The Real Thing part 2 (retrospective): Landesmuseum, Hanover, Germany

24 February - 18 June 2023
Solo Exhibitions

What happens when an artist has at their disposal the holdings of two important museums and combine them with his own works ? The Landesmuseum Hannover and the Sprengel Museum Hannover are daring to try this experiment. The British artist Glenn Brown takes a fresh look at both collections, complements them with his own works and stimulates a discussion about the relationship between historical and contemporary art.

Photo Herling/Herling/Werner

The exhibition at the Landesmuseum will likewise present works from the collection, which features paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, alongside paintings, drawings and sculptures by Brown, including Reproduction (2014) and Poor Art (2016). Additional loans will feature from the Sprengel Museum.


Alongside key influences such as Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651), Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) and Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918), the artist has also chosen works that he admires by German landscape painters such as Gustav Hausmann (1827-1899) and Theodore Kotsch (1818-1884). The many great and lesser-known works in the museum speak to the artist’s main preoccupations and themes. These will be represented through six curatorial groups, which comprise: animals, landscapes and trees, the nude, portraits, still life and the artist. Further highlights include works by Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557), Bartholomeus Spranger (1546-1611) and Lovis Corinth (1858-1925), which explore the human figure, as well as portraits by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) and Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907).


With Glenn Brown acting as both artist and curator, the dual projects will highlight not only the historical depth of each collection, but their contemporary relevance, as old and new masters connect and collide.

Artworks

Literature