Electromagnetic – Modern Art in Northern Europe, 1918–1931
September 27–December 15, 2013
Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (HOK)
Sonja Henies vei 31
N-1311 Høvikodden, Norway
The exhibition will be on view at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter from September 27 to December 15, 2013 and will travel to the Art Museum of Estonia, KUMU January 23 to May 18, 2014.
Electromagnetic – Modern Art in Northern Europe, 1918–1931
The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to discover the importance of artists from Northern Europe in the development of modern painting. Unknown to many, Scandinavian and Baltic artists played a significant role in the international art scene in the 1920s and participated widely inimportant transnational exhibitions and publications emerging in Central Europe. Most of these artists returned to their home countries from city centers like Paris, or Berlin, and have thus often not been included in the narrative of the international European avant-garde. The exhibition Electromagnetic and the accompanying publication reposition these artists’ work between 1918 and 1931 in relation to the international movements at the time, and shed light on their shared global visions and unique individual contributions.
Electromagnetic – Modern Art in Northern Europe, 1918–1931 includes approximately 150 works by, among others, the Swedes Otto G. Carlsund, Erik Olson and Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (GAN); the Dane Franciska Clausen and Norwegians Thorvald Hellesen and Charlotte Wankel; the Latvian Gustavs Klucis; the Lithuanian Vytautas Kairiūkštis; and the Estonians Arnold Akberg, Felix Randel and Märt Laarman. In addition, the exhibition presents works by their European mentors such as Fernand Léger, Juan Gris, Le Corbusier, André Lothe, Amédée Ozenfant and Jacques Lipchitz.
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalog, published by Hatje Cantz Verlag.
The exhibition is produced by HOK in collaboration with the Art Museum of Estonia, KUMU and curated by freelance curator Gladys Fabre in collaboration with Tone Hansen and Gerd Elise Mørland at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (also editors of the publication).