Kunsthaus Zürich – författare

David Chipperfield’s new building for the Kunsthaus Zürich now stands in all its splendour on Zurich’s Heimplatz, opposite the old museum building of 1910 designed by Karl Moser. Its opening to the public in October 2021 will make the Kunsthaus Zürich Switzerland’s largest art museum.Following the two previous volumes on Kunsthaus Zürich’s architectural history and the design for turning it into an art museum for the twenty-first century, this book documents the genesis of David Chipperfield’s extension from proposal through political debates about the entire project to completed structure. It features a foreword by David Chipperfield and an essay by Christoph Felger, executive architect for the project at David Chipperfield Architects Berlin, that discusses the design concept, the promise made with it, and its fulfilment. A conversation between Christoph Felger, the director of the City of Zurich’s Building Surveyor's Office Wiebke Rösler, and Kunsthaus Zürich’s director Christoph Becker, and architecture critic Sabine von Fischer, as well as numerous illustrations and plans sound out this new volume.Text in French.

In October 2021, David Chipperfield’s new extension of the Kunsthaus Zürich will open for the public. The new wing doubles the museum’s space for art display. Perhaps more importantly, it offers the opportunity to present larger parts of the museum’s permanent collection in a new light and in new groupings. The Chipperfield building is now home to the renowned Merzbacher, Hubert Looser, and Emil Bührle collections, all on permanent loan to the museum. The formidable selection of French impressionist paintings in the Emil Bührle Collection combined with Kunsthaus Zürich’s own holdings of that period constitutes the largest display of impressionist art outside France. In addition, Surrealism, art from the post-war period, Pop Art, and contemporary art now have the prominent space they deserve.This new book offers an introduction to the curatorial concept as well as concise essays on key aspects of Kunsthaus Zurich’s permanent collection. Lavishly illustrated with views of the new exhibits and individual art works, it is an attractive invitation to visit Switzerland’s largest art museum.

French sculptor Aristide Maillol (1861–1944) is sometimes referred to as the “Cézanne of sculpture” as he, like Paul Cézanne in painting, paved the way for abstraction. Though Maillol began as a painter, he produced an impressive collection of sculptures, many featuring women, over the course of his career.This book, published in conjunction with a comprehensive Maillol exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich, examines how the male gaze operates in Maillol’s art and the changing perceptions of this gaze from the 19th century to today. A photo essay by Franca Candrian contrasts Maillol’s Vénus au collier with works by modern and contemporary women artists from the Kunsthaus Zürich’s collection. An essay by feminist art historian and curator Catherine McCormack explores the presence of art depicting female nudes – in contemporary museums. Supplemented by an introduction by Philippe Büttner, curator of Kunsthaus Zürich’s permanent collection, the book thus offers a fresh and unique view of Maillol and his art.Text in English and German.

Since 2021, the Bührle Collection has been on display at Kunsthaus Zürich, in the galleries of the museum’s new extension building designed by David Chipperfield. The high-profile collection is widely perceived as problematic. This is due to the personality of the collector, Emil Georg Bührle (1890–1956), who made his fortune as a weapons manufacturer and did extensive business with Nazi Germany, and the fact that the provenance of some of the artworks is controversial. The initial presentation at Kunsthaus Zürich sparked a heated debate. The second display, opened in 2023, provided more historical context and a broader insight into provenance research. It also included a range of public voices and gave a face to some of the Jewish former owners of artworks, many of whom were forced to sell.A Future for the Past documents in words and images the Bührle Collection’s history. At the core are the two recent exhibitions at Kunsthaus Zürich, in regard to culture policy arguably the most significant and most debated art shows in Switzerland in decades.

The way in which museums deal with the cultural heritage they are holding has increasingly become the focus of public debate. At the core are the critical examination of collection histories and the biographies of artefacts, as well as the reflection on traditional institutional and museum practices.This volume brings together contributions on the topics of curating, collecting, researching, provenance, and presentation by museum practitioners, scholars from various disciplines, and artists. They explore new approaches to collecting, exhibiting, educating, and rethinking cultural heritage. Through case studies and topical essays, the book offers contemporary perspectives, pointing museums to new ways in how to deal with pressing issues such as restitution, representation, and cultural dialogue.

Her sensual Nanas—buxom, colorful female figures laid the foundation for her international success beyond the art world: Niki de Saint Phalle. But the self-taught artist’s creative spectrum is much broader, and her unconventional oeuvre, ranging from painting and drawing to assemblages, performances, theatre, film, and architecture, is more subversive and critical of society than is widely assumed. Based on her efforts to process her own feelings, she addressed social and political issues, critically questioning institutions and role models in ways that are as relevant today as they have ever been. The exhibition and the publication shed new light on the artist’s exceptional personality and uncover the wide-ranging oeuvre of the popular outsider—that is always surprising and eccentric, emotional, dark and brutal, humorous and cheerful.

Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism – these are still the most important stylistic labels which acted as slogans for French painting during the 19th century. At that time Delacroix, Courbet, Manet and many others left the “straight and narrow” of painting, the academic-neo-classical manner. Highly controversial at the time, today these painters are celebrated worldwide as precursors of Modernism. The situation is very different when it comes to the Salon painters like Meissonier, Cabanel, Gérôme and Bouguereau, who were highly regarded at the time. Today they have been consigned to the fringes, especially in the German-speaking region – unjustifiably, because they play an outstanding role with regard to our understanding of developments in art at the time.

