What we’re seeing

OPENINGS

Florence Henri: Mirror of the avant-garde 1927–1940
24 February – 17 May
Jeu de Paume, Paris

A major figure in avant-garde photography, Florence Henri (1893–1982) was born in New York and lived in Silesia, Munich, Vienna, Rome and Berlin, before finally settling in Paris in 1924. While a student at the Berlin Academy of Arts she befriended several figures of the avant-garde and Bauhaus, including Hans Arp, John Heartfield and Lázló Moholy-Nagy, who said of her work: ‘Photographic practice enters a new phase… Reflections and spatial relationships, superposition and intersections are just some of the areas explored from a totally new perspective and viewpoint.’ This vast survey of her work from 1927 to 1940 includes self-portraits, abstract compositions, portraits of artists, nudes, photomontages, photocollages, as well as documentary photos taken in Rome, Paris and Brittany.

Florence Henri, Portrait Composition, Cora, 1931. Courtesy Archives Florence Henri, Gênes. Florence Henri © Galleria Martini & Ronchetti

Wally Neuzil: Her Life with Egon Schiele
27 February – 1 June
Leopold Museum, Vienna

Recent exhibitions of Egon Schiele’s work at the Courtauld Gallery and New York’s Neue Galerie have seen attendance figures soar, but now the Leopold Museum takes an intriguing new approach. Schiele’s vivid depictions of women are renowned, with models ranging from his sister, mother and wife, to unidentified singers and prostitutes. This exhibition takes his lover Walburga ‘Wally’ Neuzil (1894–1917) as its focus, attempting to uncover the person behind the portrait, tracing her professional life from model to nurse, and revealing the tale of a woman’s fate in fin-de-siècle Vienna.

Egon Schiele, Portrait of Wally Neuzil, 1912 © Leopold Museum, Vienna

The Total Look: The Creative Collaboration between Rudi Gernreich,
Peggy Moffitt and William Claxton
28 February – 24 May
Cincinnati Art Museum

Showcasing mod fashions of the 1960s and 70s, The Total Look provides insights into the work of Rudi Gernreich, one of the most exciting American fashion designers of the 20th century, and his collaboration with iconic model Peggy Moffitt and her late husband, photographer William Claxton. A trio made in fashion heaven, together they created visually striking images and the first fashion video from 1967, featuring minimalist garments, psychedelic colours and geometric patterns. Gernreich’s clothes were intended to free women’s bodies from restrictive attire. According to Cynthia Amnéus, Chief Curator for the Cincinnati Art Museum, ‘Rudi challenged society to change with his fashion. His designs were intended to equalise the sexes.’ The exhibition also includes 13 photographs of hairstyles by great British hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, to complete ‘the total look’.

William Claxton, Peggy Moffitt in Rudi Gernreich Mini-dress with Flower Earrings, 1967 © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark

A Colorful Folk: Pennsylvania Germans & the Art of Everyday Life
1 March – 3 January 2016
Winterthur Gallery, Delaware

A Colorful Folk sheds new light on the illuminated manuscripts, or ‘fraktur’, made by the Pennsylvanian Germans. The decorated folk art objects on show also include textiles, furniture, metalwork and pottery, all adorned with hearts, flowers, birds and other traditional motifs. More than 125 objects are on display, many never before exhibited or published, showcasing this exquisite artistic tradition. Objects range from a small pincushion to a whole side of a barn, as well as elaborate birth and baptismal certificates, an extraordinary religious text made by a Mennonite schoolmaster, a painted chest decorated with floral motifs and a pair of camels, and an embroidered wedding handkerchief and apron. Stunning objects that offer an insight into the lives of one of the most artistically prolific settler groups.

Religious text with birds, flowers, people and large pair of birds. Signed by Andreas Kolb, probably Montgomery County, PA, c.1785. Photo: Jim Schneck. Courtesy, Winterthur Museum, purchase with funds provided by the Henry Francis du Pont Collectors Circle

LAST CHANCE TO SEE

Mark Rothko
Until 1 March
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

In the first exhibition of Mark Rothko’s work in the Netherlands in 40 years, the Gemeentemuseum presents a unique opportunity to view not only a range of Rothko ‘classics’, such as he developed in the 1950s, but also a collection of less frequently exhibited early work that shows unexpected transitional experimentation on the path to his mature, abstract style. As the home of the world’s greatest collection of work by Mondrian, the Gemeentemuseum also explores the Dutch artist’s influence on Rothko, tracing the similarities and the differences in the artistic development of the two leading first and second generation pioneers of abstract art.

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1953. National Gallery of Art, Washington — The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2015