Agenda

The British cartoonist, comics artist and children’s book author Posy Simmonds (1945) has attracted attention internationally with the three graphic novels Gemma Bovery (1999), Tamara Drewe (2007) and Cassandra Darke (2018).

She fascinates with precise psychological portraits, mocks the shortcomings of the middle class and cultural scene, caricatures staidness, and criticises social developments.

Relatively long text passages alternate with traditional comic sequences, while references to classics by writers such as Gustave Flaubert and Charles Dickens add further layers to the stories.

An elegant, clear and corporeal drawing style, profoundly developed characters, unerring humour and the alert mind of a great storyteller characterise all of Posy Simmonds’s works.

The exhibition (Posy Simmons Close Up) presents the most comprehensive retrospective on this major British artist yet seen in Switzerland, with original drawings from all graphic novels and from her children’s books, as well as illustrations and cartoons for newspapers and magazines, plus unpublished preliminary work.

It is also the first-ever exhibition of originals by Posy Simmonds in the German-speaking world.

Cornices are everywhere. Windows, doors, ceilings, mirrors, wall panelling from across the centuries sport elaborate profiles at their edges. Cars and clothes, furniture and household objects feature their own cornice-like elements. Strips, bands and lines of paint act like cornices by framing or crowning almost any kind of artefact.

Still, cornices hide in plain sight. They attract far less attention from architects, critics or theoreticians than, for instance, columns or architectural orders.

In response, the exhibition focuses on the many incarnations of the cornice in art and architecture. To reveal these histories and uncover the complex role of the cornice in architecture, urbanism and art, the exhibition will unite a unique selection of over 150 drawings, prints, books and objects from the 15th century to the present day. Authors and artists exhibited include Francesco di Giorgio, Gottfried Semper, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier.

Meister GA mit der Fussangel (um 1538 tätig), Korinthischer Sims mit Akanthusblättern verzierte Konsole, 1530 – 1540, Kupferstich, Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich.

Antigone is complemented by a small collection of works by Tacita Dean (1965) that closely relate to this film, as well as a recent large-scale blackboard drawing, Chalk Fall (2018) and slate works, which include a recent drawing, Cynthia Teeming—Cynthia being a full moon.

The exhibition continues with an installation of a group of short 16mm films shown together for the first time: Ear on a Worm (2017), A Cloud makes itself (2020), Un providence (2018) and LA Magic Hour (2019-2021).