Media release
ORNAMENT AND ABSTRACTION
The dialogue between non-Western, modern and contemporary art
Runge - Kandinsky - Picasso - Matisse - Stella and others
10 June - 23 September 2001
The ambitious project "Ornament and Abstraction“ at the Fondation Beyeler will be the
first-ever exhibition to explore this major theme in 20th century art history, which it will
document by means of a wide range of examples. Parallels between different cultures and
eras will be drawn in ten main sections with titles such as “Prologue East – West“, "From
the Arabesque to the abstract Line“, "Ornament and Paradise“, "The War of Signs - Peace
in the Ornament“ and "The (digital) mass Ornament“.
Ornament's importance in the emergence and development of abstract art was long
underestimated. The forthcoming exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler will look at the
interaction between ornament and abstract art, illustrating it through the juxtaposition of a
large number of works of art with objects drawn from the realm of arts and crafts. As well
as presenting a collection of outstanding works with ornamental or abstract features, the
exhibition will highlight specific interrelationships in the history of culture and form. Visitors
will, in particular, obtain new insights into an important aspect of art in the 20th century,
the timespan of which will be extended right up to the present day by means of postcolonial art and media installations.
The exhibition will make visitors aware of the analogies and interrelationships between the
works displayed, encouraging them to think about the extent to which certain tendencies
in abstract painting can be seen as the continuation of formal developments in the history
of ornament.
Almost 300 outstanding works of art and objects will be shown in the exhibition. Among the
most spectacular exhibits will be the 1:1 reconstruction of the study Mondrian designed for
Ida Bienert, the photographic reconstruction of the Rococo hall of mirrors in the
Amalienburg in Munich and Klimt's Beethoven frieze. The artists Sol LeWitt, Daniel Buren
and Kara Walker will show installations especially created for the Fondation Beyeler. Peter
Kogler and Shirin Neshat will present video installations and there will also be an installation
on the theme of cybergeography by the media group Knowbotic Research.
In addition, the exhibition will feature works by Paul Gauguin, Wassily Kandinsky, Gustav
Klimt, Alexander Rodtschenko, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Joan Miró, Josef
and Anni Albers, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Jasper Johns, Frank
Stella, Sigmar Polke, Helmut Federle, David Reed, Rosemarie Trockel as well as a number
by artists from different non-Western cultures. The exhibition's associative scope will be
further extended by the inclusion of objects, prints and drawings from ancient China, Greece
and Rome, the Islamic Orient, Siberia, Africa, Afghanistan, Japan, Mexico, Peru and
Oceania.
An exhibition catalogue will be published by DuMontVerlag, Cologne.
For further information, please contact: Dr. Bettina Mette Tel.: +41 61 6459721 presse@beyeler.com