Constantin Brancusi and Richard Serra
Transcription
Constantin Brancusi and Richard Serra
Press Release Constantin Brancusi and Richard Serra May 22 to August 21, 2011 The Fondation Beyeler is devoting its large summer exhibition to the art of Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) and Richard Serra (b. 1939), two of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century. Brancusi, born in Romania and a resident of Paris from 1904 onwards, reduced forms to the essentials and thus set the cornerstone for abstract sculpture. The American artist Serra redefined the effects of sculpture by means of minimalistic steel pieces which draw the viewer directly into the work. The phenomenon and presence of sculptural form in space are his prime theme. Taken together, the oeuvres of these two pioneers of European and American sculpture cover the period of over one hundred years in which modern sculpture developed. The essential aspects of Brancusi’s work are illuminated by about 40 exemplary pieces, arranged in the exhibition in various thematic groupings. Among the ensembles of works on view are different variants of the monolithic piece The Kiss, the poetic Children’s Heads, Sleeping Muses, female torsos, and the renowned Birds in Space, as well as the scandal-triggering Princess X, Adam and Eve, or the iconic Endless Column. Also, a photo cabinet contains a selection of twenty original photographs that provide insight into Brancusi’s own personal view of his art. The crucial recognition of an ideal presence in space, the question as to the essence of sculpture, is approached in a different if not less compelling way in ten sculptural works from different phases of Serra’s oeuvre. In addition, a new series of works on paper is on display. The selection of works, again arranged retrospectively, extends from Serra’s early pieces in rubber and lead, such as the Belts, 1966-67, and Lead Props, as well as his characteristic steel sculpture Strike: To Roberta and Rudy 1969-71 and Delineator (1974/75). The “curved piece” Olson, 1986, opens up another facet of Serra’s work. Fernando Pessoa’s, 2007-08, radical reduction stands for developments of recent years and simultaneously delineates an arc back to earlier works like Strike. Brancusi’s sculptural work is on view for the first time in Switzerland in retrospective form. Nor has Serra’s oeuvre previously been represented here so extensively. The loans to the exhibition stem from renowned private collections and public museums, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the Tate, London; the Musée National d’Art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Muzeul de Artǎ, Craiova; the Hamburger Kunsthalle; the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg; the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Kunsthaus Zurich. Curated by Oliver Wick, the Fondation Beyeler exhibition was conceived in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which is foreseen as the next venue (October 10, 2011 – April 15, 2012). The exhibition is accompanied by an abundantly illustrated scholarly catalogue, published in separate German, English and Spanish editions by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern. It contains essays by Oliver Wick, Friedrich Teja Bach, Alfred Pacquement, and Jacqueline Matisse Monnier, and commentaries by Raphaël Bouvier, Denise Ellenberger, Alexandra Parigoris, Ileana Parvu, Marielle Tabart, Michelle White, and Jon Wood, and biographies of the two artists. 244 pages, 176 illustrations, CHF 68, ISBN 978-3-905632-89-7. Richard Serra is represented by three outdoor sculptures in Basel and environs: Open Field Vertical / Horizontal Elevations at Wenken Park in Riehen/Basel, installed in 1980 in the context of “Sculpture in the 20th Century,” co-organized by Ernst Beyeler; the steel sculpture Intersection, installed in 1992 on Theaterplatz in Basel city center; and Dirk’s Pod, a steel piece unveiled in 2004 on the Novartis Campus, Basel. Press images accessible at http://pressimages.fondationbeyeler.ch Contact / Press Catherine Schott, Tel. + 41 (0)61 645 97 21, Fax. + 41 (0)61 645 97 39, [email protected] Fondation Beyeler opening hours: 10 am – 6 pm daily, Wednesdays to 8 pm Press Release Constantin Brancusi and Richard Serra May 22 to August 21, 2011 The Fondation Beyeler is devoting its large summer exhibition to the art of Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) and Richard Serra (b. 1939), two of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century. Brancusi, born in Romania and a resident of Paris from 1904 onwards, reduced forms to the essentials and thus set the cornerstone for abstract sculpture. The American artist Serra redefined the effects of sculpture by means of minimalistic steel pieces which draw the viewer directly into the work. The phenomenon and presence of sculptural form in space are his prime theme. Taken together, the oeuvres of these two pioneers of European and American sculpture cover the period of over one hundred years in which modern sculpture developed. The essential aspects