The Kunstmuseum Berne Shows Russian Art Since 1970

Written by Gottfried Tschäppät Wednesday, 21 December 2011 23:10

Berne, Switzerland.- The Kunstmuseum Berne is proud to present "Passion and Painting: Russian Art since 1970 - The Collection Arina Kowner" on view at the museum until February 12th 2012. the exhibition features works from one of the key collections of Russian contemporary art, Arina Kowner’s collection comprises over 200 works of art by 48 artists from 1970 to 2008. The focus of the collection is the period of social and political transition in the former East Bloc from 1984 to 1996, presenting an arthistorical documentation of a unique epochal change. The show is part of the series of exhibitions in Bern on Russian contemporary art. Arina Kowner, a collector based in Zurich who originally came from Russia, knew or is acquainted with many of the artists whose works she now owns. As Kowner puts it herself: “Acquiring a work of art is mostly linked to a personal encounter.”

Correspondingly she describes her collection as a “great documentation of memories that had a vital impact on my life.” Leningrad and Moscow were the two centers in which artists from all over the Soviet Union came together. The exhibition reflects the different art styles and approaches as well as the typical subject matter for each of the two cities. In the show famous Russian nonconformists are being presented who worked largely underground until 1989 because they refused to adopt socialist realism as propagated by the Socialist Party. Among them we find artists such as Grisha Bruskin, Vladimir Nemukhin, Dmitri Prigov, and Edik Steinberg.


Additionally, there are also works in the exhibition of Leningrad artists who are still relatively unknown in Switzerland. For example, Sergei Bugaev, called “Africa,” or Timur Novikov, the leading figure in Leningrad art and the city’s art scene, and not to forget the very provocative Vladislav Mamyshev, who calls himself “Monroe” and also stages himself as the famous actress and icon. The collector’s interests extend beyond Russian art. She is fascinated not only by art that addresses transformations in Russian life but likewise by art that engages with the universal problems of existence. Therefore she is, of course, also interested in Western art. The exhibition will thus additionally show works from Arina Kowner’s collection by artists such as Alois Lichtsteiner, Robert Mangold, Bruce Nauman, Markus Raetz, and Andy Warhol – in dialogue with Russian art approaches.

Glasnost and perestroika opened up the opportunity for organizing exhibitions of unofficial art from Moscow and Leningrad in the West. They were the key art attractions during the 1980s and the early 1990s. Initiated by the Swiss diplomat Paul Jolles, Ilya Kabakov’s first large exhibition in the West took place in the Kunstmuseum Bern in 1984. Bern developed into a focal point for the Russian avant-garde. In 1988, the Kunstmuseum Bern presented the now legendary exhibition I live – I see: Moscow Artists of the 1980s. In it the works already anticipate a break with political and social traditions. The exhibition Avant-garde Underground – The Bar-Gera Collection followed in 2005. The current show therefore is a continuation of a whole series of exhibitions on Russian contemporary art in Bern.

The Kunstmuseum Berne is the oldest art museum in Switzerland with a permanent collection and houses works from eight centuries. The cornerstone of the state art collection was at the beginning of the 19th Century through purchases of plaster casts of ancient sculptures for the Higher School. Founded in 1813, the Bernese Art Society began to build up a collection the primarily featured of watercolors and drawings. Both collections were amalgamated and have been kept under one roof since 1849. The architect Gottlieb Hebler (1817-1875) made the construction of a museum building possible when he bequeathed all his assets for this purpose. The construction work lasted from spring 1876 to autumn 1878 and the museum officially opened on August 9th 1879. A first extension was added between 1932 and 1936 to the east of the Stettlerbau. The opening of the second (and to date last) extension took place in 1983 after more than four years of planning and design work, and about one and a half years of construction. Major refurbishment works were carried out in 1999. Works by Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Ferdinand Hodler and Meret Oppenheim made the Kunstmuseum Berne into an institution with an international reputation. The always growing and changing collection currently consists of over 3,000 paintings and sculptures as well as around 48,000 drawings, prints, photographs, videos and films. The roots of the museum extend to the revolutionary ideas of the late 18th Century back, who in 1809 in Berne establishing the State Art Collection and in 1879 led to the opening of the first museum building.  Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch

---

Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~