• Franz Gertsch
    Johanna I, 1983/84
    Acryl auf ungrundierter Baumwolle
    acrylic on unprimed cotton
    330 x 340 cm
    Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf
    (Dauerleihgabe aus Privatbesitz
    Loan from private collection)
    © Franz Gertsch

Franz Gertsch. Johanna & Co. feat. Andy Warhol

The large temporary exhibition in the fall of 2015 is devoted largely to the work of Franz Gertsch. The exhibition programme of the Museum Franz Gertsch propagates and promotes contemporary figural painting and drawing along with regular temporary presentations of the works of Franz Gertsch. The time has come to again exhibit Franz Gertsch’s paintings and woodcuts on a large scale, this time combined with a guest appearance by Andy Warhol.

After having celebrated the artist’s 85th birthday in March 2015 with a presentation of his most recent painting “Pestwurz” (2014/15), the Museum Franz Gertsch is extraordinarily proud to be able to announce the next premiere. Franz Gertsch began working on a new woodcut immediately after completing his last painting. The motif he selected was a Guadeloupe landscape featuring the prominent bromelia blossom he already captured on unprimed cotton in his 2012 “Bromelia (Guadeloupe).” The wonderful “Maria” woodcut from 2001/02 from the museum’s collection will also be shown, that now forms a triptych with landscaped wings as it were with the completion of “Bromelia.”

The paintings encompassing the Four Seasons cycle, which as permanent loans from the museum’s patron and founder Dr. h.c. Willy Michel have found a worthy home in the Museum Franz Gertsch, are still on show in the second exhibition space.

The subsequent parcours through the exhibition past such highlights as the portrait “Silvia I” (1998) and landscapes from the “Grasses” series (1995-99) culminates at a very special work. In the 1980s Andy Warhol portrayed the same young Viennese woman we are familiar with from two portraits by Franz Gertsch, “Johanna I” (1983/84) and “Johanna II” (1985, Hess Collection, Bern/Napa, CA). The Museum Franz Gertsch is now providing the first ever opportunity to compare Gertsch’s painting “Johanna I” with Warhol’s serial silkscreen and explore the different techniques as well as artistic approaches and intentions.

The exhibition was curated by Anna Wesle in collaboration with Franz Gertsch.

Veranstaltungen zu dieser Ausstellung

Franz Gertsch. Johanna & Co. feat. Andy Warhol

In an exhibition concentrating on portraits and landscapes by Franz Gertsch, a confrontation takes place between portraits of the young Viennese woman Johanna that Gertsch and Andy Warhol made in the 1980s. The occasion will also be marked by the world premiere showing of Franz Gertsch’s new “Bromelia” woodcut (2015).