Deftig Barock

From Cattelan to Zurbarán

Manifestos of the precariously vitalThe word "deftig" is itself baroque and its original etymological meaning of "capable, strong, vigorous, solid" dates back to the 17th century and the Dutch-speaking world. In this exhibition, the art is hearty in its directness and closeness to life. The principle of the confrontational encounter between works from two widely divergent epochs can also be described as hearty in the modern sense of "drastic, hearty". Deftig Barock" is not about the illustrative short-circuiting of motifs, themes or formal analogies, but about the description of an attitude which, with artistic sensualist intelligence, conjures up closeness to life as an idea of "full life" and laments its loss. An attitude that also links questions about art with art itself. The Baroque is equated with dynamism, sensuality, extravagance and the theatrical, with a departure from the calm solemnity of classical forms, but also with an era of instability and disintegrating order. The Baroque was recognised as a "culture of fluidity and interfaces" or, like Erwin Panofsky, the beginning of our modern age. The exhibition and book thus remind us that it is only since the beginning of the 20th century that the art of the Baroque has enjoyed undisputed appreciation, motivated by a generation of art historians who dared to look to the past from their proximity to the art of their present. With works from the Baroque period, including many by Pieter Aertsen, Monsù Desiderio and Rubens, as well as contemporary works by Maurizio Cattelan, Nathalie Djurberg, Cindy Sherman and Urs Fischer, this magnificent exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue with an elaborate glossary.

Exhibition:
Kunsthaus Zurich, 1/6 - 2/9/2012