Geneva's Museum of Art and History challenges traditional display methods with new exhibition
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Tuesday, November 5, 2024


Geneva's Museum of Art and History challenges traditional display methods with new exhibition
Installation view. © Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève, photo: Julien Gremaud.



GENEVA.- For its second major “carte blanche” exhibition, The Museum of Arts & History has enlisted leading French curator Jean-Hubert Martin to breathe new life into the museum’s permanent collection. Spanning over 3,550 m2 across two floors, the playful display features some 600 pieces, including loans from other Swiss institutions. Titled Draw Your Own Conclusion, the exhibition resists traditional display methods which favour chronology and didactic learning experiences. Instead, the show prioritises a sense of play and curiosity, orchestrating an unlikely dialogue between Naqada II pottery from Ancient Egypt, modern Kabuki Japanese prints and 19th-century Swiss painting.

Since the second half of the 19th-century, museum conservation and display techniques have become increasingly sophisticated, leading to considerable advancements but often neglecting principles of discovery and play. Departing from this observation, Martin spent almost two years studying MAH’s permanent collection to select items based on analogical correspondences such as colours, shapes, and proportions rather than pre-existing geographical and historical narratives. The resulting display is a theatre of unexpected encounters in which visitors are left to their own devices. As such, the exhibition celebrates the speculative nature of knowledge, rejecting the assumption that art is a code that needs cracking and, instead, encouraging instinctive interpretation as ways to understand the world.

Draw Your Own Conclusion is conceived as a series of analogical sequences. On the ground floor, Swiss painter François Diday’s 1867 landscape Cascade of Giessbach, which features the dramatic waterfalls of the same name, is in conversation with fellow Swiss artist Jacques-Laurent Agasse’s 1837 La Fontaine Personnifiée, which depicts a fantastical nymph inspired by English romanticism. Drawing on the mythical story of the birth of Venus, this pairing is complemented by Kabuki Japanese prints of the same period. Meanwhile, neighbouring rooms highlight more recent and international art works including a large acrylic painting by French-Polish artist Roman Opalka from the “One to Infinity” series, a 1913 flat-weave wool rug by Art Deco Austrian architect-designer Josef Hoffman and a 1920 stage costume designed by Henri Matisse for Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Le Chant du Rossignol.

Still on the ground floor, a series of works explore the vast subject of the human condition. They include an 1896 bronze cast of Auguste Rodin’s famed sculpture The Thinker, whose pose mirrors that of the protagonist of Ferdinand Hodler’s 1884 painting L’Ouvrier philosophe. From scenes of tender love to intense violence, other rooms revisit foundational myths which still bear relevance today. One 1914 oil painting by French-Swiss Nabi artist Félix Vallotton, titled Orphée dépecé par les Ménades, depicts the Ancient Greek prophet being mutilated by a group of maenads. Nearby, a similarly composed 17th-century oil painting originating from the Lombard School represents the abduction of Zeus’ daughter, Helen, by Paris. Additionally, in homage to the late Swiss artist Markus Raetz – who died last year – 15 of his works punctuate the exhibition. They include his first engravings from the 1960s, a print of a female nude made in collaboration with Swiss photographer Balthasar Burkhard and a cast iron sculpture from 1991 made as a tribute to Joseph Beuys.

Jean-Hubert Martin, Curator, says: “Today, most museum exhibitions adhere to chronological and medium-based display methods, grouping works by movements, schools, or historical moments. This systematic division too often restricts the possibilities of resonance between artefacts from different cultures, whose encounters are judged ahistorical. Despite the challenges, museums ought to be places of unexpected encounters which value knowledge but also human sensitivity and instinct.”

Marc-Olivier Wahler, Director of MAH, says: “For the past four decades, Jean-Hubert Martin has curated challenging seminal exhibitions at some of the world’s most influential institutions. As such, he is uniquely placed to revisit MAH’s permanent collection. His commitment to troubling traditional exhibition discourses contributes to MAH’s ongoing transformation into a museum of the future, and we are thrilled to be on this journey together. MAH is a museum of collective heritage and memory, where visitors can encounter objects and stories which help them understand each other and the world around them. Through our collection, we want to tell engaging and surprising stories.”










Today's News

January 30, 2022

In San Francisco, art that unspools the mysteries of the universe

Charles Ray is pushing sculpture to its limit

Hauser & Wirth opens an exhibition featuring works by Max Bill and Georges Vantongerloo

The Royal Academy of Arts opens the first exhibition to chart Francis Bacon's fascination with animals

The Fahey/Klein Gallery opens an exhibition of photographs and screenprints by Miles Aldridge

Women's Museum presents first off-site contemporary art exhibition

Jonathan Brown, pioneering historian of Spanish art, dies at 82

The Morgan opens an exhibition celebrating the life and work of American poet Gwendolyn Brooks

Geneva's Museum of Art and History challenges traditional display methods with new exhibition

Hamiltons Gallery opens an exhibition of works by the gallery's represented artists.

Exploring other worlds: Cosmogenesis by Lee Hunter opens at John Michael Kohler Arts Center

Fine autographs and artifacts featuring royalty up for auction

Impressive Biddle family tankard on offer at Freeman's

For this tearful TV potter, it's all about the clay

Peter Robbins, original voice of Charlie Brown, dies at 65

Two of baseball's rarest cards, featuring Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb, make their auction debut in February

AstaGuru's second edition of 'Opulent Collectibles' Auction concludes successfully

Carol Speed, vixen of the blaxploitation era, dies at 76

Joni Mitchell plans to follow Neil Young off Spotify, citing 'lies'

Beegie Adair, a jazz master in country music's capital, dies at 84

'The Exiles' and 'Nanny' win top prizes at Sundance

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens Board of Trustees announces appointment of four new members

The art design for abolitionist place in Brooklyn moves forward

Tito Matos, virtuoso of a Puerto Rican sound, dies at 53

Tips And Tricks To Find The Best Blockchain PR Firm

Buy Instagram Account with Followers Instead of Buying Followers

3 Reasons to Buy Instagram Accounts

Gambling in Art - Five Famous Paintings

Soap2Day Review




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful