Transcript Press Release - Guggenheim

Press Release
Rita Kernn-Larsen. Surrealist Paintings
25 February – 26 June 2017
Project Rooms
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
#KernnLarsen
The Surrealist period was splendid... it truly was the best time for me as an artist
Rita Kernn-Larsen
Venice, February 24, 2017 - From 25 February to 26 June 2017, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
presents the exhibition Rita Kernn-Larsen. Surrealist Paintings, curated by Gražina Subelytė,
Curatorial Assistant of the Collection.
Rita Kernn-Larsen (Hillerød, 1904–Copenhagen, 1998), a prominent Danish Surrealist artist, whom
Peggy Guggenheim met in Paris in 1937, was invited by Peggy the following year to exhibit her
paintings at Guggenheim Jeune, Peggy’s London gallery a show which inaugurated Peggy’s career
with Surrealist art. This new exhibition brings together exquisite Surrealist paintings by Kernn-Larsen,
to this day too little known outside Denmark, inaugurating two new exhibition rooms at the Peggy
Guggenheim Collection. This will be the first important presentation of Kernn-Larsen’s Surrealist
period outside of her native Scandinavia since her one-woman exhibition at Guggenheim Jeune. More
than half of the paintings selected for the show were also exhibited in Peggy’s 1938 exhibition.
The exhibition will highlight how Kernn-Larsen was one of several women who played a noteworthy
part in the Surrealist movement, both in Denmark and internationally. She trained with Fernand Léger
in Paris in the early 1930s, distinguishing herself as a star pupil. In 1934 a critic referred to her as a
“female Danish Picasso”. That year she made contact with the Danish Surrealist group, with which she
began exhibiting the following year. She immediately established her prominence within the group and
participated in the 1930s in key exhibitions in Europe, in cities such as Copenhagen, Oslo, Lund,
London and Paris. These included the renowned Exposition Internationale du Surrealisme at the Galerie
des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1938, soon after which she held her one-woman exhibition in Peggy’s gallery.
On the latter occasion, Peggy Guggenheim’s friend, the art historian Herbert Read, wrote of KernnLarsen’s Surrealist work: “The imagination is a focus introduced into the vague field of the
unconscious. . . . These images are trolls, ghosts from the dark northern fastnesses which exist in our
minds. . . . They reveal some of the terror and all the fascination of their mythical ancestors.” (London
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Dorsoduro 701
30123 Venezia
(39) 041 2405 415
guggenheim-venice.it
Bulletin, June 1938). That same year, Kernn-Larsen’s works were included in two other group
exhibitions at Guggenheim Jeune: Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture and Exhibition of
Collages, Papiers-collés, and Photo-montages.
The Venice exhibition will shed light on how, in the Surrealist vein, Kernn-Larsen’s works combined
memory and dream, as she employed an automatic painting method, aiming to generate a flow of
images arising from within the unconscious. As the artist herself explained, “I start with some realistic
thing and its continuation is taken care of by the unconscious. Often the result surprises me. . . there is
as such a certain connection to the ‘psychoanalytic’.” The exhibition will include her masterpiece Dance
and Counter-dance (1936), in which pulsating automatist rhythms play against each other. In KernnLarsen’s words, “I consider it to be one of my most successful pictures.”
The exhibition will also highlight how she was inspired by the work of Paul Delvaux, one of whose
paintings, The Break of Day (1937, Peggy Guggenheim Collection) portrays femme-arbres, women as
arboreal figures. The identification of the Surrealist female artist with the fertile natural world will be
presented through several works, among them Kernn-Larsen’s unique Self-Portrait (Know Thyself)
(1937), acquired by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 2013. Even if in her later years, KernnLarsen moved away from Surrealism toward an art based on abstraction and nature, she reminisced in
1967: “The Surrealist period was splendid... it truly was the best time for me as an artist.” Three of
Kernn-Larsen’s paintings, including the Guggenheim self-portrait, were selected by the art historian
and curator Arturo Schwarz for the 1986 Venice Biennale. This exhibition marks her return to the city
after more than thirty years.
The exhibition brings together Surrealist paintings by Kernn-Larsen from public and private collections
in Denmark, including the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen, Kunstmuseet i Tønder, and
the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg. Photographs and other ephemeral material related to
Kernn-Larsen’s exhibition at the Guggenheim Jeune gallery will also be on display. Last but not least, a
film-interview with Kernn-Larsen recorded on the occasion of her participation in the 1986 Venice
Biennale will be on view in the museum’s veranda.
Rita Kernn-Larsen. Surrealist Paintings will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, in English and
Italian, with essays by Gražina Subelytė and the Danish art historian Johan Zimsen.
