Hans von Marées | Günther Förg

KUNST 4 | ARTIST FRIENDSHIPS

October 15-20, 2019

A group exhibition hosted by Arnoldi-Livie Munich, in collaboration with Galerie Michael Haas and Beck & Eggeling

Featuring works by
Hans von Marées | Günther Förg (Arnoldi-Livie | LIVIE FINE ART)
Franz Grabmayr | Eugène Leroy (Galerie Michael Haas)
Joachim Brohm | Heribert C. Ottersbach (Beck & Eggeling)

Galerie Arnoldi-Livie and Artcurial, Galeriestrasse 2b, Munich

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

HANS VON MARÉES – GÜNTHER FÖRG

When Günther Förg visited the gallery with Fred Jahn in 2008 and Förg acquired a collection of 6 important drawings by Hans von Marées, we were amazed and delighted. At the time, we knew nothing of Förg's interest in Marées, nor of his cycle "Naples", 1987, 24 drawings after the frescoes of Hans von Marées in Naples, which the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung purchased in 1997. Since the most important collection of drawings by Hans von Marées is also in Munich, it can be assumed that Förg was not unaware of these wonderful works. Förg's dates 30.2.87 - 30.7.87 indicate a longer occupation with the frescoes in Naples. The transposition of Marées' frescoes such as the "Orange Picker", the "Boat", the staircase of the "Pergola" as well as the wall divisions lead into Förg's very own pictorial language. The importance of these works for Förg's oeuvre has been pointed out on various occasions; for example, a drawing with a geometric cross composition was on the title of the exhibition catalog of the Gemeentemuseum in 1988.

Förg owned an art library with over 3000 volumes and was extremely knowledgeable about art history; the attraction he felt for Klee, Munch, the abstract expressionists, especially Barnett Newman and Clifford Still is evident and has often been described. In the catalog of the recent Förg survey at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Jeffery Saletnik explored this tension between modernism and classicism. He quotes an interview with Dorothea Dietrich in August 1989 in which Förg says about himself "in my heart I am a classicist". We may refer to this with a group of four rare drawings by Hans von Marées as well as eight works by Günther Förg.

Arnoldi-Livie, Munich
Livie Fine Art, Zurich