LUXEMBOURG.- Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean presents an exhibition of new and recent works by the Luxembourgish artist, Jean-Marie Biwer (b. 1957, Dudelange). Gathering paintings, drawings and prints from the last 15 years, this monographic exhibition brings into focus Biwer’s distinct approach to painting landscapes, nature and the immediate environment. It is the first comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work in a Luxembourg museum marking a 40 year career in painting.
Over the past four decades, Biwer has developed a body of figurative work that reflects a sensitivity to the world around him: both in terms of the immediate environment – the Ardennes countryside in the north of Luxembourg – and in relation to society in general. Biwer’s works address subjects that are well established in the traditions of painting including landscape, the human figure and still life. Yet they also question the role of painting within a world that is dense with images and information. Faced with the proliferation of screens and moving images and the acceleration of the pace of life, Biwer seeks to make paintings that hold the intensity of the present moment, creating a space for contemplation.
D’après nature highlights various themes and subjects that run through Biwer’s work since 2005: the studio, everyday life, trees, the sky and the changing seasons in the surrounding landscape. ‘These things are there,’ the artist explains, ‘we just need to look at them. They are simple, but today they have the power to bring so much to people.’
Among the works presented are several major paintings such as Atelier 2 (2007-8), Arbre (2007-8), Ciel n°3 (2008) and Before the Flood (2016-18). At the heart of the exhibition is a group of 157 smallscale paintings on wood that he started in 2005. Entitled A Wooden Sketchbook, Biwer describes the work as a real ‘laboratory of painting’. The exhibition also includes major commissions, such as the ambitious series of paintings that were created for the City of Dudelange (Dudelange, 2007), the Grand paysage (2015) realised for the City of Troisvierges, and a series of eighty-two watercolours produced in 2019 to illustrate the translation into Luxembourgish of the Tao Te King by Serge Tonnar (2019, éditions Guy Binsfeld).
Jean-Marie Biwer (b. 1957, Dudelange) has held solo exhibitions at CAW, Walferdange (2017); Mudam Luxembourg (2015); IKOB – Musée d’Art Contemporain, Eupen (2011); Galerie L’Indépendance, Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (2008); and Alte Bitburger Brauerei, Bitburg (2001). Between 1986 and 2011, he has collaborated with galleries in Belgium (Denise Van de Velde); the Netherlands (Bastiaans); Luxembourg (La Cité, Nosbaum Reding), France (Eterso); and Germany. In 1993, he represented Luxembourg at the 45th Venice Biennale. His works can be found in major public collections such as the Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art (MNHA); IKOB – Musée d’Art Contemporain; and Mudam Luxembourg. It has been the subject of several monographic publications, including Journal de Paris (2009), a compilation of three notebooks, and the journal L’Anarchiste bigot (1992). Biwer lives and works in Basbellain, Luxembourg.
