Dance of Colours: Vaslaw Nijinsky's Eye and Abstraction at Hamburger Kunsthalle |
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| Written by Evelyn Rooney |
| Saturday, 27 February 2010 02:06 |
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 Nijinsky’s highly impressive paintings are here for
the first time presented in the context of modern art in Paris after 1910.
Around 100 drawings by Nijinsky, mostly from the John Neumeier Foundation,
will be juxtaposed with important paintings by the Russian artists Sonia
Delaunay-Terk, Alexandra Exter, Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné, Léopold Survage
and the Czech painter František Kupka. Like Nijinsky at times, these
painters lived in Paris between 1910 and 1925 and worked on the themes of
dance, rhythm and motion in a highly abstracted manner. Strong colours, arches, concentric circles, ellipses and sweeping curves dominate their compositions. The paintings are marked by a strong, rhythmic accent and call to mind a dance motion or the musical progression of a film sequence. In their dynamism the physical presence of the human figure on the canvas links up with the light, the shapes and the vibrations of the cosmos to build up to a stirring dance of colours. In bringing together the important, and largely unknown series by Nijinsky with the art of Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Alexandra Exter, Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné, Léopold Survage and Frantisek Kupka, the exhibition offers an entirely new perspective on the origins of abstraction from dance.  It is a unique contribution to the worldwide events that mark the
centenary of the Ballets Russes’ spectacular debut in Paris. The historic
personality of Nijinsky, the outstanding dancer of the twentieth-century,
comes alive in a separate section of the exhibition in photographs,
posters, paintings and sculptures by leading artists of Nijinsky’s time,
on loan from the private collection of John Neumeier. The exhibition presents around 100 works by Nijinsky, mainly from the collection of the John Neumeier Foundation, and more than 100 works by the other five artists, each represented by around twenty works from international collections. The Kunsthalle owes its existence to an initiative by the Kunstverein in Hamburg (Hamburg Art Union), which was founded in 1817 and opened the first "public municipal painting gallery" in the Börsenarkaden in 1850. The collection grew rapidly due to the contribution of gifted works, and it soon became necessary to provide a building in which to house it. In August 1869, financed largely through donations, the Hamburg Kunsthalle was opened. The galleries have been renovated, and paintings by the old and recent masters as well as the modern art collection have been rearranged into an attractive new hanging. An extension building offering 6.000 m of exhibition space has opened in February 1997, and houses the new collection of contemporary art - "New Modernist" art from 1960 onwards. Visit : http://www.hamburger- Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
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