesian Museum in Görlitz
Book Museum of the SLUB
Cultural Studies Center for Central Europe at the TU Dresden
Project leader:
Prof. Dr. Walter Schmitz
Organization:
Anja Häse, M.A.
Funding:
Funded by the Saxon State Ministry of the Interior
Project description:
The Martin Opitz exhibition organized by the Mitteleuropa Zentrum and opened in autumn 1999 in the book museum of the Saxon State and University Library in Dresden was conceived as a supplement and extension of the exhibitions on Opitz organized in Oldenburg and Görlitz.
The Oldenburg State Library provided a historical-biographical, chronological overview of Opitz's life and made the corresponding exhibits available in book form. The Silesian Museum in Görlitz documented the current state of the poet's life topography in a photo exhibition.
The Mitteleuropa Zentrum intended to supplement and combine these two exhibitions: newly produced and existing photographs were inserted as structuring elements in the chronological sequence of the dates of his life. To this end, a photographer was commissioned to record the stages of Opitz's life not yet covered in the first two sub-exhibitions - Paris, Heidelberg, Jutland, Leiden, Weissenburg and Vienna.
In addition to the exhibition, a bibliophilic illustrated book was produced in collaboration with the photographer and a graphic artist from the Dresden university publishing house w.e.b. (see also Publications).
Forty large-format, color photographs, each juxtaposed with a poem, form the main part of the book. The appendix contains detailed explanations of the individual poems, supplemented by black and white photographs, as well as a chronological table on the life and work of Martin Opitz.