Drawing “Maggie’s Farm”

The heath landscapes of Lower Saxony have always inspired artists. They often create dreamy landscapes with blooming heather, happy heather sheep and relaxed hikers. Attracted by this unique landscape, the artist Bernhard Baudendistel bought the disused railroad station building in Hützel, very close to Munster, in the early 1980s. He set up his studio there, ran a restaurant with his partner and founded an art association.

However, he discovered that the tracks at the station were by no means disused, but were regularly used for loading tanks. During the Cold War, Lower Saxony would have been a central venue for nuclear warfare, which is why British troops were stationed here and regularly carried out maneuvers. A special feature of Lower Saxony was the Soltau-Lüneburg Agreement, which allowed the British army to even use nature reserves for exercises. The burial mounds of the Lüneburg Heath from the Bronze Age were also put at risk. These “red areas” in the nature reserve, which were cordoned off with red stakes, and the damage to the landscape, farms and houses are still very much in the minds of the local population.

Over the course of the 1980s, the artist explored the destruction of the natural landscape by tanks in various media. In his paintings and drawings, Baudendistel’s heath landscapes are gray, furrowed by tracks and fogged with diesel exhaust fumes. Only the red of the stakes is central: they marked the parts of the heath that were training areas and where civilians were not allowed to enter.

He dedicated numerous works to the red stakes. One is the drawing “Maggie’s Farm” from around 1988. The title refers to a song by Bob Dylan, in which he sings: “I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more.” Baudendistel used this line for many of his critical works: for him, “Maggie” stood for Margaret Thatcher and the British soldiers who ploughed up the earth of the Lüneburg Heath with their tanks worked on her “farm”. Baudendistel thus interpreted the line as a rejection of military service on the heath. He even played the song to the soldiers from the Hützel station building while they were loading their tanks. Whether they enjoyed the background music or were able to understand the artist’s interpretation is unknown.

Bernhard Baudendistel’s art was multifaceted: on forays through the heath, he collected found objects for material pictures and object boxes, made bronze sculptures and stone sculptures. Nature inspired him to paint and draw. He buried his art and exposed it to the weather. In various art actions, the process was more important than the end product, sometimes blurring the boundaries between political activism and action art. Bernhard Baudendistel worked on German prehistory and early history, Nordic mythology, spiritualism and the transience of nature until his death in Hützel in 2013.

Object of the month

(short) stories from the depot

Unfortunately, many objects cannot currently be shown in the exhibition for conservation reasons. Here you will find unusual objects and exciting stories of special pieces from the depot