translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
140708: Jewish Museum Vienna: Modernism on the run –Austrian artists in France 1938 – 1945
Jewish Museum Vienna: Modernism on the run –Austrian artists in France 1938 – 1945
Flight perspectives
The exhibit “Modernism on the run” clearly shows how the experience of emigration influenced the development and the work of those Austrian artists, who fled to France between 1938 and 1945. Andrea Winklbauer curated the exhibit, following the tracks of 24 artists into exile. Their tracks lead in three stages: from Vienna to Paris, to the Cote d’Azur, and as far as Casablanca, New York, and Mexico.
Pre-war Vienna is omnipresent in this exhibit. Under the glass plates of those typical round Viennese coffee tables, documents the personal life of some of the artists is illustrated. Photos and paintings offer a precise inventory of émigré-life.
Renowned artists such as the surrealist Wolfgang Paalen, the photographers Liesette Model, Dora Kallmus alias D’Ora, and Trude Fleischmann as well as the painters Willy Eisenschitz, Josef Floch and Lilly Steiner are among the artists shown at the current exhibit.
And lesser-known artists such as John H. Popper are also part of the group. One of his photos decorates the catalogue cover: a man at the banks of the river Seine, sitting on the quay wall, with his back turned towards the onlooker, a fishing rod in his hand; the dark reflection of a church’s silhouette in the water; an ink black tree trunk flowing through the picture. On the left, a second fisherman sunk into the dark shade. Another photo shows a homeless person sitting on the wayside – all of these motives are in sharp contrast to the mundane motifs shot by Popper while he was still in Vienna.
Kurt Husnik’s oeuvre, documenting Abel Gance’s work on the set of “J’accuse” and the International Surrealism Collection is also shown. Lilly Ross Reich portrayed Albert Einstein and Fernand Leger and shot the photos of Oswald Haerdtl's Café Viennoise during the world exhibit in Paris. After sadly having lost her eyesight she published her widely acclaimed “Viennese Pastry Cook Book”.
“Modernism on the run” narrates these and many other stories.
Jüdisches Museum Wien
1010 Vienna, Dorotheergasse 11, until 07. 09. 2008
www.jmw.at
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
140708
Jüdisches Museum Wien
1010 Wien, Dorotheergasse 11
Tel: +43(1) 535 04 31, Fax: +43(1) 535 04 24
Email: info@jmw.at
http://www.jmw.at
Öffnungszeiten: So-Fr 10-18, Do 10-20 Uhr, Sa geschlossen
Jüdisches Museum Wien
1010 Wien, Dorotheergasse 11
Tel: +43(1) 535 04 31, Fax: +43(1) 535 04 24
Email: info@jmw.at
http://www.jmw.at
Öffnungszeiten: So-Fr 10-18, Do 10-20 Uhr, Sa geschlossen