Like many other European countries, murals are common in Switzerland. I've no idea why some countries go in for it and others not. Maybe it's climate, or the predominant construction techniques, or the expense.
Anyway, here's some on the facade of the Schweizer Heimatwerk shop in Zurich
(click image for larger version)
The Kunsthaus recently had an exhibition showing how the building complex had been developed from it's original small origins. This is relevant given the new planned extension designed by David Chipperfield.
One of the parts of the exhibition showed the Sculpture gallery, with photographs which I unfortunately failed to capture before the exhibit closed. But anyway, here it is in it's current incarnation - not much different from the original, but what I found interesting was the emphasis on direct, if diffuse, light. This was part of the original concept. I like the way that this allows strong modelling of the objects. Too often for me gallery sculpture is rendered anaemic by flat lighting. I much prefer outdoor sculpture where the natural, and changing light gives the forms an ever-changing life.
In 1932 the Kunsthaus in Zurich mounted Picasso's first museum exhibition. Now they've recreated it. You can find out more on the website
http://www.kunsthaus.ch/picasso/
I haven't been to see it yet - the crowds have been overwhelming at the normally sedate and peaceful Kunsthaus. Shows how the big names are still a draw. I'm a bit ambivalent about this phenomenon. Other artists often remain unjustly overshadowed.
The town is also awash with Pablo-mania. Bookshops and art shops are making the most of it. As usual with these exhibitions the choice of expo poster to advertise it gradually becomes an icon in our daily life as we encounter it everywhere in different guises. For this show it is this photograph, which I've already shown in another post. I like it because it is so contrary to our normal image of PIcasso. He reminds me of the hitman from "No Country for Old Men".
That immediately recognisable piercing stare under a full Bobby Charlton... hang on a mo...
In the endless struggle to organise my photographs I've arrived at the "Galleries" section. I find galleries a great source for photographs. Like airports, there is interesting light and architecture, and human beings engaged in unnatural activities. Expect a few related examples in the following days. This is from an exhibition at the Museum Tinguely in Basel back in 2006. I forget the name of the artist, but I guess this has something to do with the Last Supper.
The museum is a must visit for anyone interested in the arts - both as an exemplary piece of gallery architecture, and for the legacy of the quirky, but fun, Swiss artist.
Thomas Struth: Photographs 1978 - 2010 is on show at the Kunsthaus Zürich until September 2010. As with Andreas Gursky at Basel in 2008 I arrived with some suitably jaundiced and cynical preconceptions, but left feeling for the most part convinced.
The show is well organized, illustrating the main projects and themes that inform Struth's work. From a purely objective level it is visually very enjoyable - a bit on the lines of "well, you don't see something like that every day" but there are also many other areas to explore, and thoughts to disentangle.
Thomas Struth. Audience 7, Florenz, 2004 C-Print, 179,5 x 288,3 cm Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf © Thomas Struth(Image courtesy of Kunsthaus Zurich)
As you enter the exhibition you are faced with a panoramic image, floor to ceiling, blocking the entrance, where people in some sort of institution gaze back in the direction of the photographer at something high above his head. Their absorption, and their seeming ignorance, or indifference, to the presence of the photographer makes you want to turn your head and search for whatever it is that has caught, and held, their interest.
You are forced to confront this, and navigate around it to enter the main exhibition space where the first series of images are from Struth's Museum and Gallery series where groups of tourists wander around among iconic art looking like so many fish in an aquarium, apparently disengaged from what surrounds them. Of course the joke is on us. After all, aren't we here to gaze and gawp as well? These images strike a chord with me - whenever I stop to consider it I find the whole gallery-going experience a rather bizarre activity.
Thomas Struth. Museo del Prado 7, Madrid, 2005 C-Print, 177,5 x 218,6 cm. Atelier Thomas Struth. © Thomas Struth. (Image courtesy of Kunsthaus Zurich)
The Prado image has I suppose several layers of this sort of thing. "Las Meninas" on the right shows the sitters being painted, some looking at the artist, who himself is reflected in the background observing the whole scene, the whole lot looking out at the mostly uninterested spectators, while the photographer ponders it all, apparently unobserved.
