Roy Lichtenstein. Art as Motif

2 July to 3 October 2010
 
With “Roy Lichtenstien – Kunst als Motiv”, Museum Ludwig is focusing on an essential complex in the oeuvre of this grandmaster of Pop Art. Along with motifs from the world of consumer goods and of comics, Lichtenstein repeatedly helped himself to a rich fund of art-historical picture programs. Aesthetic canons of Expressionism and Futurism up to Bauhaus and Art Deco, artist heroes of Picasso or Matisse to Mondrian or Dali were analyzed by Lichtenstein and then paraphrased in his own pictorial language.
Thus a fascinating, enigmatic, mostly ironic interplay emerged from traits extracted from the originals followed by their subtle (re)interpretation in Lichtenstein’s typical vocabulary of forms, expressed in color fields and pixel points.

Moving Pictures. Artists & Video & Film

29 May to 31 October 2010
 
Museum Ludwig will stand under the sign of pictures that move. For the first time in 30 years, the museum is presenting its complete collection of artist’s films and videos, as well as installations. Visitors will be able to experience the collection in its entirety: on the ground floor in the context of the individual collection departments, on the other floors, as well as at research stations.
From films purchased already in 1974, among others, by Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra and Ed Ruscha, via videos by Nam Jun Paik, Gerry Schum’s TV gallery, up to the installations of Aernout Mik and Guy Ben-Ner, the history of moving pictures in contemporary art can be revisited.

Cologne and its Jewish architects (Köln und seine jϋdischen Architekten)

28 May to 5 September 2010
 
At the beginning of National Socialism Cologne was one of the cities in Germany which was a particularly vibrant centre of Jewish life, above all in the fields of culture and business. The city centre and many suburbs were then and still are characterised by buildings commissioned by Jews and often designed by Jewish architects. However, the histories of these buildings and knowledge of the architects, who once provided the designs, have generally fallen into oblivion. The exhibition documents the lives and works of important Jewish architects who lived here from the middle of the 19th century and were active both in Cologne and beyond. An exhibition by Wolfram Hagspiel in conjunction with the NS-Dokumentationszentrum

Liebermann – Corinth – Slevogt: landscapes (Die Landschaften)

30 April to 1 August 2010
 
Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth and Max Slevogt are three of the most important representatives of German Impressionism whose works enjoy great popularity. These artists shared a passion for landscape painting to which the Wallraf will devote a comprehensive special exhibition comprising roughly 90 works by the three painters. This is the first time that a presentation will focus on landscapes by the most important German Impressionists. Most loans are from museums and galleries of international renown such as the Berliner Nationalgalerie, the Frankfurt Städel and the Belvedere in Vienna. The exhibition will demonstrate that this “ triumvirate of German Impressionism” were at their most creative in landscape painting – unimpeded by commissions and other constraints. They devoted themselves to this genre, which was rather untypical of their work, with great commitment and shunned any form of routine. This is surely the reason why their landscape paintings are among the highlights of their œuvres. Liebermann, Corinth and Slevogt painted these landscapes whenever an opportunity arose during their travels or at the place where they spent their holidays. Max Slevogt found his motifs in the Rhineland, Palatinate, Capri and Egypt. Lovis Corinth painted during his stays in Tyrol in the summer and later at Lake Walchen in Bavaria. Max Liebermann painted Dutch landscapes at first preferably in Holland and later in his garden on the Wannsee in Berlin. The focus on landscape painting in this exhibition will illustrate the individual development of the three painters on their way to becoming great artists.

Wade Guyton

23 April to 22 August 2010
 
The favorite instrument of the American artist Wade Guyton (*1972) is his inkjet printer. With it he produces paintings of giant proportions that induce a certain irritation. For not only the production method, but also what is depicted — letters of the alphabet or magazine clippings — refer to printing techniques and print products. To complete the confusion, for the large skylight hall he will lend his print-paintings additional sculptural quality.

Exhibition of the state of North Rhine – Westphalia of archaeological finds)

19 March to 14 November 2010
 
The 5th exhibition on archaeology in North Rhine – Westphalia will provide information on large-scale scientific excavations and a wealth of finds to present the multi-facetted world of archaeological conservation. It will span a period of 200 million years, ranging from the fossils of an ichthyosaur to a British World War II Lancaster bomber. Fossils from the nearby Siebengebirge hills, a Stone Age clay idol – the oldest portrait work from the Rhineland – a jadeite hatchet and an antenna-hilted dagger exemplify archaeological finds from various different periods. A cavalryman’s helmet from Xanten-Wardt, luxurious drinking vessels of glass and elaborate bone carvings from Moers and Cologne, and agate jewellery from Bonna (Bonn) are evidence of everyday-life and culture in the period of the Roman Empire. Medieval finds and excavations in towns and villages, churches and monasteries – such as a Carolingian water-mill and a rock-crystal workshop of the Archbishop of Cologne – illustrate the wide range of tasks involved in the conservation and protection of archaeological monuments by the conservationist agency and archaeological museums of the state of North Rhine – Westphalia. The exhibition is organised by the Römisch-Germanisches Museum and commissioned by the planning and transport department of North Rhine – Westphalia in conjunction with the departments of archaeological preservation and the archaeological museums in the Rhineland and Westphalia – Lippe.

Kazimir Malevich and Suprematism in the Ludwig collection

5 February to 20 February 2011
 
For the first time in twenty years, Museum Ludwig is presenting its complete Kasimir Malevich collection, which is, internationally, the most extensive one on this artist. The results of a technological investigation of four Malevich paintings give us new insight into his painting technique. These will be thoroughly documented in the exhibition.
The paintings, sculptures and graphic prints from his entire creative period show how the artist evolved from figurative art via abstraction to objectivity. Suprematist works by artists from Malevich’s circle are welcome additions to the exhibit.

Bohemians. Posing the Artist in the Photography of the 19th and 20th Century

24 September 2010 to 9 January 2011
 
In 1842 Henri Murger published his famous novel, La Boheme, in which the tragic life of a poor artist in the bourgeois era was first described. This book title became a synonym for the artist of the 19th century who, free from the compulsions (and/or the protection) of courts, had to carry his wares to market on his own. Photography in this context served the portrayal and self-portrayal of artists just as it did self-discovery and the documentation of the conditions under which life and work took place.
These photographs were frequently placed in the documentary appendix of publications or art exhibitions, without consideration of their original provenance or significance. The exhibition presents portraits of famous and unknown painters, sculptors, literary figures and actors, along with depictions of their world of work and pleasure, since the invention of photography.
Its earliest reproductions are in the form of daguerreotypes; shown here are solo and group portraits, atelier scenarios and artists’ festivities from the late Biedermeier period, the Belle Epoch, the turn of the century up to the 1920s. The most important photographers from Hermann Biow to Franz Hanfstaengl, from Nadar to Hugo Erfurth and August Sander are represented along with many ‘masters’ unknown up to now.

Suchan Kinoshita

8 October 2010 to 30 January 2011
 
Suchan Kinoshita (born 1962 in Tokio, lives in Maastricht and Münster) has been invited to present new work at the Museum Ludwig. Her installations employ sculpture, video and found objects, and is informed by varied interests: theatre and music, but also zen and haiku. She creates a subtle interplay of objects, sounds and spatial relationships that invite viewers to walk around and stop to look closely. Contrasts between sound and quiet, distance and nearness, permanence and fleetingness mark her work.