“New Worlds: German and Austrian Art, 1890-1940,” critically acclaimed exhibition that inaugurated the Neue Galerie in 2001 and that highlights works from the museum’s collection, is currently on view again at the gallery through September 13.
Among the featured artists are such leading Austrian figures of that era as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and artists of the Wiener Werkstätte. German movements, such as the Brücke, the Blaue Reiter, Neue Sachlichkeit and the Bauhaus are being shown. The exhibition presents a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, works on paper and decorative arts.
A number of new acquisitions are on display, including an important Neue Sachlichkeit painting “Of Things to Come,” 1922, by Georg Scholz. A satirical commentary on the political and economic situation in Weimar, Germany, this work has long been considered lost and has rarely been exhibited. Significant Bauhaus designs are displayed, including a tea service by Theodor Bogler made in 1923. One of the museum’s masterpieces, Max Beckmann’s “Self-Portrait with Horn,” 1938, is on exhibition, after returning from the recent touring Beckmann retrospective.
On October 15, the Neue Galerie opens “Comic Grotesque: Wit and Mockery in German Art, 1870-1940,” an exhibition that explores an important but too often neglected aspect of early Twentieth Century German art: humor.
The exhibition begins with late Nineteenth Century paintings by Arnold Böcklin, then presents work by a number of major artists, including Max Ernst, Hannach Höch, Paul Klee, Max Klinger, Alfred Kubin and Emil Nolde. Connections between the visual arts and the rise of cabaret culture and satirical journals will also be considered.
In addition to paintings, drawings, posters and sculpture, the exhibition will feature a room devoted to the films of Karl Valentin. Overall, the exhibition brings together more than 70 works from public and private collections. It will remain on view through February 14.
Neue Galerie New York is at 1048 Fifth Avenue. For information, 212-628-6200 or www.neuegalerie.org.
