Agenda

The exhibition sheds light on the history of medieval Spain by presenting costly textiles from that period. Most of the exhibits are silks dating from the 12th to 15th century that were made by Muslim weavers but preserved in a Christian context. These objects are essential as contemporary sources for the changing balance of power between Christian and Muslim rulers. At the same time, they attest to the fruitful exchange that took place between religions and cultures. Silk-weaving also arrived on the Iberian Peninsula with Arab and Moorish culture in the eighth century. The Muslim weavers were masters of their trade, and they produced the most magnificent fabrics. Their silks were luxury products that attracted the attention far beyond the boundaries of their culture.

Whether as war booty, diplomatic gifts or expensive merchandise, they passed into the hands of the Christian kings and church dignitaries of northern Spain. Many fabrics survived due to the use by the church. These textiles were a defining element of the culture of representation in both Muslim and Christian Spain until well into the Late Middle Ages. The artistic centres of the north, by contrast, including cities such as Burgos and Barcelona, were known primarily for their exquisite embroideries with Christian motifs.

The painter Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885) is a well-known German artist from Munich, almost unknown in other countries. He was an accurate and critical observer of his (Biedermeier) time, which he described with humour and irony. The exhibition features his well-known and lesser-known works.  He connects his region (Heimat) and the longing and nostalgia for it, the Idylle and the often harsh reality, tradition and modernity. The exhibition is organised in close collaboration with the Georg Schäfer Museum in Schweinfurt. This museum has the largest collection of the artist. The result is a representative exhibition about the work and life of this painter.

Albert-Edgar Yersin (1905-1984) was a master of the art and craft of drawing. The exhibition showcases some of his most powerful creations. From his childhood in America to his final days in Lausanne, Albert-Edgar Yersin was an avid draughtsman, roughing out numerous landscapes, copying paintings by Old Masters, transferring his own sketches to metal plates, experimenting with a range of techniques, and inventing his own highly original style drawing on Surrealism, abstraction and figurative art. He influenced a generation of artists and sparking a new wave of interest in etching and artists’books.

The museum (in the Château de Boudry) presents a new exhibition with works by Pierre Lavanchy (1912-1964), his oil paintings and watercolours, and by Walter Wehinger (1911-1988) and especially his graphic work and painting. The exhibition also includes many works by Gustave Jeanneret (1847-1927).

The Museum of Design (Museum für Gestaltung )Zürich is dedicating its second exhibition at the refurbished Pavillon Le Corbusier to the relationship between the Swiss architect of the century and the city of Zurich, which was an important point of reference for his work between 1915 and 1965.  Zurich became the most important platform for Le Corbusier’s international reputation. With works of art, furniture, architectural models, photographs and historical documents, the exhibition clearly shows the central role that Zurich and Paris played in Le Corbusier’s multifaceted oeuvre. (Source: https://pavillon-le-corbusier.ch).

The exhibition shows how Canadian painters discovered Impressionism in France at the end of the 19th century and how they reacted to this development. On their return to Canada, many of these artists gave an essential impulse to the rise of modern Canadian painting. The exhibition presents 35 Canadian artists, many of whom remained unknown outside the borders of their country. The works in this exhibition are grouped into eight sections that follow the careers of these painters, from their introduction to Impressionism to their interpretation and presentation of Canadian aspects.

The exhibition shows the fascinating and mysterious world of night insects. The big firefly, the animal of the year 2019, but also beautiful moths, mosquitoes, grasshoppers and crickets invite you to discover this little-known universe. The interactive and playful exhibition about insects and their importance for our ecosystem shows night insects in a new light.

In the sixteenth century, small-format glass paintings are a popular art form in southern Germany and even more so in the Old Swiss Confederacy. These are works of art of outstanding quality that graced town and guild halls, universities, monasteries, and hospitals. The panels were executed by glass painters, based on designs commissioned from renowned artists of the time. Donating such a work was a common and widely recognized act of social communication, lending representative expression to alliances, friendships, and honors. That is why virtually every glass painting prominently features the donor’s coat of arms. The motifs surrounding this central element vary widely and include depictions of religious themes, but also personifications and allegories, representations of professions, and scenes from Swiss history. Showcasing around ninety works from its golden age in the sixteenth century, the presentation offers a survey of glass paintings and design drawings from Basel, with forays into the art scenes of other cities like Berne, Nuremberg, and Schaffhausen. Juxtapositions of drawings and stained glass paintings illuminate the close interrelation between the two art forms.

The exhibition (À fleur de peau. Vienne 1900)  adopts a novel approach to this period. The show goes beyond the classic contrasts: Gustav Klimt’s generation versus Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka’s, symbolism versus expressionism, or floral versus abstract ornamentation in the applied arts. It shows the emergence of a new sensibility that found expression in artistic practices that focused on the skin. By exploring the mysteries of this sensitive surface, Vienna’s modernists would redefine the connections between humans and the world, everyday objects and their environment, buildings and streets. The exhibition features 180 paintings, drawings, sculptures, and applied art objects that were created in Vienna between 1897 (when the Vienna Secession was founded) and 1918 (the year the Austro‑Hungarian Empire collapsed).

Erica Pedretti (1930) is an exceptional figure in the Swiss art and literature scene. In addition to her successes as a writer, she has also created an oeuvre as a visual artist. The exhibition (Fremd genug/ Strange Enough) shows her visual art and the various aspects of her creative output. For the presentation, the artist Katalin Deér and the architect Lukas Furrer have built a structure in the exhibition space that connects the art of Erica Pedretti in a unique way.