"red gray: Basel Painting, Put Together by Peter Suter"
2000-01-29 until 2000-04-30
Kunsthalle Basel
Basel, , CH Switzerland

red gray is an attempt to re-evaluate Basle painting, from its own and original point of view. At the same time, it is an attempt to forge historic links between the doyens such as Konrad Witz or Hans Holbein to Arnold Böcklin, Niklaus Stoecklin, Meret Oppenheim up to Anselm Stalder, Guido Nussbaum and others. The paintings have been selected by Peter Suter. He proposes a way of looking at these pieces of art which is not strictly chronological, but which begins with a group of paintings from the time of the First World War. Ever new paintings and pairs of images explore the contrast between the two colors red and gray, letting the exhibits enter into dialogue with each other. Contexts emerge from the side-by-side of pictures: they comment on each other, show inner affinities or simply contrast each other. The exhibition includes over 100 pieces from private and public collections.

Exhibits which cannot enter the exhibition for conservation reasons, shall nevertheless play a role: the Kunsthalle invited Candida Höfer, Michael Clegg, Sherrie Levine, Louise Lawler and Crista Ziegler to close the gaps with their photographic eye, to accentuate the flow of the pictures with their independent art work. The discourse with and between the original paintings is completed by perspectives that look for answers to current attitudes towards historic paintings.

The project red gray was generously sponsored by Bank Sarasin.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Switzerland

Other Important Exhibitions in Switzerland