Rita Kernn-Larsen. Surrealist Paintings is supported by Guggenheim Intrapresae and by the museum’s
Institutional Patrons, BSI, Lavazza, and the Regione del Veneto. With the support of Corriere della
Sera, Hangar Design Group has coordinated the communications image. Education programs
surrounding the exhibition are funded by the Fondazione Araldi Guinetti, Vaduz.The exhibition is
under the auspices of the Embassy of Denmark to Italy. Funding for the exhibition was generously
provided also by the following Danish foundations: Ny Carlsbergfondet, Konsul George Jorck og
Hustru Emma Jorck’s Fond, Beckett Fonden and Drost Fonden.
Daily 3 pm free presentations of the exhibition.
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Dorsoduro 701
30123 Venezia
(39) 041 2405 415
guggenheim-venice.it
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Dorsoduro 701, 30123 Venezia
www.guggenheim-venice.it l [email protected] l +39.041.2405411
Opening hours: Daily 10 am - 6 pm l Closed Tuesdays and December 25
Admission: Adults: €15 l Senior visitors over 65 yrs.: €13 l Students under 26 yrs.: €9 (with current
student ID) l Children under 10 yrs., members: free
For additional press information:
Maria Rita Cerilli
Officer for Press and Social Media
[email protected] / +39.041.2405415
The exhibition program is made possible thanks to the support of the Advisory Board of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
and by
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Dorsoduro 701
30123 Venezia
(39) 041 2405 415
guggenheim-venice.it
TITLE
Rita Kernn-Larsen. Surrealist Paintings
VENUE AND DATE
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Project Rooms
CURATOR
Gražina Subelytė, Curatorial Assistant Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
WORKS
12, including paintings, photographs and memorabilia.
OVERVIEW
This focused exhibition brings together exquisite Surrealist paintings by the
Danish artist Rita Kernn-Larsen and is the first important presentation of her
Surrealist period outside of the native Scandinavia since her one-woman
exhibition organized by Peggy Guggenheim in her gallery at Guggenheim
Jeune, in 1938. With this show the museum inaugurates its “Project Rooms”:
two new exhibition rooms dedicated to focused exhibition like this one.
CATALOGUE
Illustrated catalogue, in English and Italian, with essays by Gražina Subelytė
and the Danish art historian Johan Zimsen. Price in the museum bookshops
14 €
ADMISSION TICKET TO THE
Regular euro 15; seniors euro 13 (over 65); students euro 9 (under 26 or with
a student ID card); children 0-10 yrs and members free entrance (further
information on membership: [email protected]).
Admission tickets allow the public to visit the temporary exhibition, the
permanent collection, the Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof Collection
and the Nasher Sculpture Garden. Free guided tours of the temporary
exhibitions are daily at 3 pm. Reservations are not required.
COLLECTION
HOURS
Daily from 10am to 6pm, closed on Tuesday and December 25
INFORMATION
[email protected] / www.guggenheim-venice.it
BOOKINGS AND GUIDED TOURS
tel. +39.041.2405440/419
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
tel. +30.041.2405401/444
HOW TO ARRIVE
Vaporetto n. 1/2 Accademia stop
COMMUNICATION AND PRESS
Alexia Boro, Maria Rita Cerilli / tel. +39.041.2405404/415
Please, once published, send the article to: [email protected]
OFFICE
CHECKLIST
Rita Kernn-Larsen. Dipinti surrealisti / Rita Kernn-Larsen. Surrealist Paintings
A cura di / Curated by Gražina Subelytė
25.02 – 26.06.2017
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venezia / Venice
1.
2.
3.
4.
Rita Kernn-Larsen (1904 – 1998)
La mela della Normandia / La mela
The Apple from Normandy / The Apple
1934
Olio su tela / Oil on canvas
97 x 74 cm
Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg
Rita Kernn-Larsen (1904 – 1998)
Fantasmi / Phantoms
1934
Olio su tela / Oil on canvas
120 x 75.5 cm
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
Rita Kernn-Larsen (1904 – 1998)
Danza e contraddanza / Dance and Counter-dance
1936
Olio su tela / Oil on canvas
89 x 66.8 cm
Private Collection, Denmark
Rita Kernn-Larsen (1904 – 1998)
In cerca della luna (Vers l’inconnu) /
Searching for the Moon (Vers l’inconnu)
1936-1937
Olio su tela / Oil on canvas
80.4 x 65 cm
Private Collection, Denmark
CHECKLIST
Rita Kernn-Larsen. Dipinti surrealisti / Rita Kernn-Larsen. Surrealist Paintings
A cura di / Curated by Gražina Subelytė
25.02 – 26.06.2017
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venezia / Venice
5.
