Photograph: Katarzyna Kobro, Hanging Construction, 1921; Reconstruction, 1972, The Art Museum in Łódź
This remarkable circle of female artists has impacted a wide array of aesthetic movements: from Dadaism, Constructivism to Surrealism. Among them is Katarzyna Kobro, one of the most renowned representatives of the Constructivism movement in the Polish art of the interwar period.
The exhibition prepared by the Kunstsammlung NRW Düsseldorf in cooperation with the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark) offers a unique opportunity to observe a constellation of works by such outstanding women artists. The high quality of their works as well as their commitment and persistence in establishing contacts with the artistic circles brought them to the very heart of the avant-garde world.
The artists used equally diverse modes of expression such as painting, photography, collage, films and sculptures. The Other Side of the Moon brings back to light the art of the women pioneers of the avant-garde, which contributed to the development of a new movement in art. Featured artists include: Claude Cahun, Dora Maar, Sonia Delaunay, Florence Henri, Hannah Höch, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Germaine Dulac and Katarzyna Kobro.
Katarzyna Kobro (1898-1951) considered the leading representative of the Constructivism movement in the Polish art of the interwar period. Kobro composed spatial sculptures out of metal, wooden, or fibreglass elements of various shapes, sizes and textures, or by combining static elements with moving – hanging or partly stabilised – ones. In her sculptures, the artist also applied the concepts of the theory of Unism formulated by her husband Władysław Strzemiński, while her female acts were inspired by early Cubism.
Also a leading representative of the avant-garde movement was Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) who combined Dadaism and the art of geometrical abstraction while drawing upon the tradition of Surrealism. Called an artist "who created unparallel correlations in art", Sophie Taeuber-Arp contributed, together with Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg, to the promotion of the Concrete Art in Europe. Her open personality and professional experience gained while working for the French-American journal "Plastique" made her one of the first promoters of the avant-garde art.
Hannah Höch (1889-1978), whose collages mark the beginnings of the Berlin Dada movement, also belonged to this circle of the influential women artists. Whereas Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979) is remembered for setting the scene for pure painting and revolutionising the fashion industry by creating her own brand. The French representative of the New Vision was Florence Henri (1893-1982), who followed the avant-garde throughout Europe and while in Rome was considered a Futurist, in Paris a Cubist while in Dessau a member of the Bauhaus movement. Also Dora Maar (1907-1997) and Claude Cahun (1894-1954) belonged to the most radical representatives of early Surrealism.
Some of the artists knew each other well and established bonds of friendship, while others did not meet in person and were familiar with each other's works only. As their artistic paths intersected or diverged, friendships developed or faded away over time, the impact of their works on the European art has remained a highly significant achievement which is worth getting familiar with at the exhibition featuring two hundred works of the eight remarkable pioneers of the European avant-garde.
Curator: Susanne Meyer-Büser
"The Other Side of the Moon" runs between the 22nd of October 2011 until the 15th of January 2012, at K20, Kunstsammlung NRW, Grabbeplatz, Düsseldorf.
The exhibition was organised in cooperation with the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark) and the Polish Institute in Düsseldorf.
Source: press materials