Agenda

Thousands of Swiss people were living in Russia when the revolution broke out in 1917. At the same time, Russian intellectuals, artists and socialists were also living in Switzerland, including Lenin, who was living in Geneva, Bern and Zurich. The Bolshevik revolution started actually in Switzerland, in Zurich to be more precise, from where Vladimir Iljitsj Oeljanov, better known as Lenin (1870-1924) left to St. Petersburg on 9 April 1917, to organize the violent Bolshevik take-over in October 1917. The exhibition tells the story of the ties linking the two countries at a time of upheaval and provides an overview of Russia’s political and cultural development during this period.  Arond 25 000 Swiss citizens lived in Russia these days. Fritz Platter and his wife were committed to the cause and even organized Lenins´trip from Zurich via other countries to Russia in april 1917. It didn´t help them, because both fell victim to the terror of Stalin. The exhibition was created in partnership with the German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin).

Zentrum Paul Klee and Kunstmuseum Bern dedicate their joint exhibition to the 100th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia.  The exhibition focuses both on the starting point of the Bolshevik revolution (not to confuse with the abdication of the Tsar and the new government in February 1917) and on the impact of the revolution on artistic representations. The exhibition at Zentrum Paul Klee focuses on the revolutionary spirit in visual epxressions of Russian Suprematism and Constructivism. They both had a radical impact on twentieth-century art when Kazimir Malevich, the founder of Suprematism, and the circle of Russian Constructivists led by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko, made their breakthrough to geometric abstraction and construction. Russian Suprematism and Constructivism are rightfully considered truly revolutionary art movements even today. The exhibition at Kunstmuseum Bern retraces Socialist Realism in contemporary art and its many shifts and changes since the Russian Revolution. In its representations of socialist themes, Propaganda Art not only embraced a realistic style, it also programmatically expressed a societal concept by promoting a society that did not exist then and never materialized afterwards. As the former Soviet Union reached crisis point and began to disintegrate, artists began to use new concepts.

To mark the twentieth anniversary of the Fondation Beyeler and will be a celebration of light and colour, illustrating the artistic development of Claude Monet (1840-1926) from Impressionism to his late work. It will feature his Mediterranean landscapes, wild Atlantic coastal scenes, different stretches of the Seine, meadows with wild flowers, haystacks, water lilies, cathedrals, and bridges shrouded in fog. In his paintings, Monet experimented with changing light and color effects in the course of a day and in different seasons. He succeeded in evoking magical moods through reflections and shadows. The exhibition will bring together sixty-three masterpieces from private collections and renowned museums.

The exhibition of the Berlin years of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880 – 1938) is the first of its kind in Switzerland. The master of Expressionism lived in Berlin from 1911 to 1917, when he moved to Davos. The show examines the artist’s creative phase in Berlin and focuses on the dichotomy between his twin lives in the bustling capital city and on the tranquil Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn, where he spent the summer months from 1912 to 1914. The contrasts between these two places of inspiration could hardly be greater. In addition to paintings, drawings, prints, sketchbooks and photographs from his time in Berlin, the exhibition also includes a representative selection of his early works from Dresden and some of the first paintings produced in Davos after 1917. The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Brücke Museum Berlin.

At the occassion of the 300th anniversary the birth of Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), the M.A.X. museum of Chiasso dedicates an exhibition to this German master of classical culture and actually one of the founding fathers of modern art history. The show focuses in particular on the publishing and artistic history of the monumental, but outside Italy hardly known publication Monumenti antichi inediti, which published Winckelmann just before his premature death in 1768. Pompei and Herculaneum come back to life, in cooperation with the Archaeological Museum of Naples Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli and the Winckelmann Society (Winckelmann Gesellschaft, http://www.winckelmann-gesellschaft.com).

The Museum für Gestaltung  (Museum of Applied Arts) is presenting its valuable collection of puppets. As high points of the avant-garde and the period of Dada, Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s “König Hirsch” and Otto Morach’s ensemble for “La boîte à joujoux” will encounter typical puppet characters such as Punch, a robber, and a princess. The puppet theater company founded at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich (Zurich School of Applied Arts) in 1918 led to an experimental engagement with the genre by the various participants. In the mid-twentieth century, puppet theater reached yet another high point in the form of “Fred Schneckenburger’s Puppet Cabaret”. Along with original puppets in all sizes, including the Kasperl puppets by Antonio Vitali (1909.2008), the exhibition will also present theatrical scenery, films, and soundtracks as well as insights through drawings and documentary photographs.

Modern tourism in Switzerland was mainly initiated by people from the United Kingdom in the late eighteenth century. The lakes, mountain ranges, bridges, picturesque (medieval) towns and the political and cultural history attracted the attention of the British upper class. The famous historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), who lived many years in Switzerland, was deeply impressed by the history of the cantons and the Eidgenossenschaft and wrote a history about the country, to be published after his death in 1815 under the title History of the Liberty of the Swiss, as topical as ever.  

Tourism took a big leap in the twentieth century however and through the tourism poster, the image of Switzerland was spread internationally. In the form of steep mountain railways, serpentine roads, and monumental hotel buildings and the posters show advances in the infrastructure.  As well as posters, this Swiss self-presentation includes travel guides, photographs, advertising brochures, and films. On the occasion of this 100th anniversary, the Design Museum reviews the country’s advertising history with a number of graphic designs.

The British artist Marlow (Marjorie) ) Moss (1889-1958) was one of the few female representatives of constructivist art during its beginnings. The intention of this exhibition is to draw attention to her oeuvre and the influence of Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944) on her paintings, drawings and plastics. The exhibition presents a more in-depth reception thereof within art history.

The peninsula of South Arabia was once a happy region, Felix Arabia, according ancient Roman authors. The Kingdom of Sheba was one of the richest territories,  queen Bilqis was a famous (mythical) person and merchants transported their luxurious goods by huge caravans to the Mediterranean and far beyond. The Kingdom covered the territory of present-day Yemen. Advanced irrigation and farming technics established a rich agriculture, as was the case in Egypt, Iraq and Syria as well. The exhibition shows this forgotten past of this country in turmoil and decline.

The exhibition shows works by the French painter Claude Monet (1840-1926). The show is a celebration of light and color, illustrating the artistic development of the painter from Impressionism to his famous late work. It will feature his Mediterranean landscapes, wild Atlantic coastal scenes, different stretches of the Seine, meadows with wild flowers, haystacks, water lilies, cathedrals, and bridges shrouded in fog. Monet experimented with changing light and color effects in the course of a day and in different seasons and he succeeded in evoking magical moods through reflections and shadows.