6.
7.
8.
Rita Kernn-Larsen (1904 – 1998)
Oltre lo specchio / Behind the Mirror
1937
Olio su tela / Oil on canvas
120 x 84 cm
Kunstmuseet i Tonder, Denmark
Rita Kernn-Larsen (1904 – 1998)
Autoritratto (Conosci te stesso) /
Self-Portrait (Know Thyself)
1937
Olio su tela / Oil on canvas
40 x 45 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Venice.
Purchased with funds contributed by Penny Borda,
Lewis and Laura Kruger, and the Guggenheim Circle,
2013
Rita Kernn-Larsen
La rivolta delle donne /
The Women’s Uprising (Kvindernes oprør)
1940
Olio su tela / Oil on canvas
92 x 73 cm
Kunstmuseet i Tonder, Denmark
Catalogo della Mostra di dipinti surrealisti di Rita KernnLarsen alla Galleria Guggenheim Jeune, Londra, 31
maggio – 18 giugno 1938, stampato sul London Bulletin,
3 giugno 1938 / Catalogue of the Exhibition of Surrealist
Paintings by Rita Kernn-Larsen at the Guggenheim
Jeune Gallery, London, 31 May-18 June 1938, printed in
the London Bulletin, 3, June 1938.
Peggy Guggenheim Collection Archives, Venice.
CHECKLIST
Rita Kernn-Larsen. Dipinti surrealisti / Rita Kernn-Larsen. Surrealist Paintings
A cura di / Curated by Gražina Subelytė
25.02 – 26.06.2017
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venezia / Venice
9.
Invito alla Mostra di dipinti surrealisti di Rita KernnLarsen alla Galleria Guggenheim Jeune, Londra, 31
maggio – 18 giugno 1938 / Announcement of the
Exhibition of Surrealist Paintings by Rita Kernn-Larsen,
Guggenheim Jeune Gallery, London, 31 May-18 June
1938.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York.
10.
Rita Kernn-Larsen nel suo studio / in her studio, ca.
1930s.
Collection of Danielle Grünberg.
11.
Rita Kernn-Larsen all'inaugurazione della Exhibition of
Surrealist Paintings by
Rita Kernn-Larsen, Guggenheim Jeune, Londra, 1938 /
Rita Kernn-Larsen at the opening of her Exhibition of
Surrealist Paintings by Rita Kernn-Larsen, Guggenheim
Jeune, London, 1938.
Collection of Danielle Grünberg.
12.
Rita Kernn-Larsen vicino a una scultura “spazzatura” di
Henry Heerup alla International
Exhibition Kubisme=Surrealisme, Den Frie, Copenaghen,
gennaio 1935 / Rita Kernn-Larsen standing next to
Henry Heerup’s ‘junk’ sculpture at the International
Exhibition Kubisme = Surrealisme, Den Frie,
Copenhagen, January 1935.
Collection of Danielle Grünberg.
GRAŽINA SUBELYTĖ
Gražina Subelytė is Curatorial Assistant at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. She contributes research
and text to exhibition catalogues, museum guidebooks and academic publications. In particular, she has
contributed to the catalogues of exhibitions organized in Australia (2010) and Chile (2012) centered on
Peggy Guggenheim’s collection of Surrealist and abstract art, as well as the shows Cycling, Cubo-Futurism
and the Fourth Dimension. Jean Metzinger’s “At the Cycle-Race Track” (2012) and The Avant-gardes of
Fin-de-Siècle Paris: Signac, Bonnard, Redon, and their Contemporaries (2013). In 2015, she provided art
historical research for the International Research and Conservation project on Jackson Pollock’s
masterpiece Alchemy (1947). Most recently, she researched Peggy Guggenheim’s donations of Tancredi
Parmeggiani’s works for the exhibition My Weapon against the Atom Bomb is a Blade of Grass. Tancredi: A
Retrospective. Gražina has authored the forthcoming catalogue of the Hannelore B. and Rudolph B.
Schulhof Collection of art after 1945, bequeathed to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 2012.
Gražina is a PhD Candidate at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Her dissertation examines the
themes related to magic and the occult that underlie the visual and literary production of Swiss-American
Surrealist artist and scholar Kurt L. Seligmann (1900-1962), and to renegotiate his wider status within
Surrealism and its relation to the occult. In 2016, she was awarded the Terra Foundation for American Art
Research Travel Grant to the U.S. that enabled her to research Seligmann’s archive and library on magic.
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Dorsoduro 701
30123 Venezia
(39) 041 2405 415
guggenheim-venice.it