ARTISTHelnwein

The focus of Albertina Contemporary lies on art from the second half of the 20th century, featuring both the stars and the broad diversity of postmodern art. In this year’s presentation of contemporary output at the Albertina, works by Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Arnulf Rainer, Georg Baselitz, Gottfried Helnwein, Alex Katz, Kenton Nelson, Imi Knoebel, Maria Lassnig, and others take centre-stage.

The exhibition focuses on art from the second half of the 20th century, featuring both the stars and the broad diversity of art after 1945. Around 80 masterpieces serve to illustrate the multifaceted nature of postmodernism, ranging from Hyperrealism to abstraction and from color aesthetics to political themes, while also providing a clear impression of the complex parallel trends of the past few decades. Works by Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Arnulf Rainer, Georg Baselitz, Alex Katz and Maria Lassnig and others take centre-stage. A generous donation by Gottfried Helnwein has made possible to show seven high-quality paintings by the famous Austrian artist at the exhibition.

19.11. 2017 - 08.04. 2018

Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, Gottfried Helnwein, Cindy Sherman, Robert Longo, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt u. a.

Louise Bourgeois, Gregory Crewdson, Gotthard Graubner, Florian Heinke, Gottfried Helnwein, Katharina Hinsberg, Candida Höfer, Franziska Holstein, Annette Kelm, Anselm Kiefer, Jürgen Klauke, Karin Kneffel, Brigitte Kowanz, Rosemary Laing, Nanne Meyer, Tracey Moffatt, Ann-Kathrin Müller, Thomas Müller, Shirin Neshat, Markus Oehlen, Anna Oppermann, Ulrike Rosenbach, David Schnell, Sean Scully, Chiharu Shiota, Jorinde Voigt, Corinne Wasmuht, Michael Wutz und Kōhei Yoshiyuki

For the first time, the Albertina is staging an exhibition on two levels of the museum: over 2,500 square meters’ floor space host a broad survey of the Albertina’s collecting strategy for contemporary art. From the over 10,000 works acquired over the past 18 years, around 350 works by 55 artists have been selected for this presentation.

20. Mai - 29. Oktober 2017, Di-So: 10-18 Uhr

In 1971/72 Gerhard Richter created a series of 48 iconic portraits of men that influenced Modernity, in a photorealistic manner based on black and white photographs in encyclopedias. Exactly 20 years later, in 1991/92 Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein replied with a cycle of 48 portraits that depict exclusively women of historic influence.  In contrast to Gerhard Richter’s men in gray, Helnwein painted his women in fiery red. Both Helnwein's and Gerhard Richter's works, which are part of the collection of the Ludwig Museum, Cologne, are being shown together face to face for the first time as the centerpiece of the 'exhibition Undeniable Me', at Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague.

Albertina-Direktor Klaus Albrecht Schröder bedankte sich vielfach bei Helnwein für dessen Großzügigkeit, „in Namen der Albertina und von hunderttausenden Besuchern. Wir könnten uns solche Werke gar nicht leisten.“ Auch Kulturminister Thomas Drozda (SPÖ) war bei der Präsentation der Bilder anwesend, um „Danke zu sagen“. Er schätze die Arbeiten Helnweins sehr: „Er ist ein Künstler, der den Finger in die Wunden legt und Gewalt sowie den latenten Faschismus auf gleichermaßen faszinierende wie schockierende Weise aufarbeitet.“ Die großzügige Schenkung „an eines der wichtigsten Museen der Welt“ sei auch Beleg für die Kontinuität der Zusammenarbeit.

Children are literally saddled with the sadness and possibly the sins of their off-screen elders in Gottfried Helnwein’s haunting portrait of a child in military uniform. Helnwein’s doe-eyed child is half in shadow, one side of the face possibly bruised; the design on her jacket lapel suggesting a military uniform.

Mehr als 160 Exponate und ein digitales Medienkunstwerk, das über zwölf WLAN-Stationen zu einer virtuellen Reise durch die Sammlung einlädt, sind nun zu sehen – unter anderem von Hans Makart, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Maria Lassnig, Andy Warhol, Valie Export und Gottfried Helnwein.