Ralph Gleis – författare

Gothic Modern illuminates the pivotal discovery of medieval Gothic art for Edvard Munch, Käthe Kollwitz and their artist contemporaries. It explores their deep attraction to the Gothic art of Europe’s north and German lands via paintings, prints and. in other artistic media to imagine a new ‘Gothic modernity’, unlocking a different energy of modern art and creative experiment beyond nation-centric stories.    The book sheds light on the profound importance. of medieval Gothic art for Edvard Munch, Käthe. Kollwitz and their contemporaries. It explores their reimagining of Gothic art between the 1870s and 1920s to create new visions of the artist, ‘belonging’, modern society, sexuality, spirituality and identity. In these ways, a distant Gothic age is recreated as tantalisingly close to ‘modernity’, in short, to making modern art. Dark or radiant, enchanted or uncanny, these sites of ‘Gothic modernity’ inspired Munch’s and Kollwitz’s generation with urgent imaginaries for creating worlds. Artists: Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Baldung Grien, Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, Arnold Böcklin, Edward Burne-Jones, Lovis Corinth, Otto Dix, Albrecht Dürer, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Vincent van Gogh, Matthias Grünewald, Jacoba van Heemskerck, Hans Holbein d. J., Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Theodor Kittelsen, Paul Klee, Gustav Klimt, Max Klinger, Oskar Kokoschka, Käthe Kollwitz, George Minne, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Helene Schjerfbeck, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Hugo Simberg, Martin Schongauer, Marianne Stokes

New works by the acclaimed painter In her painterly and graphic oeuvre, the renowned British artist Jenny Saville explores the centuries-old tradition of representing the human body. Her figures occupy an ambiguous zone between idealization and deconstruction. Drawing inspiration from the annals of art history— from Old Masters such as Leonardo and Raphael through to Egon Schiele, Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud—Saville's painterly practice is characterized by physicality, carnality, and the interplay between new and old media. Whether she is depicting history, the bodies of others, or indeed her own, Jenny Saville's work explores what it means to be human.

In this book, the Albertina presents a cross-section of the work of Leiko Ikemura (*1951 in Tsu, Japan). Known for her poetically powerful works, in which she combines Western and Eastern influences, the Japanese-Swiss artist devotes herself to themes such as femininity, transformation and identity. Ikemura translates the fragility and mystery of human existence into images that are both universal and deeply personal. Her work is characterized by a surreal visual language and ranges from luminous paintings and reduced drawings to sculptures made of glazed terracotta, glass and bronze. A central aspect of her work is the close connection between man and nature, which is expressed through a fusion of body and landscape or in the form of hybrid creatures.

The artist Helga Philipp (1939–2002) is considered a central representative of Concrete Art and Op-Art in Austria. As early as the 1960s, she developed a precise, conceptually grounded visual language that placed perception and movement at its core. Her work exists at the intersection of optical perception, geometric abstraction, and movement, as she experimented with mathematical principles, serial structures, and interactivity. For many years, Philipp taught at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, where she influenced a generation of artists exploring perceptual processes, space, and systematics. In recent years, her work has been re-evaluated and received international acclaim as part of a renewed interest in constructive-conceptual positions. The catalogue presents around 50 of her most important works from several decades, showcasing the diversity of her artistic practice across the media of painting, drawing, printmaking, and object art.

The Secessions artist groups at the dawn of modernism in a splendid new volume. At the end of the 19th century the term “Secession” stood for the artistic beginnings of modernism. Art was surging forward towards freedom. Avant-garde artists showed their new creative works in the exhibitions of the Secession. In doing so they introduced innovative art movements to the public and helped Impressionism and Symbolism, for example, to achieve a breakthrough in the German-speaking region. The new alliances of artists in the Secession meant the abandonment of traditional artists’ associations and old-fashioned structures, and a new artistic freedom. The most important Secessions in the German region arose in 1892 in Munich, in 1897 in Vienna and in 1899 in Berlin. They are associated to this day with the figures who helped to shape them: Franz von Stuck, Gustav Klimt and Max Liebermann. This volume illustrates their artistic diversity in over 200 works by some 80 artists of the Secessions in Vienna, Munich and Berlin as well as international guests including Hodler, Munch, Rodin, Segantini and Toorop.

In 1867, Monet (1840–1925) turned his back on tradition when he focused on the bustling life of Paris from the balcony of the Louvre. He was fascinated by the present in the growing French capital rather than the old masters. In a series of three paintings he created a new pictorial topic. The important works from Berlin, Den Haag and Oberlin come together in exhibitions and this lavishly illustrated book. Monet’s cityscapes of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, the Jardin de l’Infante and the Quai du Louvre are considered to be the earliest Impressionist city views. In them he casts a completely new artistic eye over the modern metropolis being rebuilt by Haussmann. By doing so he also inspired artists like Caillebotte and Pissarro to create their own cityscapes. A new subject was born which the publication reveals in all its beauty through the example of Monet’s three principal works as well as others by famous Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. Artists include Claude Monet with Gustave Caillebotte, Johan Barthold Jongkind, Maximilien Luce, Henri Matisse, Camille Pissarro.

Dürer’s Praying Hands are one of the world’s most popular artworks. Few artists have changed the art world more profoundly than Leonardo and Dürer. They bring their subjects to life with breath-taking virtuosity, creating masterpieces of incredible intimacy.Mythology, religious faith and history, images of everyday life and travel scenes were core themes of the 15th century and stand at the centre of the art displayed in the drawings of Leonardo and Dürer. The images reveal their charm in the interplay of chiaroscuro effects on coloured paper. The works of both masters are shown alongside sheets by their contemporaries like Albrecht Altdorfer and Raphael. How could this art form assert its independence and what made it so popular and successful? The lavish publication examines these fascinating questions and illustrates the wide-ranging expressive possibilities that the technique offers.

