Die Sonne scheint
Die Sonne scheint, Raoul Hausmann and Peter Rösel
September 29 – December 17, 2022
Opening Reception, Thursday, September 29, 6-8pm
The gallery is pleased to announce an exceptional project on the work of Raoul Hausmann (Vienna, 1886 – Limoges, 1971) to which it has been paying particular attention for more than two decades, precisely since the exhibitions and publications produced by Hervé Bize on the Dada movement and the considerable influence that its main protagonists continued to exert on art from the early 1960s.
Surprisingly, the work of Raoul Hausmann, who spent the last part of his life in France, has not been shown in a French gallery since… 1975.
Like Francis Picabia, for a long time Raoul Hausmann’s approach was thwarted by his protean character and most of the exhibitions have pursued a highly fragmented view of his productions, determined according to the different disciplines he invested.
The last institutional exhibition devoted to him revolved around his photographic research in the 1930s (Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2018).
This exhibition will be singular in more than one way because it will associate Hausmann’s work with that of a contemporary German artist, Peter Rösel (Rockenhausen, 1966), who has been regularly shown by the gallery since a memorable exhibition in 1997, Monstera deliciosa, which also took place simultaneously at the Goethe-Institut Nancy.
Indeed, if the gallery has introduced early in its contemporary programme modern works, related to the avant-gardes, it has always thought it in a concern of activation in connection with the contemporary scene and not in a perspective of historicity.
There are many affinities between the two artists who, each in their own time, have summoned very broad mediums according to their projects.
Hausmann is one of the pioneers of collage, he also used the photographic medium in very different directions, going from photograms to research related to ethnological nature; he is of course also known for his major contribution to sound poetry. Finally, he did not abandon drawing and painting either, which he took up again from the 1950s onwards.
Peter Rösel’s approach is also unclassifiable since it has allowed him to investigate painting, sculpture, installation and video, without forgetting sound projects as well.
Travels are also very present in the work of both artists, even if Hausmann’s moves were naturally marked by the geo-political upheavals of the 1930s and 1940s.
After living on the island of Ibiza, attempting to return to Switzerland and emigrating to the United States, Raoul Hausmann eventually found refuge in France, in the Limousin.
Peter Rösel grew up in Morocco, then in Iraq, and also lived in New York before settling in Berlin. He has remained an avid traveler and has made numerous trips to Namibia for his Fata Morgana Painting Project. Rösel is, one might say, a descendant of Raoul Hausmann. The common denominator of his works is that they are artistic and mental constructions that systematically operate, from captures of reality, a subtle shift according to techniques and materials that differ greatly from one project to another.
This exhibition, produced by the gallery, is organized with the participation of the Goethe-Institut Nancy.