Grand Masters

Vernissage
le mercredi 29 décembre 2021, de 14h à 19h

Galerie Karsten Greve AG is proud to present the exhibition GRAND MASTERS in its St. Moritz gallery. Not only these artists have shaped the gallery’s illustrious program but they played a decisive role in the history of art, and determined the core of the post-war avantgarde. Nowadays highly acclaimed and distinguished, their path is eternally tightly woven to one passionate gallerist, whose never-ending efforts and engagement affected the international art world. Karsten Greve’s personal relationships with Louise Bourgeois, Jannis Kounellis, Cy Twombly, John Chamberlain or Pierre Soulages allowed him to gain a very sensible understanding and a deep knowledge of their artistic aim.
 

Behind the idea of the GRAND MASTERS exhibition is the desire to highlight the continuous exchange between generations of artists and to offer a view that span over more than one century of artistic interconnexions. Starting with Wols and Louis Soutter’s heritage, the exhibition focuses on the exaltation of the gesture. The vivid and raw brushstrokes in a Lovis Corinth’s floral still-life may be found later in Twombly’s “Untitled (Roma)” (1962): both reveal a pictorial language of their deeply personal and sensible universe. As for Pierre Soulages, who is one of the most important French artists of this century, the selected works show the evolution of his stylistic approach. The “peinture on paper Janvier 1963” was exhibited at the documenta III in 1964 and was in the personal collection of the artist himself until now. The Outrenoir from 2011 invites the viewer to feel the play of light on the material density on the surface of the canvas. The light in Soulages’ Outrenoirs changes constantly, one second blinding and the other completely shaded. On the ground floor of the gallery, Louise Bourgeois’ marble “Baroque” (1970) dialogues with Jean Dubuffet’s “Intervention” (1954). Alongside are exhibited sculptures by Lucio Fontana, John Chamberlain, Joel Shapiro, Fausto Melotti; paintings, photographs and works on paper by Giorgio Morandi, Piero Manzoni, Jannis Kounellis, Rodolphe Bresdin, David Smith, Edward Weston and Pierrette Bloch.

It is not the realistic imitation that matters anymore but the equilibrium between the artist’s perception and emotion of the surrounding world, transposed onto different mediums: in painting, drawing, sculpture or installation, and photography. It can be said that the GRAND MASTERS exhibition pays tribute to the visionary figures of post-war art, and to those who have shaped the gallery program.