ART CITIES:Athens -Maria Lassnig

Maria Lassnig, Aeolus erzürnt, 1982, Tinos, Watercolor on paper, 43,8 x 62,5 cm, Photo: Roland Krauss, Maria Lassnig Foundation, © Maria Lassnig Foundation, Municipal Gallery of Athens ArchiveInfluenced at an early stage by art movements that celebrate gestural, informal and spontaneous practice such as Art Informel, Tachisme and Surrealism, Maria Lassnig developed a singular body of work, making boldly expressive, brightly coloured oil paintings with the human figure at the centre of her compositions. Using herself as the subject of her paintings, they address the fragility of the body, the ageing process and the passing of time.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Municipal Gallery of Athens Archive

Maria Lassnig has played an influential role in the development of painting in the 20th and 21st Centuries and her work has been met with critical acclaim and inspired other artists such as Paul McCarthy and Martin Kippenberger. The exhibition “Maria Lassnig. The Future is Invented with Fragments from the Past” at the Municipal Gallery of Athens in Metaxourgio Building presents 50 works, paintings and works on paper, especially watercolours, which seize upon motifs from Greek mythology and their expansive and permanent exchange with all Mediterranean civilisations. Although these works by Maria Lassnig are not so well known, they manifest characteristics typical of her work. Lassnig was born in in Kappel am Krappfeld, a small town in Austria. She initially trained to become a schoolteacher but, while painting portraits of the children, her ambitions changed. In 1941, she moved to Vienna to take up a place at the Academy of Fine Arts, which aligned itself at the time with the academic realist style favoured by the Nazis. Lassnig, however, refused to comply and reached back for inspiration to Austrian Expressionism. In the ‘50s, Lassnig was part of the Hundsgruppe group, the works of the group were influenced by Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting. In 1951 Lassnig traveled to Paris with Arnulf Rainer where they organized the exhibition “Junge unifigurative Malerei” at the Kärnten Art Association She lived in Vienna until 1952 when she travelled to Paris, during that travel she met the Andre Breton and Benjamin Peret and became friends with the poet Paul Celen, who influenced a lot of her work. In her painting around the 50’s – 60’s, she was influenced by the surrealism and cubism. She started to create self-portraits which didn’t have some part of their bodies, and she used colors not naturals. In 1968 she moved to New York, because Gallerists and dealers returned her portfolio with messages that the work was “strange”, “morbid” and even “sick”, so she needed to find other ways for express herself. In that moment everything changed, both the themes of the painting and the way of drawing. She re-started. In New York she created large pictures using the technique of silkscreen and invented for her work the term “Body awareness”. Maria Lassnig was a frequent visitor to Greece since the ‘50s and consistently produced works that showcased her love for the Mediterranean landscape and explored the role and position of the woman in ancient mythology. In 1980 she decided to return to Vienna to become the first female professor at the Academy for Applied. It was the first moment that the people started to know her work. She represented Austria at the 1980 Venice Biennale, and she participated in the documenta 7 of 1982 and in documenta 10 of 1997, in 2013 she received the Golden Lion in the Biennal of Vennezia. The realization of the show is a result of the fruitful collaboration between the Curator of the exhibition, Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Artistic Director of the Municipal Gallery of Athens Denys Zacharopoulos and the Chairman of the Board of the Maria Lassnig Foundation Peter Pakesch.

Info: Curator: Hans Ulrich Obrist, Municipal Gallery of Athens, Metaxourgio Building, Leonidou & Myllerou Str, Avdi Square, Athens, Duration: 7/4-16/7/17, Days & Hours: Tue 10:00-21:00, Wed-Sat 10:00-19:00, Sun 10:00-16:00, www.opanda.gr

Maria Lassnig, Den Stier bei den Hörnern packen, mid ‘80s, Oil on canvas, 145 x 200 cm, Maria Lassnig Foundation, © Maria Lassnig Foundation, Municipal Gallery of Athens Archive
Maria Lassnig, Den Stier bei den Hörnern packen, mid ‘80s, Oil on canvas, 145 x 200 cm, Maria Lassnig Foundation, © Maria Lassnig Foundation, Municipal Gallery of Athens Archive

 

 

Maria Lassnig, Kretastier, 1994, Crete, Watercolor on paper, 48 x 65,5 cm, Maria Lassnig Foundation, © Maria Lassnig Foundation, Municipal Gallery of Athens Archive
Maria Lassnig, Kretastier, 1994, Crete, Watercolor on paper, 48 x 65,5 cm, Maria Lassnig Foundation, © Maria Lassnig Foundation, Municipal Gallery of Athens Archive

 

 

Maria Lassnig, Selbst als Almkuh, 1987, Oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, Maria Lassnig Foundation, © Maria Lassnig Foundation, Municipal Gallery of Athens Archive
Maria Lassnig, Selbst als Almkuh, 1987, Oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, Maria Lassnig Foundation, © Maria Lassnig Foundation, Municipal Gallery of Athens Archive