of Brancusi’s work are illuminated by about 40 exemplary pieces, arranged in the exhibition in various thematic groupings. The selection covers an oeuvre that extends over forty years of Brancusi’s mature work, revolving around the question of reduction of volumes in space and their transcendence in light – an exploration of formal essence and “primal” form, as it were. The sculptor’s concentrated, lifelong concerns are reflected in a small range of sculptural motifs. Among the ensembles of works on view are different variants of the monolithic piece The Kiss, the poetic Children’s Heads, Sleeping Muses, female torsos, and the renowned Birds in Space, as well as the scandal-triggering Princess X, Adam and Eve, or the iconic Endless Column. In addition, Brancusi’s The Child in the World, a so-called “mobile group”, has been reconstructed out of the original wooden sculptures. In this form of presentation, Brancusi’s pieces condense into what amounts almost to a retrospective in its own right. Special emphasis is placed on the concept of variation and the experience of the different effects of various materials; to this end, marble and bronze pieces are supplemented in the exhibition by a number in wood, cement and plaster. Precisely a play with material qualities, their different surfaces and reflection or absorption of light, are characteristic traits of Brancusi’s search for an artistic ideal. The sculpture groupings are arranged in separate rooms with ample space around them, in order to make their appearance in space perceptible to viewers as an absolute quality. Also, a photo cabinet contains a selection of twenty original photographs that provide insight into Brancusi’s own personal view of his art. The crucial recognition of an ideal presence in space, the question as to the essence of sculpture, is approached in a different if not less compelling way in ten sculptural works from different phases of Serra’s oeuvre. In addition, a new series of works on paper is on display. The selection of works, again arranged retrospectively, extends from Serra’s early pieces in rubber and lead, such as the Belts, 1966-67, and Lead Props, as well as his characteristic steel sculpture Strike: To Roberta and Rudy 1969-71 and Delineator (1974/75). The “curved piece” Olson, 1986, opens up another facet of Serra’s work. Fernando Pessoa’s, 2007-08, radical reduction stands for developments of recent years and simultaneously delineates an arc back to earlier works like Strike. Serra himself has repeatedly emphasized his special interest in Brancusi, whose art he was able to study in Brancusi’s reconstructed studio during an extended stay in Paris in 1964/1965. Every day Serra made a series of drawings that gave him access to the logic of his predecessor’s work and enabled him to draw lessons from his sculptural thinking. Later, Serra would even describe Brancusi’s art as an “encyclopedia”, a “handbook of possibilities,” if one that inspired him to quite different sculptural conclusions. In the exhibition, the aesthetic relationships between Brancusi and Serra are visualized in the form of an open-ended, free dialogue between their works – direct juxtapositions that reveal both traits shared in common and striking contrasts alternate with suites of works that reflect the universal force of sculpture and show it in a new light. Especially sculptural volumes that rest in time and space, and simultaneously maintain a precarious equilibrium, link Brancusi and Serra’s singular oeuvres and point to the universality and continuity of sculpture in general. Brancusi’s sculptural work is on view for the first time in Switzerland in retrospective form. Nor has Serra’s oeuvre previously been represented here so extensively. The installation of Serra’s sculptures at the Fondation Beyeler was an enormous technical challenge, as the static conditions had first to be established. For the installation of Fernando Pessoa alone, about seventy tons of steel, including the sculpture’s weight, had to be moved. The loans to the exhibition stem from renowned private collections and public museums, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the Tate, London; the Musée National d’Art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Muzeul de Artǎ, Craiova; the Hamburger Kunsthalle; the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg; the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Kunsthaus Zurich. Curated by Oliver Wick, the Fondation Beyeler exhibition was conceived in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which is foreseen as the next venue (October 10, 2011 – April 15, 2012). The exhibition is accompanied by an abundantly illustrated scholarly catalogue, published in separate German, English and Spanish editions by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern. It contains essays by Oliver Wick, Friedrich Teja Bach, Alfred Pacquement, and Jacqueline Matisse Monnier, and commentaries by Raphaël Bouvier, Denise Ellenberger, Alexandra Parigoris, Ileana Parvu, Marielle Tabart, Michelle White, and Jon Wood, and biographies of the two artists. 244 pages, 176 illustrations, CHF 68, ISBN 978-3-905632-89-7. Richard Serra is represented by three outdoor sculptures in Basel and environs: Open Field Vertical / Horizontal Elevations at Wenken Park in Riehen/Basel, installed in 1980 in the context of “Sculpture in the 20th Century,” co-organized by Ernst Beyeler; the steel sculpture Intersection, installed in 1992 on Theaterplatz in Basel city center; and Dirk’s Pod, a steel piece unveiled in 2004 on the Novartis Campus, Basel. Press images accessible at http://pressimages.fondationbeyeler.ch Contact / Press Catherine Schott, Tel. + 41 (0)61 645 97 21, Fax. + 41 (0)61 645 97 39, [email protected] Fondation Beyeler opening hours: 10 am – 6 pm daily, Wednesdays to 8 pm BRANCUSI SERRA May 22 – August 21, 2011 01 Constantin Brancusi in his studio, ca. 1933–34, photograph by the artist © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: © Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris, dist. by RMN, Paris / © 2011, Constantin Brancusi in Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, artist’s bequest / Georges Meguerditchian 02 Constantin Brancusi Muse endormie [I], 1910, Spleeping Muse [I] Bronze, polished, 16 x 27.3 x 18.5 cm Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d‘art moderne, Paris, Gift of Baroness Renée Irana Frachon © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: © Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris, dist. by RMN, Paris / © 2011, Adam Rzepka 03 Constantin Brancusi Le baiser, 1907–08, The Kiss Plaster, 28 x 26 x 21.5 cm Hamburger Kunsthalle © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: © bpk, Berlin / Hamburger Kunsthalle 04 Constantin Brancusi Une muse, 1912, Muse White marble, 45 x 23 x 17 cm Base: oak, ca. 1920, three parts, overall 97.5 x 47.3 x 47 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York / David Heald 05 Constantin Brancusi Princesse X, 1915–16, Princess X Bronze, polished, 61.7 x 40.5 x 22.2 cm Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d‘art moderne, Paris © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: © Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris, dist. by RMN, Paris / © 2011, Adam Rzepka 06 Constantin Brancusi Coupe [II], 1917–18, Cup [II] Maple, 19 x 36.5 x 29.5 cm Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d‘art moderne, Paris © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: © Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris, dist. by RMN, Paris / © 2011, Adam Rzepka 07 Constantin Brancusi Colonne sans fin, 1918, Endless Column Oak, 203.2 x 25.1 x 24.5 cm The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mary Sisler, 1983 © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: © 2011, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, dist. by Scala, Florenz 08 Constantin Brancusi Adam et Eve, 1921, Adam and Eve Eve (above): oak, 116.5 x 30.8 x 30.2 cm Adam (below): chestnut, 108.9 x 47.5 x 43.5 cm Base: limestone, 13.3 x 46.4 x 46.4 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Foto: © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York / David Heald 09 Constantin Brancusi Torse de jeune fille [I], 1922 Torso of a Young Girl [I] Onyx, 33 x 22.8 x 21 cm Base: limestone, 14.3 x 19.4 x 18 cm Harvard Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, The Lois Orswell Collection, 1998 © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Foto: © President and Fellows of Harvard College / Junius Beebe 10 Constantin Brancusi La négresse blanche [I], 1923 White Negress [I] Veined marble, 38 x 14.3 x 18 cm Base: marble, two parts, overall height 24.8 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950 © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Philadelphia Museum of Art 11 Constantin Brancusi L‘oiseau, 1923/47, The Bird Blue-gray marble, height 89.2 cm Base: limestone and veined marble, two parts, overall height 31.8 cm Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Robert Bayer, Basel Press images http://pressimages.fondationbeyeler.ch This visual material may be used for press purposes only. Reproduction is permitted for the duration of the exhibition only. Please employ the captions as given and the relevant copyrights. We kindly request you to forward us a voucher copy. Fondation Beyeler SERRA BRANCUSI May 22 – August 21, 2011 01 Richard Serra, New York, 1987 © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Serra Studio, New York / Nancy Lee Katz 02 Richard Serra Olson, 1986 Weatherproof steel, two identical conical sections inverted relative to each other, one 3.1 m high x 10.5 m along the chord, one 3.1 m high x 10.1 m along the chord, plates 5.1 cm thick Collection of the artist © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Serra Studio, New York / Jenny Okun, London 03 Richard Serra Belts, 1966–67 Vulcanized rubber and neon tubing, 182.9 x 762 x 50.8 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Panza Collection, 1991 © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Serra Studio, New York / Peter Moore 04 Richard Serra House of Cards, 1969 Lead, four plates, each 