Otto Pankok Museum, Art museum in Hünxe, Germany.
The Pankok Museum of the municipality of Hünxe, long called the Otto Pankok Museum, occupies the Haus Esselt estate in the Drevenack district, near the Issel in the western part of the Hohe Mark Nature Park. It holds around 12,000 works by Otto Pankok — charcoal drawings, prints and bronzes — including the drawing "Christ Breaking the Rifle" and the "Jewish Fate" cycle. The building reopened in May 2023 after six years of renovation and extension.
The Pankok family—Hulda, Otto and daughter Eva—bought Gut Esselt in 1958 when Otto retired, and lived there until their deaths. Hulda and Eva founded the museum in 1968; after Hulda died in 1985 Eva ran it privately until her own death in 2016. The Otto Pankok Foundation and Society now oversee it, and after six years of renovation it reopened in May 2023.
The works on display focus on human figures and social themes, showing how Pankok approached everyday scenes and ordinary people. You can see his treatment of portraits, working people, and street life throughout the galleries.
The museum is housed in a converted outbuilding and offers both permanent exhibitions and archival materials to explore. A visit allows you to spend time in both areas and examine the collection thoroughly at your own pace.
The museum holds around 12,000 of Pankok's works, among them the drawing "Christ Breaking the Rifle"; a copy hangs in the office of the local Social Democratic Party branch. A separate large group is the charcoal cycle "Jewish Fate", on the suffering of concentration camp inmates.
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