23.01.2026
to
01.03.2026
Kulturforum
How does cut paper become graphic design? Where does nature inspire design? In the exhibition, Style–Paper–Scissors, three classes of graphic design students at the Lette Verein Berlin engage with historical paper cutouts by Johanna Beckmann (1868–1941) from the Kunstbibliothek’s (Art Library) museum collections. The focus is on plant images as students explore the interface between botany and graphic design, and between natural form and abstraction.
One hundred fifty years ago, the cornerstone for the graphic design department was laid with the establishment of the school for female typesetters at the Lette Verein Berlin. At the time, the Lette Verein was one of the few schools where women could train for creative professions. Among them was Johanna Beckmann. She had previously studied at Berlin’s Kunstgewerbeschule (Berlin School of Applied Arts), affiliated with the Kunstgewerbemuseum, whose library subsequently paved the way for today’s Kunstbibliothek.
Johanna Beckmann became known as a papercut artist, as well as for her work as a porcelain painter and author. Many of her nature-inspired cutouts – delicate linear branches, blossoms, and heads of grain with a subtle Art Nouveau touch – have been preserved in the Kunstbibliothek’s collection. Characterised by clear forms, strong contrasts, and abundant imagination, Beckmann’s art draws on the inspirational power and magic of nature.
The first section of the exhibition highlights her work as well as the history of paper cutting, with around 60 original cuts, prints and books, including silhouettes from the Biedermeier period, romantic landscapes and figural drawings. Also shown is a group of commercial art prints with paper-cut motifs, ranging from advertisements and business cards to illustrated broadsheets and posters.
Though its reduction of images to positive and negative forms, the paper cutout creates high-contrast shapes that stand out particularly well in nature motifs. With the Lette Graphics exhibits, the exhibition explores this aesthetic principle in a variety of graphic media and analogue and digital techniques – from silkscreen printing, cyanotype, typography and illustration to book design and animation. The presentation demonstrates how a unique visual language emerges from the botanical encounter between cut and line, colour and surface, material and shadow, condensation and detail.
Everyone can join in! Three stations at the exhibition invite visitors to become creative themselves, with typographic poetry, paper cutouts and silhouette painting.
An extensive programme of events (PDF, German, 430 KB) offers an open classroom, tours and a holiday workshop for schoolchildren.
The exhibition’s closing events on 28 February and 1 March 2026 feature show and tell activities with contemporary artists: Haleh Redjaian, Harriet Groß, Patricia Westerholz, Hansjörg Schneider, Sophia Martineck and Henning Wagenbreth will be displaying their paper cutout works.
The exhibition was curated by Christina Thomson (Kunstbibliothek), Paula Grill (Kunstbibliothek) and Jaqueline Krickl (Lette Verein).
All contemporary exhibits were created in the Lette Verein’s three graphic design classes. The key visual and the exhibition were conceived under the direction of Sarah Fricke and Katharina Matthies (in their third year of their degree programme).
Cooperation partner for show and tell events: Haus des Papiers, Berlin
A collaboration of the Kunstbibliothek ‒ Staatliche Museen zu Berlin with the Lette Verein Berlin
Offers and events
Venue
Opening hours
| Monday | closed |
| Tuesday | 10 am to 6 pm |
| Wednesday | 10 am to 6 pm |
| Thursday | 10 am to 6 pm |
| Friday | 10 am to 6 pm |
| Saturday | 11 am to 6 pm |
| Sunday | 11 am to 6 pm |
Prices / Tickets
Free admission to the exhibition for schoolchildren, students and trainees (with proof of eligibility).
Exhibition Style–Paper–Scissors - Lette Graphics x Johanna Beckmann
8,00 EUR Concessions 4,00
Style–Paper–Scissors
Lette Graphics x Johanna Beckmann
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Kulturforum
22,00 EUR Concessions 11,00
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Address / Getting there
Visitor Entrance
Johanna-und-Eduard-Arnhold-Platz / Matthäikirchplatz
10785 Berlin
U-Bahn: Potsdamer Platz
S-Bahn: Potsdamer Platz
Bus: Potsdamer Brücke, Potsdamer Platz Bhf / Voßstraße, Kulturforum, Philharmonie
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wheelchair accessible
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