After Los Angeles, Metz and Berlin, Lugano’s Museo d’Arte is set to host a large exhibition, featuring almost 200 works, dedicated to the German artist Hans Richter, whose research, spanning painting to film, represents a fundamental moment in the history of the Twentieth Century’s avant-gardes.

Opening 31 August at Lugano’s Museo d’Arte is a large, retrospective exhibition dedicated to the German artist Hans Richter (Berlin 1888 – Minusio 1976), welcoming visitors until 23 November 2014.

Featuring almost 200 works including paintings, drawings, photographs, films, books, and magazines, the exhibition represents a unique occasion to rediscover the work of this remarkable representative of Twentieth Century art who spent much of the last twenty years of his life in Locarno, the Museo Cantonale d’Arte preserving some of his most profound work, including the original version of the large scroll Rhythmus 23.

The exhibition marks a further waypoint on the path toward the new LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura) cultural centre, the opening of which is scheduled for September 2015. From the fusion of the artistic heritage of both Museo d’Arte Lugano and Museo Cantonale d’Arte, already united now under common management, LAC is set to emerge and establish itself as an important exhibition centre on a European level.

One of the main representatives of the last century’s avant-garde, Hans Richter applied his talent and creativity to a seemingly infinite variety of fields: from painting to drawing, cinema to writing, publishing to teaching, always tenaciously fighting to firmly establish the values of the modernist revolution which indelibly marked the first half of the Twentieth Century. His long and eventful life is tightly intertwined with the Twentieth Century’s key historical and artistic events, and his collaboration and dialogue extended to some of the most authoritative artists of the time, from Marcel Duchamp to Kazimir Malevich, Theo van Doesburg to Kurt Schwitters, Max Ernst to Sergej Ejzenštejn.

After the expressionist beginnings in Berlin during the early 1910s, between 1916 and 1918 Richter was, along with Tzara, Ball, Arp and Janco, one of the principal representatives of the extraordinary heyday of Zurich Dada and, immediately after, one of the pioneers of abstract cinema, to the point of becoming, in the second half of the 1920s, a key figure of experimental film in art.

Having had to take refuge in the USA after the advent of Nazism, in the post-war period Richter became, thanks to his teaching activities, a reference point for the beginnings of American independent cinema and, through books and exhibitions, offered a crucial contribution in documenting the history of the avant-gardes of the early Twentieth Century.

The Exhibition Path

Chronologically unravelling around the main stages of Richter’s artistic adventure, the exhibition path, comprising works by artists including Arp, Eggeling, Janco, Jawlensky, van Doesbourg, Moholy Nagy, and Man Ray, offers the extraordinary opportunity to confront the great themes which engaged the Twentieth Century avant-gardes and to retrace some of the fundamental experiences which were to configure the history of the relationship between painting and cinema throughout the last century.

The exhibition has been organised by Los Angeles’ County Museum and Metz’s Centre Pompidou, in collaboration with Lugano’s Museo d’Arte.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue in Italian, featuring images in colour of all the works displayed and contributions by Timothy O. Benson, Doris Berger, Edward Dimendberg, Frauke Josenhans, Philippe-Alain Michaud, Elio Schenini, Michael White, Yvonne Zimmermann.

Museo d’Arte

Riva Caccia, 5
Lugano 6900 Switzerland
Ph. +41 (0)58 866 7214
mediazione@lugano.ch
www.mda.lugano.ch

Opening hours:

Tuesday – Sunday from 10am to 6pm
Friday from 10am to 9pm

Related images
  1. Hans Richter, Porträt eines “Kanonier” Gefährten (Artillerist) aus den Schützengräben, 1915, Matita su carta, 26.7 x 20.3 cm, Collezione privata, ©2013 Hans Richter Estate, Foto courtesy of the Hans Richter Estate
  2. Hans Richter, Flötisten, 1911–15, Olio su tela, 99.1 x 67.3 cm, Collezione privata, ©2013 Hans Richter Estate, Foto ©2013 Museum Associates/LACMA
  3. Hans Richter, Berliner Fotograf, 1916, Inchiostro di china e tempera su carta,27.3 x 19 cm, Collezione privata, ©2013 Hans Richter Estate, Foto ©2013 Museum Associates/LACMA
  4. Hans Richte, Cello, 1914, Olio e matita su cartone su pavatex, 65 x 47 cm, Aargauer Kunsthaus
  5. Hans Richter, Häuser, 1917, Inchiostro di china su carta, 20.9 x 16.5 cm, Collezione privata, ©2013 Hans Richter Estate, Foto ©2013 Museum Associates/LACMA
  6. Hans Richter, Triptych in Gray, Red, and Green, 1959, Olio su tela su tavola, Tre elementi, ognuno 39.4 x 49.5 cm, Collezione privata, ©2013 Hans Richter Estate, Foto ©2013 Museum Associates/LACMA