The Hans Würtz Collection comes to Sunderland Minster

At the turn of the Twentieth Century, the German pedagogue Hans Würtz (1875-1958) passionately collected artworks connected with impairment and disability. Würtz, himself not disabled, was the educational director of the Oskar-Helene-Heim (Oskar-Helene-Home) in Berlin, one of the largest orthopaedic institutions for disabled children and teenagers of its time. His collection features thousands of 2D prints, lithographs and photographs along with small 3D statuettes made of pottery, metal, wax, textile and carved wood and ivory. Exhibited in Berlin in 1932, Würtz’s activity was set against the political background of the rise of National Socialism.