Alfred Hrdlicka
23 Jun - 19 Sep 2010
ALFRED HRDLICKA
23 June to 19 September 2010
Orangery, Lower Belvedere
The Belvedere will devote its 2010 summer exhibition to the Austrian sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka. In his overwhelmingly prolific oeuvre, this exceptional artist, who died in December 2009, reflected upon the political situation of his native country like scarcely anybody else among his contemporaries. What is more, he constantly questioned the distribution of power on earth on a scale that was far beyond his immediate world of experience. Moreover, he was intensively preoccupied with history and the most important works of world literature and their protagonists. His output comprises both figural stone sculptures suggestive of his determination to create powerfully expressive forms and drawings adequately mirroring his artistic volition. Hrdlicka never took it easy - neither in life, nor in art. In his works, he pursued an uncompromising humanism by presenting even murder and terror with occasionally shocking directness. The exhibition at the Orangery will explore these very themes and visualize Hrdlicka’s artistic manifesto through 18 selected stone sculptures and a monumental painting.
In cooperation with BAWAG P.S.K.
23 June to 19 September 2010
Orangery, Lower Belvedere
The Belvedere will devote its 2010 summer exhibition to the Austrian sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka. In his overwhelmingly prolific oeuvre, this exceptional artist, who died in December 2009, reflected upon the political situation of his native country like scarcely anybody else among his contemporaries. What is more, he constantly questioned the distribution of power on earth on a scale that was far beyond his immediate world of experience. Moreover, he was intensively preoccupied with history and the most important works of world literature and their protagonists. His output comprises both figural stone sculptures suggestive of his determination to create powerfully expressive forms and drawings adequately mirroring his artistic volition. Hrdlicka never took it easy - neither in life, nor in art. In his works, he pursued an uncompromising humanism by presenting even murder and terror with occasionally shocking directness. The exhibition at the Orangery will explore these very themes and visualize Hrdlicka’s artistic manifesto through 18 selected stone sculptures and a monumental painting.
In cooperation with BAWAG P.S.K.