The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (MKG), Hamburg, is sad about July 31. That is the day the doors will close for good on the Hoffmeister Collection. The 400 pieces of exquisite Meissen Porcelain, which has been on long-term loan to the museum since 1999, is being repossessed by its owners, Horst and Dieter Hoffmeister. The brothers are not taking it back to use as their good china. They will be auctioning the collection to offset their losses from the worldwide financial crisis.

"I have not heard of this happening before. I think it sometimes happens to museums of contemporary art - a collector may take back a piece or two to sell - but not whole collections," remarked MKG press representative Michaela Hille.

Instances such as this are hidden by museums because they threaten a loan system that has its basis in personal trust, verbal promises, family loyalty and legacy. That is until the economic tide began to turn in 2007.

The MKG will be left with two empty display rooms. Even the display cases were paid for by the Hoffmeister brothers, and it is not known if they will be left behind. The rooms will remain closed until the museum decides on a new exhibit.

It is not often that a fusion of personalities and talents completely changes popular style. Yet architect Walter Gropius and his little group of artist/teachers and pupils left a lasting impact on everything from furniture and toys, to windows and buildings. The year was 1919 and the place, which many Germans don't even realize, was Weimar, Germany.
Hence the name of the current multilocation exhibit "Der Bauhaus Kommt aus Weimar," (The Bauhaus Comes from Weimar), on view until July 5 in this lovely city of Goethe, Schiller and Art Nouveau. www.das-bauhaus-kommt.de

"In the beginning it was not easy. Gropius was asked to bring these two art schools, the Kunstgewerbeschule and the Kunstschule, together," said Arthur Floss of Quittenbaums, Munich. "But he pushed the curriculum and got the right teachers."

One needs a crystal ball to predict how the world economic crisis will affect the German-language art and antique markets. Spring has been a flurry of activity for the auction houses. The glossy, color catalogs are just as thick. A full program of summer antique shows and trodel markets is planned. The museums are not deaccessioning, but selectively buying and restoring to improve their collections.

It's not that the bad news hasn't reached us yet. The German economy is reported to be in the worst condition it has been in for 60 years. Export levels are down. The country is facing a growing average unemployment rate of 8.6 percent. And yet ...

Ketterer Kunst GmbH & Co, KG, Munich, reports that the position of the art market in Germany is stable. According to spokesperson Michaela Derra, contrary to the price beating some international auction houses are taking, the German auction houses have not experienced this. She credits this to selling to an exclusive, established and growing market of art lovers, not investors.

Water has an undeniable allure. We gravitate toward the tranquil lapping of rivers, lakes and oceans as an escape from our landlocked lives. We imagine strolling the beach footage of our waterfront home or retiring to a tiny cottage by the sea.

But what would it be like to live directly on the water? And not just in a seasonal yacht or houseboat, but in a spacious, sleekly designed, year-round home?

“Since I was a kid, I always dreamed of living on the water, designing a house that would sit directly on the water,” German architect Martin André Förster told Auction Central News.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Förster’s design for a floating events platform was built. He toyed with the idea of placing a house on such a platform, further developing this concept until 2001, when he designed the first “Floating Home.”