ST.GALLEN.- The visionary work of the Austrian-Liechtenstein artist Anne Marie Jehle (Feldkirch, 1937–2000, Vaduz) encompasses a wide range of media including sculpture and installation, painting, drawing, photography and text. A critical examination of social structures and power dynamics, especially those concerning female identity and gender roles, lies at the core of her practice.

Jehle gained international recognition in the 1970s, when her work was situated within the context of the feminist avant-garde and the Fluxus movement. In the mid 1980s, she withdrew from public life, abruptly halting her artistic career.

Her ability to transform everyday objects and personal experiences into powerful works of art gives her work a continued relevance, especially amid today’s discussions on gender and self-determination in art.

To mark a generous donation from the Anne Marie Jehle Foundation, Vaduz, in 2021, the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen is showcasing the significant oeuvre of this underrepresented artist. The exhibition has been made possible thanks to generous loans from private collections as well as from the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Frauenmuseum Hittisau, SAMMLUNG VERBUND, Vienna, and Kontakt Collection, Vienna.

A publication accompanying the exhibition, to be released through Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich, will feature contributions from Nadia Veronese, Senior Curator at Kunstmuseum St. Gallen; Letizia Ragaglia, Director of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, in conversation with gallerist Wilma Lock; and Dagmar Streckel, former director of the Anne Marie Jehle Foundation. The publication will provide in-depth insights into various aspects of Jehle’s artistic oeuvre.

Anne Marie Jehle worked obsessively and experimentally. Her oeuvre aligns with the feminist avant-garde of the 1970s, and its actualization of artistic self-empowerment places it in the context of radical female sculptors like Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) and Alina Szapocznikow (1926–1973), who also drew great inspiration from personal experience. Jehle’s work was also influenced by the Neo-Dada, Fluxus, Happening and Conceptual Art movements. Her art consistently conveys subversive critiques of gender-specific power structures, with contradictory gender roles in both private and global contexts often parodied with ironic humor. She brilliantly subverted the male-dominated art world, addressing the cult of genius and gender relations by referencing historically significant artists.

Jehle’s childhood home in Feldkirch served as the base and center of her artistic production, as well as a retreat from the outside world. In 1965, she began creating her artistic works, exhibiting and storing them in the house. The uncanny and oppressive feelings associated with familiar, sheltered spaces became recurring motifs, often expanding to fill entire rooms within the house. The themes of the body, womanhood, sensuality, and eroticism were fundamental to her artistic practice, as were explorations of gender stereotypes, feminism, and personal identity. She remained active until she gave up her life as an artist. In the mid 1980s, she withdrew from the art world, sealing up her house and studio in a radical final act. She traveled to the USA in 1989, living on the East Coast until 1993. After returning from the USA, she lived in Liechtenstein until her death in 2000. Like the American conceptual and performance artist Lee Lozano (1930–1999), Jehle decisively turned away from the art world, only to be rediscovered after her death.