Thomas Schütte
Frauen
at Castello di Rivoli Museum
22 May–23 September 2012
Piazza Mafalda di Savoia
10098 Rivoli, Italy
T +39 011 9565222 280
info [at] castellodirivoli.org
www.castellodirivoli.org
www.castellodirivoli.tv
Curated by Andrea Bellini and Dieter Schwarz
Castello di Rivoli is presenting the first exhibition of works by the German artist Thomas Schütte to be shown in an Italian museum. The display, which is being installed in the Manica Lunga in close cooperation with the artist himself, is curated by Andrea Bellini, co-director of Castello di Rivoli and Dieter Schwarz, director of the Kunstmuseum Winterthur. Co-produced by the Museum and Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (NMNM), the Turin exhibition is the first of two events devoted to the historic German artist, whose work will also be shown—from 7 July to 11 November 2012—at NMNM in the Principality of Monaco.
The curatorial project at Villa Paloma will be concentrating on a series of architectural models of his One Man Houses, together with a group of very recent, previously unexhibited works that investigate a number of themes dear to the artist, such as bunkers and temples. The Castello di Rivoli show, on the other hand, looks at the Frauen series—extraordinary figures of women whose bodies are subjected to spatial and organic deformations. What emerges so compellingly from this group of works is Schütte’s ability to bring about an authentic revolution in terms of form and imagination, as regards not just the lofty tradition of figurative sculpture in the West but also with regard to his own work. The bronze or aluminium Frauen stem directly from ceramic models selected from 120 different studies created between 1997 and 1999.
For the first time ever, the eighteen Frauen will be shown all together in the arresting spaces of the Manica Lunga, the former Picture Gallery of the Royal House of Savoy in the seventeenth century, which is 6 metres wide and 147 metres long (20 x 482.28 feet). The Frauen will be shown together with the complete series of ceramic models as well as a hundred watercolours from the artist’s private collection. Castello di Rivoli will also be displaying two sculptures which have never been shown before: the four-metre-tall United Enemies, engagingly facing each other in front of the entrance to the eighteenth-century castle.
Two catalogues, Frauen and One Man Houses, with critical essays by the two curators, Andrea Bellini and Dieter Schwarz, will be published by Richter Verlag and the NMNM on the occasion of the exhibitions.
The Castello Di Rivoli is supported by: Regione Piemonte Fondazione Crt, Camera Di Commercio Industria Artigianato E Agricoltura Di Torino, Citta’ Di Torino, UniCredit.
Nouveau Musée National De Monaco is supported by the Government of the Principality of Monaco and UBS AG.
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Press information
Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea
Silvano Bertalot / Manuela Vasco: T +39 0119565209/211 / F +39 0119565231 / C +39 3387865367
press [at] castellodirivoli.org / s.bertalot [at] castellodirivoli.org
Nouveau Musée National de Monaco
Elodie Biancheri: T +377 98 98 20 95 / e.biancheri@nmnm.mc
Brunswick Arts: T +33 1 53 96 83 83 / nmnm [at] brunswickgroup.com
*Image above:
Thomas Schütte, Bronzefrau Nr. 5, 2000. Patinated bronze, steel, 182 x 125 x 250 cm.
Photo: Nic Tenwiggenhorn.
