Robert Ryman
Andy Warhol
Sigmar Polke
Daniel Buren
Jorg Immendorff
Olivier Mosset
On Kawara
Gerhard Richter
John Armleder
Herbert Brandl
Raoul de Keyser
Gunther Forg
Bernard Frize
Gary Hume
Martin Kippenberger
Renee Levi
Sherrie Levine
Laura Owens
Adrian Schiess
Luc Tuymans
Chuck Close
Tim Gardner
Antje Majewski
Lucie McKenzie
Sarah Morris
Wilhelm Sasnal
Xie Nanxing
A three part exhibition. Painting is the most important medium of 20th-century visual art. This is where artistic trends, contradictions and diversity take their most visible, violent and subtle form. Selected works from the Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel and major loans from international museums and private collections open up broad, exciting vistas.
Kunstmuseum Basel
I. A Century of Contemporary Painting (1900-2000)
Painting is the most important medium of 20th-century visual art. This is where artistic
trends, contradictions and diversity take their most visible, violent and subtle form.
Selected works from the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel and major loans from
international museums and private collections open up broad, exciting vistas. Viewers
can experience first-hand the incredible density, dynamics, indeed drama of the
painterly questioning of the world, the painterly invention of the world, from the
beginning of the 20th century to the dawn of the new millennium.
Each painting in the expanse of rooms reserved for the exhibition represents certain
artistic innovations in the traditional-laden medium. Displayed in a loosely knit
chronology and with shifting points of view, this dialogic array of works visualises a
continuous process, rather than presenting a linear record of art history. Through their
juxtaposition and sequence, the paintings reveal discontinuities and contrapositions,
but also fluid transitions, uniting the seemingly irreconcilable in new syntheses and
visual experiences.
__________
Museum of Contemporary Art Basel
II. There Is No Final Picture - Painting after 1968
Already prior to, but especially after 1968, the death of painting was repeatedly
proclaimed. But it never happened. In fact the myth of the demise of painting, the
allegation that it is antiquated and even reactionary, merely provoked artists to answer
back by exploring new dimensions of painting. In some cases, concentration on the
medium itself prevails as in the work of Robert Ryman; for other artists like Andy
Warhol, the mediated counter-image provides the stimulus, and for still others a
calculated irony comes into play as with Sigmar Polke.
Further works by Daniel Buren, Jörg Immendorff, Olivier Mosset, On Kawara and
Gerhard Richter will serve as points of crystallisation. The main focus, however, is on
larger groups of work by such artists as John Armleder, Herbert Brandl, Raoul de
Keyser, Günther Förg, Bernard Frize, Gary Hume, Martin Kippenberger, Renée Levi,
Sherrie Levine, Laura Owens, Adrian Schiess and Luc Tuymans, which demonstrate
how painting has found new dynamic paths between abstraction and realism,
intellectual concept and direct sensuality.
____________
Kunsthalle Basel
III. After Reality - Realism and Current Painting
The modern treatment of pictures was marked by the rivalry between painting and
photography, and this dialogue is apparently still in progress. Until very recently the
belief still held sway that the practice of photography had nullified the need for
verisimilitude in painting, that painting could at best reflect on the photographic image
and on the picture in general; the direct representation of reality seemed to have been
definitively banned from painting.
We now observe how intensely young artists are probing the painted representation
of reality through their study of photography and the electronic images generated by
the new media. New concepts of realistic art are beginning to emerge. The exhibition
in the Kunsthalle shows current positions of 23 artists, including Chuck Close, Tim
Gardner, Antje Majewski, Lucie McKenzie, Sarah Morris, Wilhelm Sasnal and Xie
Nanxing.
____________
Catalog
Stiftung Patronatskomitee Kunstmuseum Basel
LOCATIONS:
Kunstmuseum Basel
St. Alban-Graben 16
CH-4010 Basel
Tel. +41 (0)61 206 62 62
Info.-Tel. +41 (0)61 206 62 32
Führungen +41 (0)61 206 62 42
Fax +41 (0)61 206 62 52
Di, Do-So 10-17, Mi
10-19
Museum für
Gegenwartskunst Basel
St. Alban Rheinweg 60
CH-4010 Basel
Tel. +41 (0)61 206 62 62
Info.-Tel. +41 (0)61 206 62 32
Führungen +41 (0)61 206 62 42
Fax +41 (0)61 206 62 53
http://www.mgkbasel.ch
Di, Do-So 11-17, Mi
11-19
Kunsthalle Basel
Steinenberg 7
CH-4051 Basel
Tel. +41 (0)61 206 99 00
Fax +41 (0)61 206 99 19
http://www.kunsthallebasel.ch
Di, Do-So 11-17, Mi 11-20.30