Hans Josephsohn
Hans Josephsohn (May 1920 - 20 August 2012) was a Swiss sculptor. He lived and worked in Zurich.
Josephsohn was born in Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad), East Prussia. Here he attended elementary school and completed high school in 1937. That same year, he left his homeland and moved to Florence with a small scholarship, in order to study art. Due to his Jewish ancestry, he had to leave Italy a short time later and fled to Switzerland. He arrived in Zurich in 1938 and became a student of the sculptor Otto Müller. In 1943 Josephsohn moved into his first atelier, and starting in 1964 began showing his works in various solo shows within Switzerland. He acquired Swiss citizenship in 1964. Josephsohn's works began to attract the attention of a larger audience at the end of the 1990s. The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam dedicated a large solo exhibition to the artist in 2002. In 2003 Josephson received the art prize of Zurich. Various group and solo exhibitions followed this, among others in the Diözesanmuseum Kolumba in Cologne (2005) and in the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2007). In 2008, the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt/Main organized a large solo exhibition of Josephsohn's works. In the years since 2000, Josephsohn's work has increasingly been regarded, also internationally, as a significant contribution to visual art.
Permanent installations of Hans Josephsohn's works can be seen at the museum La Congiunta in Tessin, Switzerland, which was built by Peter Märkli and Stefan Bellwalder and opened in 1992. In 2003 the Kesselhaus Josephsohn in St. Gallen, Switzerland, opened, where a regularly alternating selection of works is presented. At the same time, the Kesselhaus is functioning as a storage and archive for Josephsohn's works and it is located next to the Kunstgiesserei St. Gallen where Hans Josephsohn's works are cast.
Hans Josephsohn is represented by the Galerie Felix Lehner and Hauser & Wirth.
On Hans Josephsohn's work
Josephsohn's sculptures focused on the human figure as a volume in space. From the beginning of his career he worked, from the model, on sculpture's most timeless, constant themes: Representations of the human figure, standing, sitting, reclining, working on portrait heads or half-figures, made in plaster, some then later, cast in bronze.
Josephsohn's figures are bereft of any portrait-like individualization. And they stand out for their simplicity, for their being limited to the simple postures of the human body. The wish for permanence plays a key role: "My figures must be enduring in their expression, in their stance", Josephsohn said, "A narrative gesture is out of the question". His works evoke prehistory, ancient stone steles and romanesque figures.
Josephsohn's favourite working material was plaster. He found it ideal - simply it permits directness and spontaneity, both of which were necessary for Josephsohn's working process. Plaster allowed him to repeatedly add material or take it away. The directness of the work process was reflected not only in the immense vitality of the figures but even more by the traces left by this process. For example, finger imprints remain on the surface, referencing the artist's hands as it seeks to mold the material.
His artistic examination of the human figure was influenced and determined by his own experience, which for him as an artist, shaped above all by his everyday work in the studio but also by the interpersonal relations in his life. He found his models in his own personal world: They were for the most part friends, relatives - almost always women, very often his own life partner. Real persons are the starting point of this work and search for forms but his works hardly ever had portrait-like character or individual traits. Thus, also for those who knew Josephsohn's models personally, when viewing the corresponding works there is little to remind one of the individuals.
Solo exhibitions (selection)
2015
Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Switzerland
Kunstparterre, München, Germany
2014
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland
Hauser & Wirth New York, USA
Ernst Barlach Haus, Hamburg, Germany
2013
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
Modern Art Oxford, UK
2012
Hauser & Wirth, London (Piccadilly), UK
Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, Ireland
2011
Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo/Kyoto, Japan
2010
Hauser & Wirth Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
2009
Armory Show, New York, USA
Hauser & Wirth Outdoor Sculpture: Hans Josephsohn, Southwood Gardens, London, UK
2008
Josephsohn Bildhauer, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Hauser & Wirth, London, UK
2007
Sculpture at Schönthal, Kloster Schönthal, Langenbruck, Switzerland
2006
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich, Switzerland
Peter Blum Gallery, New York NY, USA
2005
Museum Liner, Appenzell, Switzerland
Kolumba, Diözesanmuseum, Cologne, Germany
2004
Galerie Reckermann, Cologne, Germany
Kesselhaus Josephsohn, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Evangelische Stadtkirche, Darmstadt, Germany
2003
Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg, Germany
2002
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich, Switzerland
2001
Haus der Kunst der Stadt Brünn, Brno, Czech Republic
2000
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich, Switzerland
1997
Helmhaus Zurich, Switzerland
1985
Stiftung Landis & Gyr, Zug, Switzerland
1981
Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland
1975
Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland
1969
Galerie Daniel Keel, Zurich, Switzerland
1965
Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
1964
Helmhaus Zurich, Switzerland
1962
Galerie am Stadelhofen, Zurich, Switzerland
1956
Städtische Kunstkammer zum Strauhof, Zurich, Switzerland
Group exhibitions (selection)
2015
Substance, Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris
All back in the skull together, Maccarone Gallery, New York
ARTZUID – International Sculpture Route, Amsterdam
2014
Spatial Positions 8: Kooperationen. Diener&Diener in Zusammenarbeit mit Martin Steinmann und Josef Felix Müller / Peter Märkli und Josephsohn, Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum Basel, Switzerland
2013
Il Palazzo Enciclopedico, Biennale, Venice, Italy
MOVING – Norman Foster on Art, Carré d'Art – musée d'art contemporain, Nîmes, FR
Frauen – Liebe und Lebe, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, DE
2012
The Spirit Level, Gladstone Gallery, New York NY, USA
Frieze Art Fair Sculpture Park 2012, Regent's Park, London, UK
Common Ground, Architecture Biennale Venice, Italy
Art and the City: Ein Festival für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum, Zurich-West, Switzerland
Säen, Ernten, Glücklich Sein, Art-Public Chur, Switzerland
2010
Head: A gathering of primitive, abstract, iconic, lumpen, powerful, playful, referential, reflective, layered, delirious, precious, beautiful, psychotic, grotesque, detached forms, The Approach, London, UK
ev+a. Exhibition of visual art, The Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick, IR
2009
Visible Invisible, Parasol Unit Foundation of Contemporary Art, London, UK
ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, UK
2007
The Third Mind, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Klaus Merz und die Bilder, Literaturmuseum Strauhof, Zurich, Switzerland
Hans Josephsohn und Marisa Merz, Galerie Buchmann, Lugano, Switzerland
2006
Die obere Hälfte - die Büste seit August Rodin, Museum Liner, Appenzell, Switzerland (Travelling Exhibition)
2005
Architektur + Kunst - Dialoge, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
2004
Mind the Gap, Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany
2003
G 2003, Mostra Internazionale di Scultura all’Aperto, Vira Gambarogno, Switzerland
2000
Der verlorene Blick, Galerie Lelong, Zurich, Switzerland
1999
Haus Bill, Zumikon, Switzerland
References
External links
- Kesselhaus Josephsohn
- Sensuous sadness of Hans Josephsohn's sculpture
- Hans Josephsohn at Hauser & Wirth
- Film on Hans Josephsohn Film Josephsohn Bildhauer
- Permanent installation of Hans Josephsohn's works at La Congiunta