American and European Painting from the Marx Collection

2012-01-27 - 2012-04-22

Curated by: Eugen Blume, Marlena Chybowska-Butler, Magdalena Lewoc

Artists: Anselm Kiefer, Enzo Cucchi, Fiona Rae, Julian Schnabel, Michael Beutler, Rafał Bujnowski, Rainer Fetting, Roman Lipski, Ross Bleckner, Sandro Chia, Tim Eitel, Walter Dahn, Wilhelm Sasnal, Zbigniew Rogalski

The exhibition is the first presentation in Poland of this one of the most value private contemporary art collections. Because of the outstanding range of artists and value of the art pieces – the Marx Collection

is permanently deposited in Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin.

The artworks presented within the exhibition are documenting the history of contemporary art from 1970s until nowadays. The years of 1970s and 1980s are represented by Swiss (Martin Disler) and German artists from the Neue Wilde movement (Walter Dahn, Reiner Fetting, Salomé) as well as the Italian Transavantgarde painters (Sandro Chia, Enzo Cucchi).

Important accent of this show is Anselm Kiefer work, in whose art works Tachisme, conceptual art and Arte Povera are combined creating a form of monumental “historical paintings.” The same period in art in America is represented by Julian Schnabel works – one of the representatives of the New Image Painting, the author of collages which continuing American tradition of “unhierarhic painting.”

1990s are illustrated by Fiona Rae – member of the Young British Artists (YBA). Her works are placed in the post-modern abstractive expressionism trend.

At the beginning of 21st century – figurativeness begun to dominate in paintings again. This tendency are represented in the Max Collection by German and Polish artists like: Wilhelm Sasnal, Tim Eitel, Eberhard Havekost, Rafał Bujnowski and Roman Lipski.

Michael Beutler’s installation is an exception to the general character of the exhibition which focuses mainly on painting. Through its sculpting introduction to painting, the work acts as a prologue to the exhibition presented in Poland. It also demonstrates diversity of the Marx Collection, which also comprises drawings, sculptures and video productions.

The exhibition is accompanied by the catalogue (Polish-German-English) with critical texts, essays about expansion and evolution of painting in the four last decades. It is illustrated by the art works presented at the exhibition.

Project is realized within the Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency in 2011.