BERLIN.- Galerie Michael Haas opened two solo exhibitions on Gallery Weekend. In Niebuhrstrasse Michael Haas is presenting paintings by Francis Picabia and woodcuts by Franz Gertsch, in the new Kunst Lager Haas paintings by Gertsch can be seen.

By exhibiting Francis Picabia (1879 -1953), who will have a retrospectives next year in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Kunsthaus Zürich, Galerie Michael Haas presents one of the 20th century’s most fascinating artist.

Francis Picabia was an eccentric, a free thinker and a passionate painter. For a long time, he made it difficult for art historians and critics, who like to classify, assign and seek continuity in an artist’s work. He enthralled his public time and again over the decades, and the quality and innovative power of his art has long been beyond dispute. Hardly any other 20th century artist possesses an œuvre as divergent as that of Picabia. He was repeatedly inspired by leading artists, for instance in Paris and New York, and experimented with various styles – from Impressionism, to Cubism, Surrealism and even Dadaism and Realism. He was often a trailblazer, initiator or leading protagonist – for example amongst the Dadaists in Paris. Nothing bored him more than adhering to one school of thought for too long or falling victim to an ‘ism’. The Frenchman inspired subsequent generations of artists, such as Sigmar Polke, Martin Kippenberger, David Salle and Julian Schnabel. Our exhibition will show a cross section of his work.

Galerie Michael Haas is also presenting works by the Swiss artists Franz Gertsch (*1930), who has recently celebrated his 85th birthday. His paintings can be found in international museums, including the Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

Large format woodcuts by the conceptual realist were exhibited for the first time in Berlin by the gallery as early as 1988. Paintings from 1973 – 2014 can be seen in the newly inaugurated Kunst Lager Haas in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In addition to works lent by the artist, there are also paintings from the Museum Franz Gertsch, the Sprengel Museum Hannover and private collections. Two early paintings of hippie culture, a portrait and early nature pieces can be seen. Woodcuts will be exhibited in the Galerie Michael Haas in Niebuhrstrasse. With a rarely seen precision and monumentality – the works measure in some instances more than three meters – Gertsch gives this traditional medium an entirely new dimension.