Museum of Art Lucerne Opens Silence: A Selection of Works from the Collection
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, October 10, 2024


Museum of Art Lucerne Opens Silence: A Selection of Works from the Collection
Ferdinand Hodler, Der Tag, um 1900/1910. Öl auf Leinwand, 170 x 368 cm. Kunstmuseum Luzern, Depositum der Bernhard Eglin-Stiftung.



LUCERNE.- With its new exhibition, Museum of Art Lucerne is continuing the tried and trusted form of the changing exhibition presentation. The combination of works of art in various media and eras under a common theme has become a genuine trademark of the museum. The selected theme links the works together in an open dialogue. Familiar works can be rediscovered in this changing environment, unfamiliar or newly acquired works are being presented to the interested public either in a new way in the context of the collection or for the first time.

Peace and quiet invite reflection about the here and now. This exhibition combines selected contemporary art-works, including recent groups of works by artists such as Ugo Rondinone, Rémy Markowitsch and Berlinde de Bruyckere, with paintings by the great classics of Swiss art, Robert Zünd, Ferdinand Hodler and Hans Emmenegger. Whether they be paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos or installations, all the exhibited works are distinguished by an element of silence, in both form and content they deal with silence and create a meditative effect.

The depiction of human beings in situations of motionlessness assumes great significance in art. Sleep and death are two favourite motifs. Thus, for example, Ferdinand Hodler’s painting ‘The Day’ shows awakening and the beginning day. Berlinde de Bruyckere’s sculpture ‘Robin V.’ falls within the long tradition of depictions of dead people (and the dead Christ). In a glass vitrine lies the body of a hybrid creature, we see the legs and torso of an emaciated man, instead of arms branches grow from his trunk. The figure’s wax skin, even though it looks so incredibly real, calls to mind a mythical being. Might this male variation on Daphne transformed into a tree be brought back to life?

‘The Day’, Hodler’s main work in the collection of the Museum of Art Lucerne has recently been extensively restored, and is now being shown for the first time again in Lucerne after the retrospectives in Paris and Berne. The painting stands in a long series revealing the artist’s preoccupation with symbolist themes as well as the duality of male and female figures. While in its pendant, ‘The Night’, of 1890 91,
Hodler gave visible form to sleep and nightmares, in his night paintings Ugo Rondinone places the infinite silence of nothingness at the centre. Three monumental paintings show an imaginary the night sky, made on three successive days in September 2008. These are joined by two sculptural moon-face masks from Rondinone’s ‘Moonrise’ series.

But we also encounter silence in the depiction of the deserted landscape. It is no coincidence that at the end of the 19th century Robert Zünd’s paintings capture a world that blanks out both noise and the speed of an increasingly technologised world. In formal terms Zünd is a realist, in terms of content an idealist. His art shows us today how far removed we are from nature; his forest paintings recall moments of stillness that are now a rarity.

Christoph Rütimann’s 28-meter long drawing, which hangs from the ceiling as a space within the space, is comparable to a gigantic musical score. The lines running over several meters are like melodies, soundmovements, arpeggios and staccatoes. We are in a sound-space, we ‘see’ notes – and hear nothing. The drawing produced in 1990 for the large hall of the old Kunsthaus is being shown here for the first time in the new Museum of Art.

Finally, the photographic works provide a particular take on the subject of silence. Large groups of works by James Welling, Beat Streuli and Rémy Markowitsch are being shown. More than any other medium, photography is capable of freezing even the most dramatic scenes into a moment of silence and stasis. The idea of capturing the moment so that the image doesn’t look boring, but resembles a snapshot that prompts reflection on the before and after, has always been a challenge for artists and remains one of the great fascinations of visual art. Likewise, as they stroll around the exhibition, visitors will find themselves engaging in a debate with the here and now.

With works by
Robert Zünd (1827–1909), Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918), Hans Emmenegger (1866–1940), Aldo Walker (1938–2000) Heinz Brand (*1944) Richard Long (*1945), James Welling (*1951), Christoph Rütimann (*1955), Rémy Markowitsch (*1957), Jörg Niederberger (*1957), Beat Streuli (*1957), Martin Walde (*1957), Rosemary Laing (*1959), Patrick Rohner (*1959), Adrian Schiess (*1959), Ugo Rondinone (*1962), Berlinde de Bruyckere (*1964), USA United Swiss Artists (Martin Frei, Rebecca Schmid, Christoph Draeger, Urs Lehmann, *1966/*1968/*1965/*1966), Smith/Stewart (*1968/*1961)





Museum of Art Lucerne | Robert Zünd | Ferdinand Hodler | Hans Emmenegger | Aldo Walker | Heinz Brand | Richard Long | James Welling |





Today's News

July 4, 2009

First U.S. Exhibition of Venetian Renaissance Sculptor Tullio Lombardo at National Gallery

Bonhams Old Master Sale Offers Best Of The Grand Tour With Paintings by Classic Artists

Leading Artists and Thinkers Gather in Charles Darwin's Home Town to Celebrate his Lasting Legacy

Linked Hybrid by Steven Holl Architects Named 2009 "Best Tall Building" in Asia & Australia Category

Maurice de Vlaminck, a Fauve Instinct: Paintings from 1900 to 1915 on View at Caixaforum Barcelona

Dali Collection in Florida to Move to Hurricane-proof Building

Museum of Art Lucerne Opens Silence: A Selection of Works from the Collection

Jewish Museum Announces Reinventing Ritual: Contemporary Art and Design for Jewish Life

Joslyn Art Museum Presents an Exhibition of Devotional Images Called Retablos

Aperture Foundation Announces Winners of the Strand's First Ever Photography Contest

The Ashmolean Museum Acquires an Extensive Collection of Drawings by Tom Phillips RA

Weapons Collection, Witness of Mexican History

What Are You Like? Self-revealing Artworks by People in the Public Eye

Corcoran Presents Claudia Smigrod, Neighborhood Watch

New Orleans Museum of Art to Present Skylar Fein: Youth Manifesto

The National Gallery of Australia to be "Stitched Up" by a Tag Crew of Knitters as Part of a Festival

D Documenta: A Two-day Conference Towards Documeta 13

2008 Grange Prize Winner Sarah Anne Johnson Debuts Emotionally Charged New Exhibition at the AGO this Weekend

British Artist Richard Woods Whimsically Transforms Various Structural Elements at City Hall.

Call for Applications - Kuenstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful