Shift in Painting

The generous donation of 47 works from the Ploner Collection, which the Neue Galerie Graz was allowed to take receipt of in the summer of 2014, can be described as the most important single addition to the museum in its recent history, both in terms of quality and scope. The selection was made with careful consideration of the already existing collection. The Neue Galerie Graz collection and the Ploner Collection represent a significant intersection in current Austrian art, especially painting. Contemporary Austrian painting, above all its abstract branch, formed the main interest of the collector Dr. Heinz Ploner. Within just a few years this man was able to build up an important collection of works of the highest quality, including those of Erwin Bohatsch, Herbert Brandl, Gunter Damisch, Josef Mikl, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Adrian Schiess and Otto Zitko, as well as more recent artists such as Katrin Plavcak. The Neue Galerie Graz in turn took a leading role in pushing the medium of painting in Austria in the 1970s and above all the 1980s. This phenomenon, which has entered Austrian art history under the term of “New Painting,” ran parallel to the international upsurge in painting in Europe and in the USA, which manifested itself in several exhibitions at the beginning of the 1980s. This exhibition presents the Ploner Collection generously placed besides the Neue Galerie Graz collection. It thus allows us to gain a perspective on the important reception of painting in the 1980s, and on a no less important chapter in the history of the Neue Galerie Graz, too.

Curated by Günther Holler-Schuster

In cooperation with the Albertina and the Belvedere