ZURICH.- The Kunsthaus Zürich is devoting two galleries to the Genevan artist Alice Bailly (1872–1938). The presentation centres on her innovative wool pictures, which are today seen as a milestone in Swiss modernism. The exhibition is a cooperation with the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne (MCBA).

In all, 22 exhibits are on show at the heart of the collection in the Moser building, including oil paintings, works on paper, and especially the ‘tableaux- laine’ – Alice Bailly’s legendary wool pictures. Bailly’s work oscillates between abstraction and representational depiction, inspired by Futurist and Cubist influences. Her pictures depict figures, objects and scenes in varying degrees of abstraction. Bailly received an award at the 1926 Venice Biennale, and in 1936 she was commissioned to decorate the foyer of Lausanne’s city theatre.

THE WOOL PICTURES

Bailly’s wool pictures are today seen as pioneering, but during her lifetime they were dismissed as mere experiments in handicraft, and found correspondingly little favour with the public. The artist herself was always convinced of their relevance, considering them every bit the equal of oil painting. The tactile quality of the wool gives the works a unique surface and effect – figures and landscapes appear haptic and yet abstract, making them a unique contribution to the development of modern visual language in Switzerland.

BAILLY’S ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

Bailly’s artistic language evolved in interaction with the avant-garde in Switzerland and France. In Paris, where she moved in 1906, she quickly encountered Fauvism, which had an enduring impact on her use of colour. Likewise, Futurism left its mark on her work, as Bailly captured movement and made it visible on the canvas. Soon, she enjoyed her first successes in Paris’s Salons des Indépendants and Salons d’Automne, and had her first solo exhibition at the Musée Rath in Geneva in 1913. Following the outbreak of the First World War, she returned to Geneva, where she became involved with the Dada movement and also created her wool pictures.

Alice Bailly (1872–1938) was born in Geneva. She attended the École des demoiselles, the ‘girls’ school’ of the city’s École des Beaux-Arts, and spent periods in Valais, Paris and Brittany that were crucial to her artistic development. In Paris, she met artists such as Cuno Amiet, Sonia Delaunay, Raoul Dufy and Marie Laurencin and received three times a Swiss Art Award. In 1907, she paid her first visit to Brittany, where the encounter with landscape and light inspired her to create the ‘Scènes bretonnes’. Over a number of years, she moved between Paris and Geneva before, in 1923, she settled in Lausanne, where she lived until her death in 1938. During her lifetime, Bailly’s works were exhibited several times at the Kunsthaus Zürich. Bailly was not simply a pioneer in her work: she was also considered one of the most modern female artists of her time, rejecting gender- specific categorization and traditional female roles.

The exhibition has been curated by Philippe Büttner and Maja Wismer. It is a cooperation with the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne (MCBA). While the Kunsthaus is showing Alice Bailly, some important works by Félix Vallotton from the Kunsthaus Collection travelled to Lausanne for the exhibition ‘Vallotton Forever. The Retrospective’, marking 100 years since the artist’s death. Bailly’s works will remain on display at the Kunsthaus until 15 February 2026.