Opening: Wednesday, February 27, 2019 at 7 pm
Duration: February 28 until May 5, 2019
“The concentration of the composition, the precision and the simultaneous lightness make these small works jewels of the art world.” (Johann Feilacher)
We start the year 2019 with a very special exhibition. “postcards – the small format” shows, where the success of the Gugging Artists took its beginning: with works in the format of a postcard. Five years ago, the museum gugging hosted the exhibition “small formats.!” to emphasize the distinctiveness of the works in small format and to document their significance for the development of our cultural center in Gugging.
At the end of the 1950s, the psychiatrist Leo Navratil used the “human and tree drawing test” in order to be able to diagnose the bounty of patients more effectively. Therefor he used postcard-sized, white sheets. Navratil’s main concern was to make a diagnosis. However, some of these drawings didn’t fit into the diagnostic scheme – they were completely different, creative & idiosyncratic! These were the works by the Gugging Artists, who became famous in the course of time: Johann Hauser, Oswald Tschirtner, August Walla and also Anton Dobay, Fritz Koller und Rudolf Limberger (Max), among others.
The small format is always fascinating and convinces with its quality. The artist has a very limited space for what he wants to depict and that in turn requires him to be centered, concentrated and clear in expression. The small format is a challenge: everything is visible, nothing can be hidden and that‘s exactly what‘s so brilliant about it. On 10.5 x 14.8 cm, the world of the artist opens up to the viewer in his own form language.
We show works by 26 artists in this exhibition and thus give an overview of 50 years of artistic work in Gugging. The display ranges from very early works such as a sheet by Rudolf Limberger (Max) from 1965 to works by Heinrich Reisenbauer from 2018. Rarities by unknown artists like Josef Binner, Alois Fischbach and Karoline Rosskopf are shown together with works by Oswald Tschirtner, August Walla such as Günther Schützenhöfer, Helmut Hladisch and Jürgen Tauscher, to name just a few. We present works that have never been exhibited before. Some have already been presented in the “small formats.!” exhibition in the museum gugging and have also been published in the catalogue of the same name.
We invite all visitors, interested parties and collectors to immerse themselves in the diversity of the small format and look forward to them and the exhibition.
Nina Katschnig & the gallery gugging team
PS: “postcards – the small format” will be followed by a “big format” exhibition in autumn, which will be just as fascinating, but in a completely different way.
