360 works of 74 artists. The beginning @ Albertina until 2 August 2020

THE BEGINNING. Art in Austria1945 to 1980
Art in Austria, 1945 to 1980, offers the first-ever comprehensive overview of a period that numbers among Austrian art history’s most innovative.The Beginning presents the most important artistic stances situated at the threshold of postmodernism—from the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism to early abstraction, Viennese Actionism, kinetic and concrete art, Austria’s own version of pop art, and the socially critical realism so characteristic of Vienna.The artists of this historical period have in common their radical opposition to authority and hierarchy, their critical stance towards the denial and repression of guilt for pastmisdeeds, and the uncompromising rejection of a reactionary notion of art that continued to represent the dominant ideal in Austria long after 1945.The horrific images in the early works by Ernst Fuchs, Anton Lehmden, and Rudolf Hausner represented a violation of this ideal. The Viennese Actionists from Otto Mühl to Günter Brus made frequent allusions to it, while the abstract painters Wolfgang Hollegha and Markus Prachensky opposed it in their paintings. The socially critical realists from Alfred Hrdlicka to Reimo Wukounig and on to Gottfried Helnwein likewise execrated the prevailing norm, while Vienna’s art brut vanguard from Franz Ringel to Peter Pongratz made fun of it. Another group of artists who fought again..... More here

Exhibition Facts
Duration until 2 August 2020
Venue ALBERTINA MODERN, Ground floor and Basement floor
Curators Prof. Dr. Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Director General ALBERTINA
Dr. Brigitte Borchhardt-Birbaumer
Dr. Elisabeth Dutz, ALBERTINA
Dr. Berthold EckerDr. Antonia Hoerschelmann, ALBERTINA
Dr. Angela Stief

Works ca. 360
Artists 74
Catalogue Available for EUR 49.90 (in German) onsite at ALBERTINA MODERN and ALBERTINA as well as via www.albertina.a

Source Albertina Museum
 

Günter Brus
Self-Painting II, 1965
B/W photographs by Ludwig Hoffenreich from a twenty-part series
The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna – The ESSL Collection © Günter Brus

Gottfried Helnwein
The Sneering Physician, 1973
Watercolor on paper
The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna – Loan from a Private Collection © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2020

Reimo Wukounig
The Embittered Pupil (from the series “Breathing In, Breathing Out”), 1974
Pencil and oil pastel on paper
The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna – The ESSL Collection © Reimo Wukounig

Robert Klemmer
Running Klemmer, 1969
Mixed media (oil and egg tempera) on canvas
The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna © Estate Robert Klemmer