What's On at Europe's Museums
December 15, 2003
Siemens Snapshots
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
The Siemens Photography Collection, first begun in 1990 under the auspices of the Siemens Art Program in cooperation with the Bavarian State Painting Collections, features some 860 black and white and color works from 60 internationally renowned photographers and concentrates on conceptual as well as objective documentary photography. It focuses especially on photography in German-speaking Europe, including work by Bernd and Hilla Becher, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Michael Schmidt, Sigmar Polke and Astrid Klein. Another focus is the work of American photographers such as Robert Adams, Stephen Shore and William Eggleston. Others represented either by groups of works or single photographs are British photographer Martin Parr, Rineke Dijkstra from Holland, and Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov. The exhibition is arranged according to the four traditional generic concepts of painting -- portrait, landscape, still-life and history.
"Each Photograph A Picture. Siemens Photography Collection" at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, runs from December 18, 2003 through March 7, 2004, daily from 10am - 5pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, and 10am - 8pm on Thursday and Friday. The museum is closed on Mondays.
The Absence of Reality
Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
One of France's leading contemporary thinkers, Jean Baudrillard, has taken a break from theorizing to try his hand at photography. The Kunsthalle Fridericianum is now hosting Germany's first exhibition of work by the man described as the "David Bowie of philosophy" -- a show which presents 100 color photographs taken between 1983 and 2002, including landscapes, cityscapes, portraits and images of objects and interiors shot on Baudrillard's extensive travels. A professor of philosophy of culture and media criticism who published a book called "The Gulf War Did Not Take Place", Baudrillard believes that the "photographic image materially translates the absence of reality." His work plays with notions of reality, simulation and illusion.
Jean Baudrillard's "The Absence of the World" at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, opens December 14, 2003 to February 29, 2004. The gallery is open from 11am - 6pm Wednesday - Sunday and is closed Monday and Tuesday.
The passion of Pijuan
Malmö Konsthall, Sweden
The Swedish city of Malmö is hosting an exhibition of paintings and drawings from the early 1970s to the present-day by influential Spanish-Catalan artist Joan Hernández Pijuan. Born in Barcelona in 1931, Hernández Pijuan began painting in an expressionist style in the 1960s, later concentrating on more minimalist, geometric shapes. The present exhibition of his works commences at this point in his artistic career. A versatile artist who has experimented with water colours, oils, charcoal and graphite, his motifs include landscapes, flowers, cathedrals, buildings and cypresses and often feature a frame within the frame. Hernández Pijuan separates painting as a medium from other "languages" of modern art, rejecting the label "artist" in favor of "painter."
The Malmö Konsthall's exhibition of work by Joan Hernández Pijuan runs until Jan. 25, 2004.
The gallery is open daily 11am - 5pm, Wednesday 11am - 9pm.
Picasso -- Up Close And Personal
Pinacothèque de Paris, France
The Pinacothèque de Paris, housed in the former premises of the Musée Baccarat, opened in early November with a homage to Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. In an exhibition marking the thirtieth anniversary of his death, the collection, on display for the first time in France, reveals 89 works such as paintings, drawings, collages and sculptures from the private collection of Jacqueline Picasso, the second and last wife of the painter. Curator Marc Restellini says he hopes to "desanctify Picasso" with this deeply personal documentation, including some 160 personal photos of Picasso the family man.
"Picasso Intime - La collection de Jacquline" runs until March 28, 2004. The gallery is open daily from 10 am to 7 pm, Monday and Friday from 10 am to 10:30 pm.