There's a lot more diversity in this show than these images demonstrate of course, so I'll try and and come back and look at the other themes in later posts
I think I've posted photos of these mischievous cherubs before on the old blog. What amuses me, and cheers me up, is that they adorn the exterior of the (presumably) more serious Zürich Town Council buildings
You know, I really don't have time for all this posing.....
The latest exhibition at the Kunsthaus opened yesterday. Entitled "Figur in Raum" or "Figure in Space" it showcases the French artist Georges Seurat. I hadn't been looking forward to it with much anticipation, but my customary 5 minute inspection which I give to all new exhibitions here proved surprising. My first reaction was "where are all the pictures?" The majority are so small that you could be mistaken for thinking that they had hung the place cards up and forgot about the paintings. The picture that announces the work on large posters around town, the Eiffel tower, is actually only 25cm x 15cm - ie a bit larger than half an A4 sheet.... I expected something much more imposing, in keeping with Gustave's 324m icon.My ignorance of Seurat was compounded as I tried a quick survey to find out how his style had developed during his lifetime - no "late style" here, he died when he was 31. What I found most intriguing was the large number of black charcoal sketches, many of solitary figures silhouetted or highlighted by chiaroscura effects in some way, and obviously the theme that inspired the exhibition's title. Quite a nice photographic analogy to be developed here, I think.
Here is one his most famous paintings, at least to me it is the most familiar.
It is however to my mind uncharacteristic of the work on show as a whole. It is large-ish, and complex-ish. I'll come back to this when I have had a chance to absorb the show in more detail, but I'm pleased that it looks like turning out to be a better feast that I'd imagined.
A famous German, Hegel, whom I won't name, was of the opinion that Greek tragedy cut to the core of things, and that the later usurper Shakespeare spent too much time dressing his dramatis personae up in needless, and frivolous, characterisation. Beneath the possibly obvious art and simplicity of the Greek tragedy, all the subtleties of the human condition are there to be examined and exposed.
This is how I feel about B+W photography compared with colour. It may well not coincide with other people's views - please feel free to argue.
It is small, welcoming, has a world class collection - and they allow photography!
http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/index.shtml
Sounding like some kind of pop group, this is nonetheless a new exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zurich, juxtaposing the Swiss sculptor's work with Egyptian pieces from Berlin. Most of the Giacomettis are familiar, belonging as they do in the collection here. I had a very quick first look around today and it was intriguing to see the obvious influences. All the following images are provided kindly by the Kunsthaus.
This bust of Akhenaton is from c. 1340 BC and is fashioned from painted stucco.
Giacometti made these sketches in 1921.
Finally a self portrait from the same year. There is a striking similarity, no? He was greatly influenced by the art of ancient Egypt, and this little exhibition is a fascinating way to examine that dialogue. One of those where you can dip your toe in a little and often and new insights will come to light. More later.
No, not another music item, although anyone wanting some 60's nostalgia can go here.
Carnival is over in Venice for another year, has been for a while actually - it's touristy, unauthentic, I like it, and I missed it this year. But I came across this image from 2007 and thought I'd post it as a substitute.
I have many photos of carnival masks and costumes, and this one has always been a bit of a curates egg for me. I'm not sure if the lopsided composition can be fixed or not, or if it's even a problem. Should have been done right at the time of shooting naturally. However it still has something and I like it, so here it is.
(I've tried lots of crops, believe me, but it seems to me that an obvious crop of the right side doesn't work, although feel free to suggest anything, or even agree with me)
It has been suggested that the myth was concocted by the Greeks in an attempt to legitimise their fondness for young boys. Artists have used the Ganymede story regularly since Hellenic times and that brings me back to the statue at Burkliplatz. Hubacher has turned things around and shows Ganymede imploring the eagle/Zeus to carry him aloft. Ganymede balances on one leg, with his left heel barely touching the ground, ready for lift off. The eagle doesn't seem so sure...
There is a much more detailed and scholarly write up in the wikipedia entry
This post was recycled from an item first published back in September 2006, but I wanted to mention Am Romerholz on this blog so I took the easy route, with some editing to make me feel I had put in a bit of effort.
