Today we went into Frankfurt to visit 2 exhibitions at the Schirn Gallery. The one which I enjoyed the most was of works by E. W. Nay from the 1960s. These are his late works and represent a change of style marked by his participation in Documenta III in 1964. For that he produced 3 large canvases 4m by 4m that were hung from the ceiling in a long narrow room. This room has been reproduced in the current exhibition in the Schirn. Here is one of the 3 paintings from the Documenta:
Documenta Bild A (ROT-GRÜN), 1964
There was an interesting series of 4 paintings of in different colours and one having a slight change to the composition. The two below show a reversal of colour. A sketch for the series in felt-tip on paper was one of 86 sketches on paper on display. After my research into sketchbooks I viewed them in a new light.
Doppelspindel Rot, 1967
Doppelspindel Blau, 1967
The colours of all the paintings were bright, with plenty of contrast and the negative space was as important as the positive space. They were definitely evocative of the Sixties.
Orange Krapplack, 1967
Grün II, 1967
The second exhibition focused on the implications of Darwinism for the fine arts. All of the artists featured in the exhibition shared an interest in the natural sciences and either read texts by Darwin or by those who reacted to him. It was an unusual exhibition having one wall displaying cases of beetles of all shapes and sizes skewered on pins and 2 glass cabinets full of human skulls. I was particularly pleased to view the wall of plates by Ernst Haeckel from Art Forms in Nature, 1899-1904. I have seen photos of these plates before in the GEO magazine. They are amazingly detailed. This one is just a small taste.
Rohrstrahlinge (Radiolaria)
I found it hard to follow the underlying theme of the exhibition. It was certainly one that challenged you with the central idea.
All the images in this post are Press Images from the Schirn Kunsthalle.