18.01.13
Annual Media Conference The Highlight of 2013: Symbolist Masterpieces
The Kunstmuseum Bern is presenting a colorful and many-sided exhibition program in 2013 with an exhibition focusing on symbolism and Swiss artists as its leading show of the year. Insights into contemporary Swiss sculptures made of iron and steel can be found in the presentation of Paolo Bellini, James Licini, and Josef Maria Odermatt. Hannes Schmid, the great contemporary visual narrator in photography, films, and paint, will be our guest. And for Ernst Kreidolf’s 150th birthday we will be showing works by the famous picture-book artist, while in the exhibition The Weak Sex our visitors will be able to explore new images of men in art. Additionally we are celebrating the Bicentennial of the Bernische Kunstgesellschaft.
Our major exhibition for 2013, Myth and Mysteries. Symbolism and Swiss Artists, will be opening at the end of April and investigates Switzerland’s pivotal role in symbolism by making fundamental comparisons with the movement in general for the first time. The show brings together some 200 masterpieces from Swiss and international museums, producing a diverse panorama of symbolism. Leading Swiss painters, sculptors, graphic artists, and photographers will be examined in the exhibition in the context of their interaction with artists in the neighboring countries of France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Belgium, the birthplace of the symbolist movement. Besides Ferdinand Hodler, Arnold Böcklin, Carlos Schwabe, and Giovanni Segantini, the show is featuring masterpieces by Gustav Klimt, Fernand Khnopff, Franz von Stuck, Gaetano Previati, William Degouve de Nuncques, and Hans Thoma. Renowned paintings from the Kunstmuseum Bern Collection are among the key works in the show, and our concentrated panorama presentation Best of the Collection, starting February 18, will be highlighting our masterpieces from Duccio di Buoninsegna’s Maestà to Sean Scully’s Grey Wolf.
Photography, illustrations, sculptures in iron and steel, painting and contemporary art
Commencing March 13, Hannes Schmid, the great visual narrator in the media of photography, film, and paint, will be our guest at the Kunstmuseum Bern. Hannes Schmid is famous for his iconic staging of the Marlboro cowboys and his innovative fashion shoots since the early 1990s. On the occasion of Ernst Kreidolf’s 150th birthday we will be exhibiting works by this popular children’s book artist from June 21. From mid-August onwards we will be dedicating the exhibition Iron and Steel to the highly renowned Swiss sculptors Paolo Bellini, James Licini, and Josef Maria Odermatt. And from mid-October our visitors can view new images of men in the contemporary art exhibition The Weak Sex. Additionally we are organizing changing presentations with works from our collection throughout the year at the Kunstmuseum Bern’s space at PROGR, in the so-called “Window on Contemporary Art” series.
Bicentennial of the Bernische Kunstgesellschaft BKG
From April 24 the Kunstmuseum Bern is exhibiting a selection of works by the winners of this year’s AC Scholarship Awards of the Bernische Kunstgesellschaft BKG, which will be celebrating its bicentennial in 2013. For the occasion we will be showing Feu sacré with works by artists who received AC scholarships, which the BKG has been awarding annually since 1942. Our audience will certainly be surprised to see who was once the happy recipient of one of these scholarships and is now one of Bern’s internationally renowned artists.
