Museums Project

From 1945 onwards - inspired by the return of the artist Erwin Bowien (1899-1972) from exile - a community of artists was formed, which achieved art-historical rank in the visual arts of the 20th century through a style that was completely its own - and completely detached from the spirit of the times. The most famous artist of this colony is the internationally known painter Bettina Heinen-Ayech (1937-2020).

Due to favorable circumstances, the historic property in which the artists' colony maintained its studios is available for the project. The ensemble consists of two half-timbered houses, the so-called "Black" and "Red" House in the Solingen district of Höhscheid in the village of Neuenhaus.

An initiative of art and history enthusiasts would like to use this favorable constellation to implement an appropriate museum project in this property.

The planned museum is to present and document not only the artists of the artists' colony, but also literary friends, sculptors and artists who were close to the Artists' Colony. As in all modern museums, documentation, mediation and communication are to be in the foreground.

Several sponsors have agreed - for the museum - to make available from their collections a comprehensive bundle of works of art by the artists of the colony. The collections of the museum will include objects from all genres of the material, written and pictorial estates of the colony, but also the history of the nearby lead mine.

The initiators of the museum have received a binding assurance that the planned museum will receive part of the original furniture of the house. Furthermore, there is a firm assurance by several patrons that the museum will receive an extensive equipment with original works of art by the artists Bettina Heinen- Ayech (1937-2020); Erwin Bowien (1899-1972) and Amud Uwe Millies (1932-2008).

The profile of the collection can be outlined as follows: The earliest works, primarily oil paintings and pastels as well as graphite drawings by Erwin Bowien beginning in the 1920s and extending into the late 1960s, can be assigned to a late Post-Impressionism. Bettina Heinen-Ayech with her watercolours and Amud Uwe Millies with his oil paintings and pastels further developed classical modernism into a completely unique style of art in which new approaches to representational painting were developed. Something excitingly new was created here. In addition to the original works of art, life in the artists' colony is documented through photographs, letters and manuscripts.

In 2021, Dr Haroun Ayech became the owner of the historic property at Neuenkamperstrasse 163 in Solingen, which, under the name "Schwarzes - und Rotes Haus" (Black and Red House), was the site of the work of the Black House Artists' Colony, which Erwin Bowien (1899-1972) established in 1945 after his return from exile in Holland. There is now a unique opportunity to turn this property into a museum / walk-in space.

For many years, citizens interested in art have wanted a museum that presents the history of this unique artists' colony. It should be as unique as the turbulent history of the place - lively and participatory. The museum should not only document the history of the internationally active artists. It should also honour the local history in its own exhibition and offer people interested in history an insight into the region's industrial past.