152.4 x 152.4 x 2.5 cm Collection of the artist © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Serra Studio, New York 05 Richard Serra Strike: To Roberta and Rudy, 1969–1971 Hot-rolled steel, 244 x 732 x 2.7 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Panza Collection, 1991 © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Serra Studio, New York / Peter Moore 06 Richard Serra Delineator, 1974–75 Hot-rolled steel, two plates, each 595 x 300 x 2,5 cm Collection of the artist © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Serra Studio, New York / © 2011, Gordon Matta-Clark 07 Richard Serra Fernando Pessoa, 2007–08 Weatherproof steel, 300 x 900.4 x 20.3 cm Collection of the artist, courtesy Gagosian Gallery © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Gagosian Gallery / Joshua White 08 Richard Serra The Consequence of Consequence, 2011 Forged, weatherproof steel, two blocks, each 88.9 x 101.6 x 114.3 cm Collection of the artist © 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich Photo: Serra Studio, New York / Lorenz Kienzle Press images http://pressimages.fondationbeyeler.ch This visual material may be used for press purposes only. Reproduction is permitted for the duration of the exhibition only. Please employ the captions as given and the relevant copyrights. We kindly request you to forward us a voucher copy. Fondation Beyeler Biography Constantin Brancusi (1876 – 1957) 1876 February 19: Constantin Brancusi is born in Hobita, Romania. 1889 – He lives in Craiova, where he works as a waiter. 1893 1894 Enrolls in the Craiova School of Arts and Crafts. 1898 Passes final examination at the Craiova school with honors, then transfers to the sculpture department of Bucharest National School of Fine Arts, from which he will receive a diploma in 1902. 1904 With the support of a grant, goes to Paris, where he works as a dishwasher and serves as an acolyte in the Romanian Church. 1905 Enrolls in the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts and attends the sculpture class. 1907 Works in the studio of Auguste Rodin, under whose influence his previous work has stood, but soon leaves to establish himself independently. Begins to carve directly in stone (taille directe) and develops a new, formally reduced approach. 1909 In this or the following year, executes his first female torso and the first Sleeping Muse. 1910 Earliest bird sculpture, Maïastra. 1913 Participates in the “Armory Show” in New York. The First Step, Brancusi’s first wood sculpture. 1914 First one-man exhibition, at the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession in New York. 1916 Moves into a new studio at 8 Impasse Ronsin in Paris. Second one-man show, at the Modern Gallery, New York. 1918 Emergence of the first surviving Endless Column. 1920 Scandal caused by Princess X at the Salon des Indépendants. Described as “phallic obscenity,” the work has to be removed before the show opens; it is later reinstalled. 1921 Man Ray instructs Brancusi in photography. 1926 End of January to end of March: First sojourn in the United States. Brancusi’s third one-man show held at the Wildenstein Galleries, New York. End of September to beginning of December: Second stay in New York, and organization of Brancusi’s fourth one-man show, at Brummer Gallery. 1927 Court proceedings taken against Brancusi by the American customs service concerning the status of a Bird in Space: The artist is accused of having attempted to smuggle metal – declared as a work of art – into the U.S. A. A year later, a verdict is reached in Brancusi’s favor. 1938 Inauguration of the monumental Târgu Jiu ensemble, including Endless Column, Gate of the Kiss, and Table of Silence. 1940 – During World War II, Brancusi lives in seclusion in Paris. 1944 1952 Brancusi is granted French citizenship. 1955 On the initiative of James Johnson Sweeney, the first Brancusi museum retrospective is held, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. 1956 Brancusi writes his last will and testament, in which he leaves his studio and all its contents to the French nation. 1957 March 16: Brancusi dies in Paris and is buried at Montparnasse Cemetery. 1958 Carola Giedion-Welcker writes the first comprehensive monograph on Brancusi. 1997 Inauguration of the current Atelier Brancusi, in the new annex by Renzo Piano in front of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Biography Richard Serra (*1939) 1939 November 2: Richard Serra is born in San Francisco. 1957 – Attends the University of California Berkeley and Santa Barbara, graduating 1961 in 1961 with a B.A. in English literature. Works during this period in steel plants to earn a living. 1961 – Studies at Yale University, New Haven, and graduates with a B.A. 1964 and M.A. in fine arts. 1964 – Receives a travel grant and spends a year in Paris, where he attends the 1965 Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Makes daily visits to the reconstructed Atelier Brancusi in the Palais de Tokyo, where he makes drawings that provide access to sculpture for him. 1966 First one-man show, at Galleria La Salita in Rome, comprising the Habitats with live and stuffed animals. Begins creating pieces in rubber and fluorescent tubes. 