Lieselott Beschorner. Im Atem der Zeit [In the Breath of Time]

29.06.2022 - 04.09.2022

Vereinigung Bildender KünstlerInnen, Wiener Secession, Wien / Österreich

Lieselott Beschorner has made art for over seven decades and been a member of the Vienna Secession for just as long. When she was admitted to the Association of Visual Artists in 1951, she was among the first women members: the Secession, which had been founded in 1897, had remained a male preserve until shortly after the war. Only a few years later, in 1954, Beschorner presented her first solo exhibition at the Secession, followed by solo shows in 1966 and 1972, and her work was included in group exhibitions on a regular basis until the mid-1970s.... Around that time, the artist took up teaching at a vocational school (she would continue to do so for over thirty years); meanwhile, new tendencies emerged that vied for attention, and her art faded from the spotlight. Undeterred, Beschorner kept making art with the means at her disposal, building an oeuvre that is as complex as it is eclectic: her output ranges from abstract paintings to expressively representational drawings and collages, from ceramics and textile works—including the body of work that is probably most widely known today, the Puppas—to her most recent sculptures, like the Behutete Kopffiguren [Hatted-Head Figures], and a vast trove of drawings on the ubiquitous subject of the virus, among them the cycle of Weinende Omnichronisten [Weeping Omnichroniclers]. The unifying theme that holds these diverse facets of her oeuvre together is the grotesque.

Many of Lieselott Beschorner’s works and techniques anticipated achievements of later generations of women artists, as in the art of Sarah Lucas or Annette Messager; her Puppas even antedate Louise Bourgeois’ ragdolls. The public had few opportunities to take note of her evolving art until a decade ago, when her work was showcased at MUSA. The Secession is excited to host her exhibition Im Atem der Zeit [In the Breath of Time]. Featuring recent creations as well as selected pieces from earlier periods of her oeuvre, it illustrates that Beschorner’s work has lost none of its vitality and still speaks powerfully to contemporary concerns.

Programmed by the board of the Secession
Curated by Berthold Ecker and Jeanette Pacher

[Quelle: https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.secession.at/en/exhibition/lieselott-beschorner/]