Foto mit nah an einer Brücke sitzenden Menschen
© Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall. Transit

On the occasion of the reopening of the Albertinum, the Kunsthalle in the Lipsius building is displaying works by Jeff Wall, one of the most important photographers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Close by the Albertinum, which shows art from Romanticism to the present, the exhibition will shine a bright light on contemporary art.

  • DATES 20/06/2010—10/10/2010

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Until Jeff Wall became one of the first artists to work with light boxes, photography was displayed in black and white, in small formats, like prints. By adopting the style of advertising in his works, Wall revolutionised photography. The exhibition shows 26 pieces by the Canadian photo artist from Vancouver; an impressive figure considering Jeff Wall’s meticulous methods and limited number of works.
There are examples of all three major groups of works in the Lipsius building: nineteen light boxes, six black-and-white photographs and one chromogenic colour print. They span 32 years of his work, from Doorpusher (1984) to his latest piece from 2009, Search of premises. The light box, with its documentary style, is one example of Jeff Wall’s “cinematographic” work. In it he fuses elements of photography, film and painting. Thus, the photographs are perfectly lit, reconstructed and extremely carefully planned. Often, digital montage is used to produce one seamless image composed of different versions, creating the impression of a freeze frame, like on a film set.

Foto mit Menschen auf einem Bürgersteig
© Jeff Wall
Jeff Wall, Figures on a sidewalk, 2008

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Jeff Wall’s modern allegories are based on gestures, formulaic images and principles of compositions from the past. Many motifs come from European art history, of which Jeff Wall has an excellent knowledge, having studied art history. Thus, Storyteller refers to Edouard Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, and the Doorpusher, with his stylised gesture of blessing, is reminiscent of Christ at the Last Supper.
An exhibition catalogue is to be published by Schirmer/Mosel. Ed. by Ulrich Bischoff and Mathias Wagner. With contributions by Laszlo Glozer, Thomas Weski, Ulrich Bischoff and Mathias Wagner, an interview with Jeff Wall by Jürgen Müller and Peter Geimer, and comments on all the pictures on display. (Museum edition: €35.90)

[Translate to English:] Katalog

Die Publikation zur Sonderausstellung

Jeff Wall. Transit

(49,80 €, ISBN 978-3-8296-0478-9)

weitere Ausstellungen

Further Exhibitions
27/10/2016 —15/01/2017

Taryn Simon. A Soldier is Taught to Bayonet the Enemy and not Some Undefined Abstraction

in Albertinum

weißer Tiger in einem Käfig

Art from the Romantic period to the present day

in Albertinum

[Translate to English:]
01/03/2013 —30/06/2013

now here. contemporary art from the Kunstfonds

in Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau

Foto mit einem umgekippten Tisch und einer Malerpalette an der Wand
15/07/2017 —19/11/2017

Geniale Dilletanten

in Albertinum

Foto von A. R. Penck am Schlagzeug
All Exhibitions

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