Alfred Salmony (1890–1958) had a decisive influence on the history of the collection of the Museum for East Asian Art, as its first deputy director after the museum opened in 1913. A keen art historian, he had close links to artistic circles in the Rhineland and to global art dealer networks. Enthusiastically embracing the view that all art merits equal status, he curated groundbreaking exhibitions, such as the 1921/22 Comparative Values Exhibition. At MOK, where Frieda Fischer-Wieruszowski, one of Germany’s first female museum directors was at the helm, “Art in the limelight” was their shared axiom.
The eponymous exhibition shows a selection of around 100 pieces that can be traced back to Salmony’s acquisition initiatives. These include exquisite jades and sumptuous early Chinese artefacts, such as pendants and belt buckles, hairpins and bronze mirrors. Chinese Buddhist stone sculptures are displayed too, as showcased by Salmony in 1922 in the museum’s first publication, as well as a reconstruction of the Comparative Values Exhibition, which juxtaposed works of art from various Cologne museums.
Salmony fled to America in 1933 to escape the National Socialist regime and taught at the renowned Institute of Fine Arts in New York until shortly before his death. Almost forgotten in Germany, in the United States Salmony is viewed as one of the most esteemed scholars of East Asian art history. The exhibition is accompanied by the first monograph on Alfred Salmony, tracing the collection history of the Museum for East Asian Art during his years in Cologne.
Mit freundlicher Unterstützung
Orientstiftung zur Förderung der Ostasiatischen Kunst
Fördererkreis des Museums für Ostasiatische Kunst Köln
© Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln, Marion Mennicken
Opening times
Tuesday to Sunday
11am – 5pm
Every first Thursday in the month
11am – 10pm (except October 3, 2024)
The museum is closed due to the Cologne Marathon on 6 October 2024.
Closed Mondays; open on All Saints' Day
Museum is closed on December 24th, Christmas Day (25 Dec), New Year's Eve (31 Dec) and New Year's Day (1 Jan). Museum is opend on Easter Monday, Whit Monday, German Unity Day and December 26.
Admission prices
€ 9,50 / € 5,50
KölnTag on the first Thursday of the month (except public holidays): free admission to the Museum for all Cologne residents.
How to get here
Public transport: Tram routes 1 and 7 and bus route 142, alight at ‘Universitätsstrasse’
There is a car park at the museum
more
Barrier-free
The museum is barrier-free. Disabled toilet available.
more
Museum für
Ostasiatische Kunst Köln
Universitätsstrasse 100
D 50674 Köln
Ticket office +49.221.221-28617
mok@museenkoeln.de
Legal notice
Opening times
Tuesday to Sunday
11am – 5pm
Every first Thursday in the month
11am – 10pm
Closed Mondays; open on All Saints' Day
Museum is closed on December 24th, Christmas Day (25 Dec), New Year's Eve (31 Dec) and New Year's Day (1 Jan). Museum is opend on Easter Monday, Whit Monday, German Unity Day and December 26.
more
Admission prices
€ 7,50 /reduced € 4,50
from 20 June
€ 9,50 /reduced € 5,50
KölnTag on the first Thursday of the month (except public holidays): free admission to the Museum for all Cologne residents.
more
How to get here
Public transport: Tram routes 1 and 7 and bus route 142, alight at ‘Universitätsstrasse’
There is a car park at the museum
more
Barrier-free
The museum is barrier-free. Disabled toilet available.
more
Museum für
Ostasiatische Kunst Köln
Universitätsstrasse 100
D 50674 Köln
Ticket office +49.221.221-28617
mok@museenkoeln.de
Legal notice
