Marlene Dumas
Caroll Dunham
Jorg Immendorff
Mike Kelley
Per Kirkeby
Markus Lupertz
Rosemarie Trockel
Carla Schulz-Hoffmann
The exhibition presents some 120 major works of contemporary art collected by the Stoffels from the 1970s onwards. The cosmos which the collection encompasses traces important developments of German and American art from the 1960s up to the '90s: examples of new developments in painting are represented by artists such as Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke and Jorg Immendorff. One of the focal elements of the American part of the collection is instead on the works of David Salle, whose collage-like works, with their many facetted pictures of reality, are made up from a mixture of stylistic means, quotations and spontaneous gestural elements.
curated by Carla Schulz-Hoffmann
Passionately provocative major works of contemporary art were collected by
the Stoffels from the 1970s onwards.
‘Passionately Provocative’: the Modern Art Collection at the Pinakothek der
Moderne is now showing a large part of this splendid collection for the very
first time with some 120 works exhibited over more than 1,200 m2.
From the 1970s onwards, Michael and Eleonore Stoffel worked on building up
an exceptional collection with clear objectives and a sense for the unique
qualities of each artist. The cosmos which the collection encompasses traces
important developments of German and American art from the 1960s up to the
’90s: examples of new developments in painting are represented by artists
such as Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke and Jörg Immendorff, whose ironic
subversive early ‘Lidl’ works are particularly worthy of mention.
Extensive bodies of works by artists including A.R. Penck, Markus Lüpertz
and Günter Förg, have helped to shape the Stoffel Collection. Works by the
‘Neue Wilden’ (such as Albert and Markus Oehlen, Martin Kippenberger, Walter
Dahn and Jiri Georg Dokoupil) complement the focus on German artists. All of
these represent an important supplement to the works already in the
Pinakothek der Moderne, built up from the collection of HRH Duke Franz of
Bavaria, PIN. Friends of the Pinakothek der Moderne and the museum’s own
selective acquisitions.
A particularly important new accent has been set by Rosemarie Trockel’s
pictures, objects and room installations executed in various media, in which
the artist focuses on the relationship between the sexes, the affinity
between mankind and nature and the phenomena of perception in general.
Apart from the works of Carroll Dunham and Terry Winters, one of the focal
elements of the American part of the collection is on the works of David
Salle, whose collage-like works, with their many facetted pictures of
reality, are made up from a mixture of stylistic means, quotations and
spontaneous gestural elements.
A special place has been dedicated to installations by Mike Kelley, an
artist whose sources of inspiration are to be found far from what is
generally acceptable, at the bottom of the social scale. Another facet of
the Stoffel Collection can be seen in the South African Marlene Dumas’s
subtle but provocative paintings.
Although thematically and stylistically very varied, the Stoffel Collection
has a number of elements that link the different works together: on the one
hand there is the examination of painting and the radical challenge it has
faced under changing historical conditions; on the other hand there is the
expansion of formal means in installational processes and pictorial
concepts. What is especially noticeable is a particular sensitivity for
socio-political questions.
After Dr. Michael Stoffel’s death in June 2005, his wife Eleonore, who died
in 2007, put all her strength into continuing their common patronage of the
arts and securing the future of the collection, as intended. Udo Brandhorst,
whose own collection now forms a museum to be opened in early 2009 within
the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, played a decisive role before
negotiations were first held in successfully ensuring that the Stoffel
Collection could come to Munich. The paintings and installations are now in
the possession of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen while, with their
agreement, it was possible to secure the sculptures for the Skulpturenpark
in Cologne.
With its introductory essays and a richly illustrated presentation and
explanation of the works, the accompanying catalogue traces the history and
focal points of the collection in great depth. The catalogue and exhibition
can, as such, be seen as a homage to two exceptional collectors.
Image: Jörg Immendorff | For all the beloved in the world, 1966
Press Preview: 19.11.2008, 11
Opening: 19.11.2008, 19
Pinakothek der Moderne
Barer Strasse 40 - Munich