Félix Vallotton – In Praise of Beauty
The Swiss-French painter and graphic artist Félix Vallotton (1865–1925) is regarded as one of the most distinctive artists of European Modernism around 1900. With cool precision and uncompromising directness, he observed French society of his time and developed a unique visual language characterized by detachment, clarity, and quiet intensity.
Following its successful presentation at the Museo Castello San Materno – Fondazione per la cultura Kurt e Barbara Alten in Ascona, the exhibition Félix Vallotton. In Praise of Beauty is now being presented in an expanded form at the Stiftung Ahlers Pro Arte in Herford. Generous loans from a distinguished Swiss private collection, complemented by works from the ahlers collection, provide a comprehensive insight into the multifaceted nature of Vallotton’s oeuvre.
The exhibition focuses on his landscapes, still lifes, and nudes – genres explored through exemplary paintings spanning his early years, the Nabis period, and his later work.
„Félix Vallotton has raised an eternal monument to beauty […]
through his art. Let those who have eyes to see, see!”Alexander Kanoldt, 1931
Particular attention is given to Vallotton’s revolutionary woodcut prints. Through radical reduction, bold black-and-white contrasts, and an innovative use of line and form, he fundamentally expanded the creative possibilities of the medium. His prints reveal a critical perspective on social power structures as well as on human relationships.
Félix Vallotton left behind a body of work of extraordinary diversity and modernity that has lost none of its relevance to this day.
Schedule
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Exhibition opening (Registration not required)
Lecture by Harald Fiebig, Art Historian and Curator, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Kurt and Barbara Alten Cultural Foundation, Solothurn (Switzerland)Admission: 5:30 pm
Start: 6 pm -
Lecture
Dr. Barbara Martin, Kunsthistorikerin, KarlsruheAdmission: 5:30 pm
Start: 6 pm -
Song Recital
Julia Borchert, Soprano
Csaba Grünfelder, PianoAdmission: 5:30 pm
Start: 6 pm -
Lecture
Valentina Plotnikova, Curator and Research Associate, Museum Barberini, PotsdamAdmission: 5:30 pm
Start: 6 pm -
Finissage
Reading with Musical Accompaniment
Christina Huckle, Actress, Theater Bielefeld
Reinhold Westerheide, GuitareAdmission: 5:30 pm
Start: 6 pm
(from left to right) Jonquilles et anémones rouges │ Daffodils and Red Anemones, 1924, tempera on cardboard, private collection, Switzerland. Le mensonge │ The Lie, 1897, woodcut on paper, plate 1 from the series Intimités │ Intimacies, private collection, Switzerland. La nuit │ The Night, 1895, woodcut on paper, Ahlers Collection. Baigneuse, montagnes bleues │ Bather Before Blue Mountains, 1906, oil on canvas, private collection, Switzerland. Photos: Peter Schälchli, Zurich.