Maximilian Schell From the opening speech on the exhibition «Hanns Kunitzberger. Die Orte der Bilder» «... It is a great achievement, Director Schröder, to hear Hanns mentioned in the same breath as names like Graubner and Rothko, and I would even venture to add another: Josef Albers. I have met all three of these artists. Graubner is thankfully still with us. I met Rothko a few months before his death. And Albers was my spiritual father. – He wrote something that is very relevant to Hanns, which I shall return to later. What you said about stillness is wonderful. I originally thought that this was the most important point: that he is an 'artist of stillness'. But he isn’t, because this stillness hides a couple of explosions. I have thought a lot about stillness. I am not only an actor but also a director. I staged "Glaube Liebe Hoffnung" by Horváth in Moscow and "Tales from the Vienna Woods" in London – and Horváth wrote four versions of his own instructions saying how his plays were to be understood – and he spoke in particular about stillness. I had hoped to persuade Schnittke, the Russian composer, to write the music for "Glaube Liebe Hoffnung". I told him that I was fascinated by the stillness in Horváth’s works. He replied, "Do you know, it’s my dream to compose stillness." This brings us to Hanns – because of course composing stillness is a contradiction in terms – it’s like the word nothing. As soon as you say it, it is no longer nothing, it is already – a nothing –, it becomes something tangible and interpretable. I asked him what he meant by stillness. He replied with an extraordinary example which I should like to share with you. He talked of war with soldiers in the trenches undergoing an artillery attack. Then there is a sudden stillness while the guns are being reloaded before they start up again. He said that this was the stillness he wanted to put to music. I understand what he means. This stillness is more significant than normal. During this stillness, everyone lying there thinks about death, happiness, friends, love –. I’m sure that this can be conveyed very well in music. Claudel memorably said that he admired the great silence with which artists surround us with their paintings. The stillness of Albers, Rothko, Graubner or Hanns is something that overpowers us. I was here yesterday and the pictures looked completely different – as if they had been switched by him over night. They are much brighter in daylight and tell a completely different story. ...» Maximilian Schell, May 2006. From the volume «Hanns Kunitzberger. Die Orte der Bilder. Painting.»

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