André Butzer: Untitled, acrylic on canvas 2022
“Little doll” by Beatrice Brandini
A beautiful exhibition dedicated to the German artist André Butzer, curated by Sergio Risaliti, opens today at the Museo Novecento: Liebe Glaube und Hoffnung (Love, faith and hope) until 9 June 2024, simultaneously with the Stefano Bardini Museum (inauguration on March 22nd) “…und der Tod ist auch ein Leben” (…and even death is a life).
André Butzer: Wanderer 2 (In the Peace Mountains), oil on canvas 2001
André Butzer: Untitled, acrylic on canvas 2023
The exhibition, in the two splendid locations, allows us to explore the universe of this original and extraordinary artist, whose poetics is expressed by relating, or simply influencing, European expressionism and American pop culture; in fact, among the great expressionist artists such as Munch or Kirchner, Henry Ford and Walt Disney were also very important in Butzer’s artistic training.
André Butzer: Untitled, acrylic on canvas 2021
André Butzer Peace – Siemens V, oil and acrylic on canvas 2001
The exhibition hosted at the Museo Novecento, Liebe, Glaube und Hoffnung is divided into the rooms on the ground floor in the Ex Leopoldine Complex, and brings together 25 works that testify to the artist’s entire career. It is also enriched by some unpublished works, created specifically for the exhibition of the Museo Novecento, in particular the artist created the large canvas Ohne Titel (Sternenmadonna or Madonna of the Stars), placed in the space originally intended for the altarpiece in the interior of the building’s former chapel.
Moments from the press conference Sergio Risaliti and councilor Benedetta Albanese
A glimpse of the exhibition André Butzer: Liebe, Glaube und Hoffnung
The second part of the project will arrive on March 22, 2024 at the Stefano Bardini Museum “…und der Tod ist auch ein Leben” (…and even death is a life), a title that takes inspiration from the poem Nel bel blu by Friedrich Hölderlin. This part of the exhibition arises from a group of works created by the artist following a visit to the museum and the collection of the connoisseur and antiques dealer Stefano Bardini. It will be very interesting to see how Butzer’s expressive works will converse with works by Donatello, Verrocchio or Ghiberti. And how the artist re-invented the Madonna room of the same museum.
André Butzer Untitled (Paula), watercolor and pencil on paper 2018
André Butzer Untitled, oil on canvas 2018
André Butzer ice cream, please! Acrylic and enamel on canvas 1999
Shame (part 1), acrylic and enamel on canvas 1999
“We are happy to welcome a large exhibition project dedicated to André Butzeer to the spaces of the Museo Novecento and the rooms of the Stefano Bardini Museum. The first ever in an Italian public institution… Butzer, like Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter… managed to combine the great romantic and expressionist tradition with pop and modern abstract influences…” Sergio Risaliti director of the Museo Novecento.
André Butzer Untitled, acrylic on foil 2007
André Butzer Untitled (Madonna of the Stars) acrylic on canvas 2023
André Butzer’s works are present in the public collections of the largest museum institutions in the world, from New York to Miami, from Los Angeles to Shanghai, from Munich to Berlin. Just as the personal exhibitions that the artist has held from 2004 to today have been countless and prestigious.
“I cannot grasp the present. I embrace the past and the future as intensely as possible. The present trembles.” André Butzer
Another glimpse of the beautiful exhibition André Butzer: Liebe, Glaube und Hoffnung
“There is nothing worse than being contemporary. But I actually see myself as a radical traditionalist, otherwise you can’t really do anything new. I continue what others have started. “ André Butzer
Poster of the two exhibitions by André Butzer, Museo Novecento and Museo Stefano Bardini
It doesn’t matter that I point out how much I enjoyed this exhibition, I love original and poetic art, but also playful and colourful, expressive, that art that a ninety-year-old likes like a child. His work is a science fiction expressionism, as he himself defines it, which brings together figuration and abstraction, past, present and future. Not to be missed!!!!
Good life to everyone!
Beatrice