12 September – 23 November 2008
Among the most colourful and impressive items that Filmmuseum Potsdam calls its own are about ten thousand set design sketches for Babelsberg films that were created by more than 40 artists. Drafts, drawings, and models show how ideas for screenplays are turned into a visible world with a particular atmosphere, how artists participate in creating the look-and-feel of a film – an achievement that audiences often exclusively attribute to the director or cameraman later on. The exhibition acknowledged the indispensable contribution set designers make in the creation of films.
Filmmuseum Potsdam wished Oskar Pietsch, who turned 90 on January 10, a happy birthday, same as Marlene Willmann (who celebrated her 70th birthday in February), Harry Leupold (who turned 80 in June), Georg Wratsch (who would have turned 80 in August), Paul Lehmann (who celebrated his 85th birthday in September), and Hans Poppe (who would have turned 80 in November).
The exhibition allowed visitors to study the different styles and trademarks of the six artists. The selected set designs are works of art that can be considered independent artistic contributions to the respective films – not all of which are DEFA classics.
Among the designs were sketches for Harry Leupold’s favourite film “Die Legende von Paul und Paula” as well as for a project that never made it to the screen – “Die Iden des März”. Additional colour sketches for “Das Versteck” (More) attested to his versatility regarding the visualisation of screenplay specifications.
Among Oskar Pietsch’s works were sketches for “Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder”, a controversial project that ultimately failed.
Paul Lehmann selected spatial installations for “Dein unbekannter Bruder” and drawings for “Der Eisenhans” for the exhibition. Moreover, he presented fantastic sketches for the films “Der Spiegel des großen Magus” (More) and “Die vertauschte Königin”. In the museum foyer, visitors could marvel at a model used for the latter film.
Hans Poppe was represented in the exhibition with works for his most famous film “Der verlorene Engel” as well as with sketches for “Blauvogel” or “Der Mann mit dem Objektiv”.
Sketches for “Das Fahrrad” (More) and the unfinished project “Es kommt dein Tag” showed Marlene Willmann’s precise artistic style.
Georg Wratsch, who started out as a painter, was represented with an oil painting for the film “Die Flucht” (DIR: R. Gräf, 1977) with impressively intense colours. Delicate pastel drawings for “Levins Mühle” (More) gave evidence of his versatility.