"The Past of the Present: Cobra and Contemporaries from the Stedelijk Museum"
2003-05-16 until 2003-09-30
State Hermitage Museum
St. Petersburg, , RU Russian Federation

This exhibition comprises a selection of about 60 paintings, 10 sculptures and 20 works on paper by Cobra and its contemporaries, from the Stedelijk's collection, for a presentation in the Hermitage's Petrovskaya Gallery (which communicates with the section showing 17th century Dutch art). It is Amsterdam's contribution to the celebration of St. Petersburg's 300 anniversary.

Artists

Pierre Alechinksy, Karel Appel, Eugene Brands, Constant, Corneille, Lotti van der Gaag, Henry Heerup, Arne Jacobsen, Asger Jorn, Lucebert, Pieter Ouborg, Carl-Henning Pedersen, Anton Rooskens, Shinkici Tajiri, Theo Wolvecamp.

CoBrA

The CoBrA movement lasted from 1948 to 1951 as the European answer to American abstract-expressionism. The main features ot the paintings are a blunt expressionism and coloring and an iconography which celebrates the pure world of fantasy, myth and children. The artists came from the three cities that make up the name of the movement: Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.

The first initial show was held in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and caused a stir among the art world. Since then, the Stedelijk have been collecting work of the representatives up until the present. Most important contributors of CoBrA are the Dutch Karel  Appel and the Danish Asger Jorn who are both very well represented in the Stedelijk Museum’s collection.

IMAGE
Asger Jorn
Guillaume Apollinaire, 1956

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Russian Federation

Other Important Exhibitions in Russian Federation