BERLIN.- The Deutsche Bank KunstHalle is presenting: Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modernist the first comprehensive survey exhibition in Germany of the Brazilian artist and landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx.
In his native Brazil, Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994), along with the architects Oscar Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa, is revered as a pioneer of Modernism. His garden designs for the capital Brasília and, above all, his works in Rio de Janeiro have had a lasting impact on the face of these cities. Burle Marx’s revolutionary landscape architecture, which is oriented to abstract painting, has an international reputation even today.
During his over sixty-year career, he designed more than 2,000 gardens around the world. Among his most important are the gardens of the Ministry of Education and Health built by Niemeyer, Costa and Le Corbusier (1938), Flamengo Park (1961), and the wavelike paving of Avenida Atlântica (1970) in Copacabana.
Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modernist, which had its premiere at The Jewish Museum, New York, in 2016, illustrates the full range of his artistic production, seen in Germany for the first time, and erases boundaries between the different media and disciplines. Burle Marx was not only a landscape architect, but also a sculptor, set designer, designer, and environmental activist.
His universal way of thinking is still inspiring generations today. In the show, his art enters into dialogue with works by international contemporary artists, including Juan Araujo, Paloma Bosquê, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Veronika Kellndorfer, Luisa Lambri, Arto Lindsay, Nick Mauss, and Beatriz Milhazes.
The exhibition, curated by Jens Hoffmann, Director of Special Exhibitions and Public Programs, and Claudia J. Nahson, Morris and Eva Feld Curator (both at The Jewish Museum, New York), highlights Roberto Burle Marx’s profound humanism and spirituality - the idea of a modern Garden of Eden that inspired him throughout his life.
The Jewish Museum and Yale University Press co-published the catalogue Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modernist with contributions by Jens Hoffmann and Claudia J. Nahson. It is available at the ArtShop of the KunstHalle with an insert in German.
