Exhibition
Plan Your VisitExhibition
Ferdinand Hodler: View to Infinity
Sep 20, 2012 — Jan 7, 2013
The largest American exhibition ever devoted to this major Swiss artist.
Ferdinand Hodler
(1853-1918)
Two Women in Flowers, 1901-02
Oil on canvas
Archäologie und Museum Baselland
Ferdinand Hodler
(1853-1918)
Two Women in Flowers, 1901-02
Oil on canvas
Archäologie und Museum Baselland
“Ferdinand Hodler: View to Infinity” is the largest American exhibition ever devoted to this major Swiss artist. Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) was admired by such Austrian artists as Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, whose work is essential to Neue Galerie New York's collection. The show covers all key aspects of his work: his numerous self-portraits; his Symbolist canvases; his majestic paintings of the Swiss Alpine landscape; and a series of shockingly frank portraits of his lover, Valentine Godé-Darel, documenting her decline and death.
The exhibition includes 65 paintings and 20 drawings from both public and private collections worldwide, as well as furniture designed by Josef Hoffmann for the Hodler apartment. The Musée d’art et d’histoire in Geneva was responsible for the loan of the superb drawings. There are also 45 intimate photographs of Hodler in the exhibition taken by Gertrud Dübi-Müller, which show him as a very engaging figure, in bowler hat and striking various poses. These photographs are on loan from the Fotostiftung Schweiz in Winterthur.
The organizing curator for the presentation at the Neue Galerie is Jill Lloyd, a distinguished scholar who has assembled several important shows for the museum, including “Van Gogh and Expressionism.” The exhibition is co-organized by the Fondation Beyeler, Basel, where it will be on view from January 27 to May 26, 2013. The organizing curator for the Beyeler is Ulf Küster. The exhibition is designed by Peter de Kimpe, whose projects are noted for their bold colors and theatrical style, for Neue Galerie New York.
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Exhibition Catalogue (Sold Out)
A fully illustrated catalogue, published by Hatje Cantz, accompanies the exhibition. This volume gathers a selection of Hodler’s best-loved work: his famous late paintings, in which figures are heavily stylized and landscapes are pared down to simple effects of mood and color; his outstanding works on paper; and the much-acclaimed, extremely moving series of works chronicling the illness and early death of the artist’s lover, Valentine Godé-Darel.