Fritz Winter
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
Ernst Schwitters
Alfred Ehrhardt
Willy Zielke
Oliver Kase
Anna Ruhl
Licht-Bilder. Fritz Winter and Abstract Photography. For the first time ever, his paintings are being presented in juxtaposition with the pioneering photograms of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and a selection of the earliest abstract photos from international collections. More than 60 loans turn the dialogue between abstract painting and photography into a tangible experience.
Curated by Oliver Kase and Anna Rühl
This exhibition of the painted »light pictures« (Licht-Bilder) by Fritz Winter
(1905–1976) in the Pinakothek der Moderne is devoted to the artist’s early work
which has seldom been shown up until now. For the first time ever, his
paintings are being presented in juxtaposition with the pioneering photograms
of the Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy and a selection of the earliest
abstract photographs from international collections. More than 60 loans turn
the dialogue between abstract painting and photography into a tangible
experience.
László Moholy-Nagy advocated a »New Vision« at the Bauhaus in the 1920s that
was to apply to painting, photography and film to an equal degree. This
methodical approach to aesthetics spanning all media was also adopted by the
Bauhaus pupil Fritz Winter. His experimental »light painting« straddles urban
lighting, late Expressionist light imagery, Constructivist sculpture and scientific
research. X-rays, radioactivity and microphotography made it possible to
perceive previously unknown sources of energy and natural phenomena.
In his pictures of light and crystals created in 1934–36, Fritz Winter devoted
himself with exceptional skill to a variety of aspects such as the reflection,
radiation and refraction of light. The »Licht« (Light) series of drafts shown in the
exhibition, now in a private collection, is central to this period of work.
Created for the Folkwang Competition in 1934, the paintings’ monochrome colouring
and the orchestration of contrasting light and dark as well as transparent
areas, display the characteristic qualities of abstract photography.
In the 1910s, artists were already experimenting with the most varied of
photographic processes and exploring photography’s inherent qualities beyond
the merely objective. The vortographs made in 1917 by Alvin Langdon Coburn
shown in the exhibition represent the first completely abstract photographs
ever taken. In addition, the American Francis Bruguière’s unique cut paper
abstractions are also to be seen. László Moholy-Nagy’s famous photograms are
exhibited along with Ernst Schwitters’ cameraless photographs. Large-format
prints made by the crystal photographer Alfred Ehrhardt himself document the
aesthetic peak of »crystal euphoria« in the 1930s. Abstract glass compositions
by Willy Zielke complement the selection of works with the further, photo-
historically important position of New Objectivity.
The exhibition combines 25 exceptional paintings by Fritz Winter from German
museums and private collections as well as 40 photographs from international
collections. Lenders include the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the George Eastman
House, Rochester, New York, the Fritz-Winter-Haus, Ahlen, the Museum
Folkwang, Essen, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, the Kurt und
Ernst Schwitters Stiftung, Hanover, the Neue Galerie, Kassel, the Kunsthalle
Mannheim, the Ann and Jürgen Wilde Foundation in the Pinakothek der
Moderne, Munich, the Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften München
and the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.
At the exhibition opening, the Fritz Winter Prize will be awarded to the art
historian and expert in visual culture Prof. Dr. Horst Bredekamp for the project
»Das technische Bild« that he spearheads at the Hermann von Helmholtz-
Zentrum für Kulturtechnik at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Further information on the Franz Winter Foundation and the exhibition can be
found on the Foundation’s new website, www.fritz-winter-stiftung.de that will
be available from 31 October, 2012.
Further information and images are available by calling Phone + 49 (0)89 238051321 or via Email at press-office@pinakothek.de.
Press Department at the Pinakothek Museums
Tine Nehler M.A.
Leitung Presse & Kommunikation | Head of Press Department
Pinakotheken im Kunstareal | Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen
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P + 49 (0)89 23805-1321 | F + 49 (0)89 23805-125
Email: presse@pinakothek.de
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Image: LICHT-BILDER. FRITZ WINTER UND DIE ABSTRAKTE FOTOGRAFIE, Fritz Winter, Stufungen, 1934, Oil on Paper on Canvas, 100,5 x 75,5 cm, © Konrad Knöpfel-Stiftung Fritz Winter im Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Press preview: 08.11.2012, 11.00
Opening: 08.11.2012, 19.00
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