A tiger shark in formaldehyde. A diamond-encrusted skull. Damien Hirst is one of the most important contemporary artists and a legend in the Young British Artist movement of the 1990s. He planned his iconic paintings, sculptures and installations through drawings and sketchbooks, and these can now be seen in a museum exhibition for the first time.The publication provides an opportunity to glance over the shoulder of a great contemporary artist engrossed in his creative process: since the early 1980s, Damien Hirst has used drawings and sketches to plan his celebrated works. He has also created drawings to accompany his paintings and sculptures, to help visualise their core ideas. Among his designs are a drawing machine and the graphic work of fictitious old masters. In this superbly produced new volume, which retains the character of a sketchbook, a star artist reveals a new aspect to his oeuvre.

This volume presents art with light in all its facets – using mirrors, black light, neon tubes, and bottles, Brigitte Kowanz creates objects and spatial artworks in which she showcases light. "What is light?" is the central question of her oeuvre. "Light is what you see," is the artist's answer.Light helps us see; it makes everything visible, yet remains invisible itself. Brigitte Kowanz explores this paradox in her art of light. This volume offers a retrospective of the work of the artist, who died in 2022. In addition to her central works, it presents iconic works in which she addressed current topics such as digitalization and new communication media in an information society as early as the 1980s.

250 years after the painter's birth, this luxurious exhibition catalog offers glimpses into the mystery of Friedrich's largely posthumous popularity as well as the latest research into his training and techniques. Largely ignored during his lifetime, Caspar David Friedrich was a meticulous painter of emotionally evocative landscapes, often featuring solitary figures or groups of people against dramatic scenery. His work inspired many artists until today. This volume explores the role that Berlin's Nationalgalerie played in bringing Friedrich into the forefront of modern art history. It also shines light into Friedrich's remarkable use of pairs in paintings-including his most famous pairing, Monk by the Sea and Abbey in the Oakwood- which he employed to express a range of different perspectives and the concept of change. Finally it examines the latest research into Friedrich's technique: his early training in Copenhagen; his sketches, preparatory drawings and underdrawings; and his unconventional selection and use of pigments. Throughout this monograph readers will find stunning reproductions of sixty paintings, including several iconic works, and fifty drawings-representing collections from around the world. Coupled with the latest research, they combine to offer a completely up-to-date appreciation of Friedrich's extraordinary talent and his unquestionable status as a pioneer of modern art. AUTHORS: Birgit Verwiebe is curator at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin for painting of the first half of the 19th century, and an expert on Caspar David Friedrich. Ralph Gleis is director of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin with numerous publications on the art of the 19th century. SELLING POINTS: . Perfect for lovers of romanticism and art of the 19th century . A comprehensive retrospective including Caspar David Friedrichs most impressive works . One of the best-known and most popular artists of the 19th century . Internationally renowned authors and experts. . Lavishly designed 300 illustrations

A wide-ranging exploration of comics, characters, and the visual language of KAWS and his contemporaries.KAWS. Art & Comics explores the interplay between comics, comic strips, cartoons, and fine art. It places the American artist KAWS in dialog with selected contemporary stances, focusing on the artistic autonomy of his characters—figures that unite characteristics of street, pop, commercial, and public art. Comics are characterized by a universal language and exist in many cultures as an accessible way of telling stories graphically, in words and images. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ad Reinhardt were fine artists who created comics in a near-classic vein. Even before the advent of photography and (animated) films, caricature, satire, and frame-by-frame narration offered a powerful way to convey stories across national, generational, and social boundaries.From the 1960s onward, artists such as Keith Haring and H.C. Westermann questioned the division between high and low art. Prominent contemporary artists in this tradition include KAWS, Joyce Pensato, Cosima von Bonin, and Peter Saul. KAWS began as a graffiti artist in the 1990s, later overpainting posters and advertisements in public spaces by obscuring faces with a stylized skull and crossbones.He is known for monumental figurative sculptures in bronze, wood, and inflatables. His COMPANIONs and ACCOMPLICEs display a range of emotional states, often isolated and melancholy.

In this richly illustrated volume, Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso emerge as the defining forces behind the modern image of the human figure.By placing the work of Bacon and Picasso in sustained visual and conceptual conversation, this publication examines one of the most consequential artistic relationships of the 20th century. Over five decades shaped by political upheaval, war, and cultural rupture, both artists pursued an uncompromising interrogation of what it means to be human—through violence and vulnerability, erotic tension and psychological exposure, historical trauma and private anguish.The book traces parallel investigations into the body under pressure: the scream, crucifixion imagery, the distortion of flesh, and the persistent return to Old Master sources. Picasso’s radical formal experiments of the 1920s and 1930s form a crucial point of departure for Bacon’s earliest paintings, while later chapters follow how each artist developed distinct yet intersecting responses to suffering, power, and desire.The publication advances new research into the literary, psychological, and visual frameworks the two artists share, revealing how modern life—war, spectacle, intimacy, and catastrophe—shaped their radically different yet profoundly connected treatments of the human presence. With contributions grounded in close visual analysis and historical rigor, this volume offers the most comprehensive account to date of their intertwined legacies.