Ted SCAPA … Just as a SIDELINE
The Kunstmuseum Bern is paying tribute to the Bernese publisher, designer, and artist Ted Scapa in the comprehensive exhibition Ted SCAPA … Just on the Side. The exhibition presents his diverse artistic cosmos, ranging from his early works to the unmistakable brightly colored design objects among his latest enterprises. Additionally the exhibition gives insights into Ted Scapa’s passion for art collecting, including wooden African and Oceanic figures as well as into his networks and friendships with artists such as Jean Tinguely, Joan Miró, Antoni Tapiès, Eduardo Chillida and many others.
“Ted Scapa is a total artwork” (Roy Oppenheim, journalist) – “A visionary Dadaist, who repeatedly choreographs anew order and chaos, earnest and humor” (Matthias Frehner, Director Collections, Kunstmuseum Bern – Zentrum Paul Klee).
Ted Scapa, or actually Eduard Schaap, was born in 1931 in Amsterdam and is a person with many talents, interests, and abilities. After completing his art studies at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, he married Meret Meyer in 1962, daughter of the publisher Hans Meyer-Benteli, and moved to Switzerland. There he still lives and works today. He is first and foremost famous as a cartoonist, graphic artist, host of the children’s TV program Das Spielhaus (Playhouse), and publishing director at Benteli Verlag. “Just on the side” he is also a painter, collector, and curator of a fascinating art labyrinth at his palace on Lake Morat.
Once Ted Scapa said that “most of all, really, I would like to be a collector of people,” when talking to Guido Magnaguagno, the former curator of the Kunsthaus Zürich and former director of Museum Tinguely in Basel. Magnaguagno interpreted this statement as Scapa meaning that we should treat each individual or everyone together in a way that is right and proper among human beings: be free of prejudice, candid, don’t beat around the bush, simply be “open minded.” According to him, this approach is closely linked to Scapa’s interest in the artistic process in its sum as constituting the creative power of creative people. What argues for this interpretation is something Scapa once said: “Most of all I would like not only to collect all this art around me but the people too who created it.” (In Guido Magnaguagno’s contribution to the exhibition catalogue Scapa, 2016 p.51).
Scapa’s creative work ranges from paintings, drawings and sculptures to design objects – such as lamps, carpets, and scarves or neckerchiefs. Thus his choice of title “Just as a SIDELINE” is rather tongue in cheek, being as it is the inspiration for the largest exhibition ever of his oeuvre. Moreover, Ted Scapa represents a link between the Kunstmuseum Bern and Zentrum Paul Klee – already 2010 Kindermuseum Ceaviva, a museum for children, paid tribute to Scapa’s humor, to his unabating enthusiasm and commitment toward children, by creating a MiniMuseum comprising a selection of bronze sculptures from Scapa’s collection.
Curators: Rainer Lawicki and Matthias Frehner
Contact person: Maria-Teresa Cano, Head of Communications and Public Relations, press@kunstmuseumbern.ch, Tel.: +41 31 359 01 89