Fifty years after the passing of Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), this major new monograph illuminates the fundamental aspects of his oeuvre and technique in sculpture. It is based on years of extensive research and restoration work on seventy-five plasters that came to the collection of Kunsthaus Zürich as a bequest from Bruno Giacometti, Alberto's youngest brother.For Giacometti, plaster was of great importance as a material, far more than just an intermediate stage between clay model and bronze cast. It allowed him to paint or rework his objects in a vast variety of ways. A significant number of his sculptures indeed exist just in a plaster version. Featuring masterpieces from every stage of his career, this book focuses on Giacometti's artistic approach to the material nature of his chosen media, offering an insight into the creative process of one of the 20th century's greatest artists. With the plasters as a core, the selection comprises also works in other materials, such as marble, wood and bronze.Text in French.

This new book, published to coincide with an exhibition at Kunsthaus Zürich in summer 2017 offers an overview of the development of Mexican graphic art between the late 19th-century and the 1970s, ranging from figurativism to early abstract works. It features around 50 key works on paper, printed using a range of techniques, that deal with issues such as poverty and wealth, love and cruelty, and the poetry and hardships of everyday life. In addition to prints by José Guadalupe Posada, there are characteristic Realist works by Leopoldo Méndez, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros as well as abstracts by Rufino Tamayo and Francisco Toledo.Revolutionary ideas and engagement with socio-cultural and socio-political concerns play a key role in the history of Mexican art. The members of Taller de Gráfica Popular, a people's graphic art workshop established in 1937 by a collective of international artists in Mexico, produced flyers and posters for the masses supporting trade unions, popular education and socialist issues in the country. Their editions exemplify the typical Mexican tradition of black-and-white woodcuts and linoleum prints. The images depict Mexican life and the customs and characteristics of its indigenous populations, but also include the country's first forays into abstract art.The images are complemented by an introductory essay and brief texts on the artists and featured works. The Mexican Graphic Art exhibition runs from 19 May to 27 August 2017, Kunsthaus Zürich.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is adored worldwide as a revolutionary painter and loved for his collages, or papiers découpés, the icons of his late work. His paintings and drawings for a long time overshadowed his achievements as a sculptor. Yet his Back Series, four bas-reliefs showing a nude, created between 1908 and 1930, are widely recognised as a milestone in modern sculpture. Starting out from the naturalistic depiction, Matisse gradually transformed it to reach a radically abstracted figure. Each of the four original plaster casts represents a decisive moment of this artistic process.This transformative process has parallels in Matisse's painting and drawing. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition at Kunsthaus Zürich marking the artist's 150th anniversary, this is the first book to explore the relation between metamorphosis and feedback in both main fields of the artist's work. Documents of his diverse sources of inspiration for his sculptures - photographs of nudes, examples from African and ancient art - as well as images featuring Matisse at work as sculptor, round out this volume. It is a welcome addition to any art library, highlighting the lesser known side of this modern master.Published to coincide with the exhibitions 'Matisse - Metamorphoses' at the Kunsthaus, Zürich between 30 August and 8 December 2019, and 'Musée Matisse', in Nice between 15 February and 15 May 2020.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is adored worldwide as a revolutionary painter and loved for his collages, or papiers découpés, the icons of his late work. His paintings and drawings for a long time overshadowed his achievements as a sculptor. Yet his Back Series, four bas-reliefs showing a nude, created between 1908 and 1930, are widely recognised as a milestone in modern sculpture. Starting out from the naturalistic depiction, Matisse gradually transformed it to reach a radically abstracted figure. Each of the four original plaster casts represents a decisive moment of this artistic process.This transformative process has parallels in Matisse's painting and drawing. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition at Kunsthaus Zürich marking the artist's 150th anniversary, this is the first book to explore the relation between metamorphosis and feedback in both main fields of the artist's work. Documents of his diverse sources of inspiration for his sculptures - photographs of nudes, examples from African and ancient art - as well as images featuring Matisse at work as sculptor, round out this volume. It is a welcome addition to any art library, highlighting the llesser known side of this modern master. Text in French.Published to coincide with the exhibitions: Matisse-Metamorphoses at the Kunsthaus Zürich between 30 August and 8 December 2019, and 'Musée Matisse' in Nice between 15 February and 15 May 2020.

The completion of David Chipperfield's distinctive new building for Kunsthaus Zürich in December 2020 has nearly doubled the museum's overall space. In combination with the preceding refurbishments of the earlier buildings, this has made it fit to meet the demands of an art museum in the 21st century.A sequel to The Architectural History of the Kunsthaus Zürich 1910-2020, this book comprehensively introduces the new Kunsthaus Zürich, demonstrating how the task of building an art museum in the 21st century can be fulfilled. Concise texts, statements by protagonists and by future users and visitors as well as numerous illustrations trace the project's evolution and the construction process and look at the completed building from various perspectives. The book also highlights what features contemporary museum infrastructure has to offer and the architectural and urban design qualities it requires, and what financial and organisational challenges the entire undertaking implied. A conversation between experts exploring the expanded museum's impact on its immediate neighbourhood and Zurich's urban fabric as a whole rounds out the volume.

The completion of David Chipperfield's distinctive new building for Kunsthaus Zürich in December 2020 has nearly doubled the museum's overall space. In combination with the preceding refurbishments of the earlier buildings, this has made it fit to meet the demands of an art museum in the 21st century.A sequel to The Architectural History of the Kunsthaus Zürich 1910-2020, this book comprehensively introduces the new Kunsthaus Zürich, demonstrating how the task of building an art museum in the 21st century can be fulfilled. Concise texts, statements by protagonists and by future users and visitors as well as numerous illustrations trace the project's evolution and the construction process and look at the completed building from various perspectives. The book also highlights what features contemporary museum infrastructure has to offer and the architectural and urban design qualities it requires, and what financial and organisational challenges the entire undertaking implied. A conversation between experts exploring the expanded museum's impact on its immediate neighbourhood and Zurich's urban fabric as a whole rounds out the volume.Text in French.