1968 – Makes a series of works in molten and cast lead; the first Lead Props are 1969 exhibited. Makes his first films and begins working in Corten steel. First one-man show in the U.S., at Leo Castelli warehouse in New York. 1970 Sets to work on Pulitzer Piece: Stepped Elevations, his first site-specific landscape sculpture. 1971 First black canvases emerge. 1975 Design for a first Curved Piece, for the Centre Pompidou, Paris, which, however, is rejected. 1977 Installation of Terminal at “Documenta 6” in Kassel, which subsequently is acquired by the City of Bochum and becomes Serra’s first permanent work in an urban context. 1978 The Kunsthalle Tübingen mounts Serra’s first retrospective, which travels to the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden. 1980 Participates in the Venice Biennale. Installation of Open Field Vertical / Horizontal Elevations at Wenken Park, Riehen/Basel, as part of “Skulptur im 20. Jahrhundert,” an exhibition co-organized by Ernst Beyeler. 1981 Installation of Tilted Arc on Federal Plaza, New York. Marries Clara Weyergraf, an art historian. 1986 Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Installation of Olson at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. 1988 Mounts a major installation of drawings at Kunsthalle Basel. 1989 Tilted Arc is destroyed by the U.S. government. 1992 In addition to numerous other works in America and Europe, installs Intersection on Theaterplatz in Basel. 2004 Unveiling of the sculpture Dirk’s Pod on the Novartis Campus in Basel. 2005 The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao unveils The Matter of Time, Serra’s largest executed work to date. 2007 Second large retrospective, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. 2011 Retrospective of works on paper, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Menil Collection in Houston. Citations “Simplicity is not an end in art, but one arrives at simplicity in spite of oneself, in approaching the real sense of things.” Constantin Brancusi “It is not the things that are difficult to make, but to put ourselves in [a] condition to make them.” Constantin Brancusi “There is always a goal. In order to reach it, you have to liberate yourself from yourself.” Constantin Brancusi „When I was living in Paris I hadn’t made any sculpture yet but I went to Brancusi’s studio almost daily for a good part of a month and made drawings there. I looked at his work as a handbook of possibilities.” Richard Serra “Basically I would like to make sculptures which stand for a new kind of experience, which open up possibilities for sculpture which were simply not there before.” Richard Serra According to Serra, we react to them [large works] before we are in a position to analyze them; they draw us completely into their physical corporeality even if we just go past them, or want to analyze them or think about them. Richard Serra Events Accompanying the Constantin Brancusi and Richard Serra Exhibition Exhibition Program Artists Talk with Richard Serra Sunday, May 22, 2011, 11 am Richard Serra, one of the most significant of contemporary sculptors, in conversation with curator Oliver Wick. Brancusi & Serra Soirée Friday, June 3, Friday, August 5, 2011, 6 – 9 pm Reduced admission fees and free admission for young people to age 25; curator’s tour, art & barbeque. Detailed program available on our website: http://www.fondationbeyeler.ch/en/Information/Calendar Sunday Matinée Concert Series Sunday, June 5, 2011, 11.30 am Works by Philip Glass, Morton Feldman, Walter Piston or Eliot Carter Performed by string quartet and flute of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra Sunday, June 26, 2011, 11.30 am Works by Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie or Albert Roussel Performed by string quartet and flute of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra Sunday, August 21, 2011, 11.30 am Works by Philip Glass, Claude Debussy (and Arthur Honegger) Performed by string orchestra and harp of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra All admission tickets for Fondation Beyeler events are valid for visiting the exhibition prior to the event. Tour of Novartis Campus Thursday, July 7, Tuesday, August 9, 2011, 5 – 6.30 pm Tour of Novartis Campus with viewing of Richard Serra’s sculpture Dirk’s Pod, 2004, and further works of art on the grounds. Number of places limited Art Appreciation Public Tours and Events Daily schedule available on: www.fondationbeyeler.ch/en/Information/Calendar Private Tours for Groups Information and registration: tel. +41 (0)61 645 97 20, [email protected] Offer for Schools Information and registration at: www.fondationbeyeler.ch/en/exhibitions/art-education Online Ticketing for Admissions and Events at www.fondationbeyeler.ch Or direct advance sales at museum desk Partners of Fondation Beyeler Donors Main Partners Partners Media Partners We thank Basler Versicherungen and Novartis for their kind support. FONDATION BEYELER