When it comes to the canon of art history, there are, to this very day, some artists who have fallen through the net. One of them is undoubtedly Friedl Dicker-Brandeis (1898 –1944). Even though she created an impressive and wide-ranging body of work in the first half of the twentieth century, comprising fine and applied arts as well as stage sets, architecture and design. Influenced by her studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, Johannes Itten’s private school and the Bauhaus in Weimar, Dicker-Brandeis worked in a variety of media and genres. Her work reflects her reform-oriented mindset as well as her interest in music and writing. What stands out, as ever, is her ability to straddle the formal aspects of these diverse media.
While Dicker-Brandeis’ work has been attracting increasing attention throughout Europe since the 1990s, it has never actually been presented in a solo exhibition in Switzerland. Now this gap can at last be bridged, thanks to the uniquely large holdings of her works in the Collection and Archive of the University of Applied Arts Vienna. The exhibition presents the full spectrum of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis’ art,
illuminating her sojourns in Vienna and Berlin, in exile and as a deportee. Like so many of her generation, Dicker-Brandeis was swept from the history of modern art for decades. This is due in part to the destruction of her architectural work and to her persecution and murder as a left-wing, Jewish artist. This first ever solo exhibition in Switzerland places the focus on the outstanding quality of her artistic oeuvre.
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue published by Verlag De Gruyter (DE / ENG). CHF 49.95 / EUR 49.95.
In collaboration with
Curated by Dr Linda Schädler, Head of the Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich, in cooperation with Cosima Rainer and Stefanie Kitzberger, Collection and Archive of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and Robert Müller, Artist
The exhibition is under the patronage of the Austrian Ambassador to Switzerland, Maria Rotheiser-Scotti.
With kind support of:
And to those funding bodies who wish to remain anonymous.
