Franz Gertsch Blow-Up (Part I & II)
Franz Gertsch Blow-Up (Part I)
Kunstmuseum Bern
14.8.2026 – 17.1.2027
Kunstmuseum Bern in reconsidering the wide scope of his development is putting on display paintings from the 1970s youth culture and music scene, together with portraits of family and artist friends, epic landscapes and the natural environment. The work of the artist based in Bern alternates between meticulous detail and monumental scale, close-up views and remote effects, people and nature. His paintings continue to be impressive in their scale, photographic precision and immersive effect.
Curator: Dr. Kathleen Bühler
Assistant curator: Nina Liechti
Franz Gertsch Blow-Up (Part II)
Museum Franz Gertsch Burgdorf
19.09.2026 – 28.02.2027
Museum Franz Gertsch is showing selected paintings and subjects from 1970 to 2021, including portraits of rock poet Patti Smith, Lucerne artist Luciano Castelli, high-class prostitute Irene Staub alias «Lady Shiva» and the models Johanna and Silvia. Landscape motifs such as Forest Path (Campiglia Marittima), and grasses, which Franz Gertsch repeatedly included in paintings and woodcuts, as well as further woodcuts focussing on Silvia, butterbur, summer and the sea are all on display.
Curator: Anna Wesle
Franz Gertsch (1930-2022) is seen as a Swiss pioneer of photorealism and a master of the modern woodcut. The retrospective Franz Gertsch. Blow-Up, shown in two parts in the Kunstmuseum Bern and the Museum Franz Gertsch, offers an overview of an artistic career lasting more than sixty years, including monumental paintings of the youth and music scene from the 1970s, iconic portraits of women from the 1980s, family paintings and portraits of artist friends, epic landscapes and images of nature.
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