When the Hummel family prepared to close the Berta Hummel Museum in the Lower Bavarian town of Massing in 2019 due to high financial losses, justified complaints could be heard here and there. Once again, a valued cultural asset was on the brink of extinction. The museum, which opened in 1994, was integrated into the birthplace of the artist Berta Hummel (1909-1946), who became known worldwide primarily for her children’s pictures and for the Hummel figurines made according to her designs. To this day, the world’s largest collection of the relevant figures is stored in the Hummel house in the center of Massingen, as well as valuable drawings and paintings as well as maps and the estate of the nun with the exuberant artistic talent. But now the future of the collection seems to be secured. After much back and forth, the association of Lower Bavarian open-air museums has just decided on a budget for a new museum building on the grounds of the open-air museum in Massing. If everything goes according to plan, the Berta Hummel collection will be made publicly accessible again in the year after next.
According to the current planning, the permanent exhibition requires a minimum area of 110 square meters, for the temporary and special exhibitions an area of a good 80 square meters is planned. The members of the special-purpose association unanimously approved a budget of a good 3.665 million euros for the construction of the museum, for the inventory of the collection, for the curatorial concept and for the design of the exhibition. Chairman of the special purpose association and district council president Olaf Heinrich admitted that the realization of the museum building in the ensemble of the museum was complex. He is all the more pleased that the planning was accepted by the state office for non-governmental museums. “I am convinced that the end result represents added value for the Massing open-air museum and for the region,” said Heinrich.
This bust of the artist was exhibited in the old Berta Hummel Museum. In future it will be on display in the new building in the Massing open-air museum.
(Photo: Armin Weigel/dpa)
The previous museum operator Alfred Hummel spoke on the phone of a difficult birth. Under the given circumstances he was satisfied with the result, even if it was only the second best solution. “The best solution would have been to leave the museum in the birthplace.” Michael Fahmüller, district administrator of the district of Rottal-Inn, mentioned the great radiance of the artist Berta Hummel. He therefore considers the new building on the grounds of the Massing open-air museum to be an important building block for the Rottal-Inn tourist region and the cultural life there.
Museum director Timm Miersch is also happy about the decision, “because the Berta Hummel collection can be stored in the depot of the new building without any problems, which guarantees the preservation of this art and cultural asset in its unique composition”. But the great opportunity also lies in the spatial proximity and through the extended access of art. In this way, topics from the open-air museum could also be accessed via the Berta Hummel collection. He hopes for a new and expanded audience, “because guests interested in art will become visitors to open-air museums – and vice versa”.
The dispute over the legacy drove some strange flowers
Before the old museum was closed, the Hummel family recorded an annual loss of up to 70,000 euros, which, as Alfred Hummel said, was no longer sustainable. After the Hummel figure production in Rödental was largely stopped due to the company’s insolvency, the sales figures dropped, the American market collapsed and the visitors who otherwise came to Massing in droves stayed away. A solution had to be found urgently, because the family had to bear the burden of the museum (air conditioning, anti-theft device) even without guests and could not use the building for anything else.
There was a real danger that Berta Hummel’s legacy would disappear without a word. This lot would not have done justice to the artist. Although she was only 37 years old, she did a lot of good in her short life. Millions upon millions of the cute Hummel figurines based on her designs have been sold worldwide. As early as the 1930s, every second German household owned a Hummel figurine, and an American Hummel Club still has 100,000 members today. In recent years, the dispute over the legacy of the good Berta Hummel has sometimes had strange blossoms and has shown how complicated the network of culture, politics and power can sometimes be at the regional level.
According to Olaf Heinrich, the architect was commissioned to plan the refurbishment of the restaurant there in parallel with the construction of the new building in the open-air museum. The new building, which is to house the Hummel collection, is to be integrated into the slope near the main entrance. If everything goes according to plan, which is not a matter of course given the current crisis and the associated explosion in prices, construction work could start next autumn. The new museum could then be opened in the year after next.