Kobro and Strzemiński were active in several disciplines besides sculpture and painting, including architecture, scenography, and graphic design. They were also important theoreticians, inspiring teachers, and members, founders and co-founders of important artist groups and art magazines.
With this exhibition, Moderna Museet Malmö wants to widen the scope and understanding of the European avant-garde. The exhibition will present over 60 works by Kobro and Strzemiński from the collection of the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź and other lenders. The exhibition also includes works from the a.r. International Collection of Modern Art: a project envisioned by Strzemiński in the mid-1920s of creating a public museum of the new contemporary art of that time. It eventually evolved into today’s Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź. The range of artists who donated works to this future avant-garde museum were European artists mostly active in Paris, including Georges Vantongerloo, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Vilmoz Husar, Jean Hélion, Henryk Stażewski, and Theo van Doesburg. The exhibition Kobro & Strzemiński: New Art in Turbulent Times is framed by key works from the Moderna Museet’s modernist collection, stretching from the Russian avant-garde art which inspired Kobro and Strzemiński, to works by Mondrian and Vantongerloo, central figures in the De Stijl movement with whom Kobro and Strzemiński had a vital exchange of ideas.