The exhibition "Leidenschaft . Passion  -  In Focus: Pierre Soulages" opening at Museum Art.Plus on 19 February 2017 showcases works by the French painter Pierre Soulages (born in 1919 in Rodez, France).

An internationally renowned abstract artist, Pierre Soulages has been working exclusively in black since the 1970s, producing monochrome black paintings whose densely impastoed surfaces - at turns matt and glossy - he structures by means of deeply incised horizontal, diagonal or vertical lines and furrows that allow the paintings to enter into an absorbing dialogue with the light that falls on them.

Pour moi, le noir, c'est un excès, une passion. - For me, black is an excess, a passion

Pierre Soulages

The artist sums up his obsession with his favourite colour.

Passion is the driving force of art. Complementing Pierre Soulages's paintings in the two central rooms are two- and three-dimensional works by other international artists in the adjacent spaces. The colour black is a leitmotif that runs through the entire exhibition. Abstract or figurative, on its own or in contrast with other colours, it has a different effect in each work.

The multifaceted exhibition allows visitors to reacquaint themselves with works shown over the course of the eight-year history of the museum and to get to know many of the collection's new discoveries.

Participating artists:
Manolo Ballesteros, Darío Alvarez Basso, Luigi Carboni, Tony Cragg, Philippe Dodard, Friedemann Flöther, Karl Gerstner, Ellsworth Kelly, Masayuki Koorida, Gerhard Langenfeld, Thomas Lenk, Helmut Middendorf, François Morellet, Nika Neelova, Nunzio, Pino Pinelli, Pizzi Cannella, Gert Riel, Stefan Rohrer, Piero Ruggeri, Felix Schlenker, Turi Simeti, Pierre Soulages, Sibylle Wagner

Publications

The following publications are available on request for this exhibition:

Museum Art.Plus is presenting a a selection of works by the French painter Pierre Soulages (*1919 Rodez, FR) in its modern extension.

Soulages one of the leading international abstract artists and one of the last living members of a generation that redefined modern art after the end of the Second World War. The colour black has always been central to his creative practice.

Pour moi, le noir, c'est un excès, une passion. For me, black is an excess, a passion,' the artist sums up his obsession with his favourite colour.

Pierre Soulages

Since the end of the 1970s, Soulages has been painting only monochrome black canvases. He refers to them as ‘Outrenoirs' (beyond black). Their densely impastoed, surfaces - part glossy, part matte - are structured and enlivened by deep diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines and furrows. The way these enter into a fascinating and ever-changing dialogue with the light bears out the artist's contention that for him black is a colour of light.

At the heart of the exhibition colorful . farbenfroh at Museum Art.Plus in Donaueschingen are paintings by the American artist Dorothy Fratt (1923-2017) who passed away earlier this year.

Almost entirely unfamiliar to European audiences, the painter is a real discovery. Her work should be seen in the context of the Washington Color School, a group of abstract artists active in Washington, D.C. from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. Parallel to the Abstract Expressionism and Colour Field Painting of the New York School, they created large-format paintings that were less concerned with gesture than with the plane, and developed a formal language that explored the interplay of colours and their effect on the viewer.

Dorothy Fratt left Washington, D.C. for Arizona in 1958, she remained true to the style, developing and refining it until her death in the summer of 2017. She left behind an extensive body of work that has yet to be discovered in Europe.

The exhibition is the first in Europe to show a representative selection of works by the artist ranging from the 1960s to the present. They are complemented by colourful two- and three-dimensional works by other international artists.Artists: Gianni Dessì (IT), Rainer Fetting, Ralph Fleck, Dorothy Fratt (US), Günter Fruhtrunk, Winfred Gaul, Heidi Gerullis, Otto Herbert Hajek, Keith Haring (US), Emil Kiess, Gerhard Langenfeld, Thomas Lenk, Alessandro Mendini (IT), Helmut Middendorf, Georg Karl Pfahler, Lothar Quinte, Matthew Radford (GB), Gert Riel, Reiner Seliger, Paolo Serra (IT), Pierre Soulages (FR)

The opening exhibition gives a first look into the treasure trove that is the Biedermann Collection.

Some 50 works will be on show from 26 international, contemporary artists, displayed in themed groups, which will guide the visitor through the exhibition rooms, on a journey of discovery that is both artistic in content and rich in atmosphere and suspense. Lovers of architecture will also gain interesting insights as, in spite of the extensive renovation, much of the original fabric of the building was retained and extended by the addition of a powerful extension built of lightweight concrete.

Various themes have been assigned to the rooms according to the choice of works. The tour starts from the foyer by entering the lefthand exhibition room. Here you will find a type of fanfare for the collection, including works by Pizzi Cannella, Nunzio, Luigi Mainolfi and Pierre Soulages. In one room that is dedicated to the "Musical Metaphors", you will discover an immense sculpture by the young artist Sebastian Kuhn, made up of several concert grand pianos. The newly created exhibition rooms in the extension are dominated by the large-format creations in scorched wood by David Nash and Nunzio. A further area of the exhibition is given over to the "Neuen Wilden". Here the expressive "Rhinoceros" from Helmut Middendorf and its deep, dark, lyrical Charlottenburger Brücke along with the "Van Gogh with torch" from Rainer Fetting radiate out into the room. Opposite them are young artists like Stefan Rohrer und Markus Willeke. Reductionist trends in art will fascinate in the exhibition room on the first floor; Minimal Art from e.g. Elsworth Kelly, Olivier Mosset, Pino Pinelli, Gerhard Langenfeld and Maria Elena Gonzáles.

Works from the following artists can be seen in the opening exhibition:

Darío Álvares Basso (VE), Piero Pizzi Cannella (IT), Rainer Fetting (DE), Dorothy Fratt (US), Giuseppe Gallo (IT), Maria Elena González (CU), Elsworth Kelly (US), Bodo Korsig (DE), Sebastian Kuhn (DE), Gerhard Langenfeld (DE), Wolfgang Laib (DE), Camill Leberer (DE), Luigi Mainolfi (IT), Helmut Middendorf (DE), Olivier Mosset (FR), Michael Müller (DE), David Nash (UK), Nunzio (IT), Pino Pinelli (IT), Gert Riel (DE), Stefan Rohrer (DE), Pierre Soulages (FR), Verena Thürkauf (CH), Markus Willeke (DE)

Publications

The following publication is available on request for this exhibition: