Retrospective on Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn in Paris
Published: Friday, Oct 11th 2024, 16:10
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In Paris, the first major retrospective in France is dedicated to the Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn, who died in 2012. The German painter Albert Oehlen is acting as curator.
Hans Josephsohn has inspired numerous contemporary artists, including Ugo Rondinone, Thomas Schütte, Rebecca Warren and Thomas Houseago. From the rich oeuvre of the German-speaking sculptor, who died in Zurich in 2012, Oehlen has now organized the first retrospective in France at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris.
When selecting the works, he was particularly interested in "illustrating Josephsohn's creative process, his engagement with the material, his tireless exploration of form," Oehlen told the news agency DPA.
Massive masses of plaster
Throughout his life, the sculptor unwaveringly created life-size or larger-than-life figures and busts: massive, jagged masses made of plaster and brass, in which only the basic shape of the body is recognizable. Josephsohn always started from a living model, which is not necessarily recognizable in his figures and sketched faces, some of which are reduced to steles, explained Oehlen. And that is what fascinates him about his art.
Josephsohn, born on May 20, 1920 in Königsberg, once the capital of East Prussia, came from a Jewish family. He initially fled from anti-Semitism in Germany to Italy before settling in Switzerland at the end of the 1930s and becoming a Swiss citizen.
Collector lives near St. Gallen
Oehlen is a collector of Josephsohn and lives near St. Gallen, where the "Kesselhaus Josephsohn" was opened in 2003 with constantly changing works by the sculptor.
The Paris museum opposite the Eiffel Tower dedicated the first extensive exhibition in France to Oehlen in 2009. The Kunsthalle in Hamburg is currently exhibiting the 70-year-old's "computer pictures". The Paris show can be seen until February 16 under the title "Josephsohn vu par Albert Oehlen".
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