The Female Image from the 16th to the 21st Century
06/09/2006 – 10/02/2006
The Leopold Museum summer exhibition is taking as its theme ‘Woman’: historical aspects of femininity are contrasted with those of the present day in a varied sequence. The images being portrayed in the exhibition are correspondingly diverse: heroines, nudes, ladies, female artists etc. In compiling this exhibition the curators, Rudolf and Elisabeth Leopold, have made a wide-ranging selection which encompasses Albrecht Dürer’s “Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman” to present day artists.
The self-portrait by the female artist Sofonisba Anguissola, 1554, and Albrecht Dürer’s “Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman”, 1505, are highlights of the Renaissance. They are followed by
Hans von Aachen, ”Lucretia and Tarquinius“, around 1600, Johann Liss “Judith and Holofernes“, 1622, and Thomas Gainsborough’s “Sarah Siddons“, 1770.
Among the paintings selected from the 19th century are ones by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Johann Baptist Reiter and Anton Romako. From the rich treasure trove dating from 1900, pictures by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele, Käthe Kollwitz, Max Beckmann, Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso are being shown, together with contemporary artists Hans Bellmer, Bettina Rheims, Gerda Leopold, Shirin Neshat, Elke Krystufek, Otto Mühl and Louise Bourgeois. These highlights, spanning many centuries, also attempt to accentuate and give a vivid impression of the socio-cultural changes in women’s lives.
Starting with the biblical myth of Adam and Eve in paradise, with the Fall and all its socio-historical consequences, the physical existence of humankind once again becomes the focus of the visual arts in the Renaissance. From her portrayal in the first human couple, the naked woman detaches herself over the succeeding centuries to become the sole subject.
After the aestheticising art of the Secession at the beginning of the 20th century, the Expressionist artists Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and George Grosz turn away from “beautiful appearance”. In their search for “truth” and the roots of art they discover the less beautiful as a provocative means of expression.
The end of the 19th century onwards sees the emergence of the militant movements which have as their agenda equal rights and the self-determination of women and which were rekindled after the Second World War. A feminine rebellion is starting to form in art, full of aggression and strength - apart from the red thread in art history with the “Career of Eve“(Peter Gorsen) and the later awakening of the women’s movements, the numerous exponents were split into groups of various role models, which are arranged partly in chronological order but also, when it corresponds with the portrayal, in a comparative juxtaposition of classical and contemporary pictures.
Paintings, the graphic arts and photography enter here into a dynamic tension. The oscillating of diverse synchronic and diachronic positions– largely without interpretive interventions from the curators – allows the recipient to reflect independently.
Why choose the topic “Woman“?
It seems important to us to keep this topic in public awareness. For in spite of many positive changes in the position of women in the past hundred years, in many places discrimination, inequality, sexism and violence still exist. This is eloquently expressed in two works of art which our exhibition has associated with each another across the centuries.
When Louise Bourgeois arranges a huge butcher’s knife above a female torso, it is her challenge to male subjugation. Four hundred years previously the knife is to be found in the painting by Hans von Aachen of ”Lucretia and Tarquinius“ (around 1600). Here a man is telling a biblical story of male violence. These pictures really lend themselves to a comparison. Although Lucretia’s demeanour may appear ”devoted“, her face and hands speak a completely different language. In addition one must also bear in mind that this picture was created in the time of Mannerism and that the Lucretia story was only a pretext for the artist to paint a naked woman. He considered the beauty of the woman’s figure much more important.
The parallel aspects of these two works are prime examples of how to conduct a dialogue between classical and contemporary art – an exciting combination!
Curators: Rudolf and Elisabeth Leopold
Co-curator: Birgit Laback
www.batlinerartfoundation.com
Virtual Panorama
(You will need Quicktime to view)
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ouise Bourgeois, Femme Couteau, 2002
© VBK Wien, 2006
Olaf Martens, Revuegirl, St. Petersburg Music Hall. 2001
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