Switzerland is fortunate to have many small galleries and private collections open to the public. These are the perfect antidote to the "Big Shows". One of the best is the Oskar Reinhart foundation at "Am Romerholz" near Winterthur. Small, quiet, intimate, with a world class collection. It has just closed for a period of refurbishment unfortunately, but visit it on a quiet day and you would have the place to yourself. I went back recently to look at a couple of pictures from the collection. I'd seen some reproductions and wanted to reassure myself that the originals were as good as I remembered. (The reproductions here are not particularly good quality)
Renoir's "Young women talking" is one of his early style, "peaches and cream" paintings. It is possible to tire of them because of endless familiarity - chocolate boxes, posters, calendars etc. However they still impress me, especially when seen in the flesh. I like this particularly painting because it has a certain photographic quality. It captures an instant, ( decisive moment), as two young women exchange some talk, or a secret or a joke or whatever. Like photographs of this genre, although it freezes an instant, it also evokes the situation and atmosphere surrounding what is going on so that our imagination is able to expand the experience. We feel we are party to it - almost as if we were there.
The painting is also physically very beautiful. It hums gently with the light and smells and sounds of a summer garden. No reproduction could come close.
The second painting is one of Goya's very few still-lifes. It simply shows three salmon steaks dumped on a slab, stark against a shadowy background. This however is a powerful image, especially contrasted with other examples of the genre. It was painted between 1808 and 1812 when Goya was much affected and involved in the events of the Peninsular war.
This resulted in paintings such as "The Third of May" and later the dark and disturbing "Disasters of War" series of aquatints. This still life anticipates these, and is perhaps even more powerful because of its allegorical nature. We can imagine these pieces of salmon as the hacked limbs of victims piled in the gloom on some battlefield or other. Human beings as butchered meat. There is no attempt to prettify the scene with domestic accessories such as you find in similar paintings, and I think Goya's intention is clear. When you come across this painting in the exhibition it has quite an impact.
If you live in Switzerland, and are interested in art, the Swiss Museum pass is a good idea. Free entrance to virtually all museums and galleries in the country. See http://www.museumspass.ch/.
The Kunsthaus in Zürich is holding a Friedrich Kuhn retrospective until 1st March. All the following images are supplied courtesy of Kunsthaus Zurich.
Kuhn (1926-72) was unknown to me. I discovered an artist who was a central fixture in the culture of 60's and 70's art in Switzerland and Zurich in particular. You can also see the influences of the contemporary international pop-art movement.
Another recurring theme is the incorporation of furniture like motifs.
His father was a cabinetmaker I think. A child of his time he lived and died the artists life without ever leaving the region, physically or artistically. This gives his work some resonance and truthfulness that it might not have if he had become an internationalist.
This rather good photo was taken by his friend the Swiss artist HR Giger (of Alien "fame") shortly before his death from alcoholism in 1972 at the age of 46.
The media and techniques are varied. He seems just to have used whatever seemed appropriate. A lot of collage with contemporary media and advertising references, but also some nicely crafted drawings
Some of the large direct colourful paintings on show make an immediate graphic impact when you visit the show, but I didn't make much sense of his work until I read a bit more about him, and the context of his art. Some art speaks entirely for itself, and requires no context. Other art speaks with different voices depending on whether you engage with the context and whether you understand and interpret the context the same way as someone else might for example. Sometimes the context is there as an invisible factor, sometimes it is more direct as with Kuhn. A lot of his work makes references to his own life and what is going on around him.
This is much better explained in the handout that goes with the exhibition
Readers of the old blog will know I'm a regular visitor to the Kunsthaus in Zürich. This is an interesting example of how an art collection has developed and is presented to the public - I'll reserve that for a future post.
Image courtesy of Kunsthaus Zurich and © David Chipperfield Associates.
Over the past few years an extension to the Kunsthaus has been in the pipeline, and the winner of the competition to design the new building was announced recently. David Chipperfield Associates, from England was the successful architect. This is an idea of the new design.
The Kunsthaus had a public display of the competition short list and I spent some time looking around it. I studied architecture for a few years and it brought back memories.
Image courtesy of Kunsthaus Zurich and © David Chipperfield Associates.
I now realise that what attracted me to architecture was the mystery and magic of architectural drawings. How they seemed to hold the key to something. Almost like a mathematical equation. This hare-brained approach was probably the reason I never made a success of my studies.
More on this later once I've had a chance to look at it a bit more
