Agenda

In the sixteenth century, small-format glass paintings are a popular art form in southern Germany and even more so in the Old Swiss Confederacy. These are works of art of outstanding quality that graced town and guild halls, universities, monasteries, and hospitals. The panels were executed by glass painters, based on designs commissioned from renowned artists of the time. Donating such a work was a common and widely recognized act of social communication, lending representative expression to alliances, friendships, and honors. That is why virtually every glass painting prominently features the donor’s coat of arms. The motifs surrounding this central element vary widely and include depictions of religious themes, but also personifications and allegories, representations of professions, and scenes from Swiss history. Showcasing around ninety works from its golden age in the sixteenth century, the presentation offers a survey of glass paintings and design drawings from Basel, with forays into the art scenes of other cities like Berne, Nuremberg, and Schaffhausen. Juxtapositions of drawings and stained glass paintings illuminate the close interrelation between the two art forms.

The exhibition (À fleur de peau. Vienne 1900)  adopts a novel approach to this period. The show goes beyond the classic contrasts: Gustav Klimt’s generation versus Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka’s, symbolism versus expressionism, or floral versus abstract ornamentation in the applied arts. It shows the emergence of a new sensibility that found expression in artistic practices that focused on the skin. By exploring the mysteries of this sensitive surface, Vienna’s modernists would redefine the connections between humans and the world, everyday objects and their environment, buildings and streets. The exhibition features 180 paintings, drawings, sculptures, and applied art objects that were created in Vienna between 1897 (when the Vienna Secession was founded) and 1918 (the year the Austro‑Hungarian Empire collapsed).

Erica Pedretti (1930) is an exceptional figure in the Swiss art and literature scene. In addition to her successes as a writer, she has also created an oeuvre as a visual artist. The exhibition (Fremd genug/ Strange Enough) shows her visual art and the various aspects of her creative output. For the presentation, the artist Katalin Deér and the architect Lukas Furrer have built a structure in the exhibition space that connects the art of Erica Pedretti in a unique way.