SWISS POP
This summer, the Kunstmuseum Thun is presenting ‘Swiss Pop’, an exhibition exploring a chapter of Swiss art history that has received relatively little attention in the past. Since the 1980 exhibition ‘Pop Art and Related Movements in Switzerland’ here in Thun, there have been no comprehensive exhibitions on this subject. In the course of our research, we have discovered just how great the interest in Pop Art is once again today. Historical Pop Art, as well as its successors and offshoots, are highly relevant today. The timing for a fresh look at and reassessment of Swiss Pop Art could therefore not be better.
Pop Art is a movement that took shape in the 1960s, primarily in New York and London, and is closely linked to the spirit of an era and a generation. The artists drew their subject matter from everyday life, reflecting the realities of the time and the cultural changes taking place. Trivial consumer goods such as Coca-Cola bottles or tins, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis, the media stars of the era, as well as the typical design of modern life were artistically appropriated. Comics, pin-up magazines and the world of advertising served as sources of imagery; the trivial became art; popular and high culture drew closer together. Artists such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Richard Hamilton also influenced and fascinated a younger generation of artists in Switzerland with their provocative works. Their innovative visual concepts fell on particularly fertile ground in the vibrant art scenes of Bern, Aarau and Lucerne during those years. Artists such as Samuel Buri, Markus Raetz, Franz Gertsch, Margrit Jäggli, Peter Stämpfli and Bendicht Fivian embraced the fresh artistic breeze from abroad. The resulting works were partly heavily inspired by their role models, but partly also developed into an independent artistic language.
Swiss Pop presents a comprehensive overview of Swiss Pop Art from the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition aims to identify the various movements and highlight the distinctive features of Swiss Pop Art. It is also interesting to examine the channels through which, and the attitude with which, Pop Art from the Anglo-Saxon world was received and interpreted in this country. These and other questions are explored in the exhibition.
The exhibition draws largely on our own collection. Pop Art has long been a key focus of the Kunstmuseum Thun’s acquisition policy, making our museum ideally suited to host an exhibition on this theme. Despite our significant in-house holdings, a comprehensive presentation of Swiss Pop Art would not be possible without loans. Numerous important works from other museums and private collections therefore round off the exhibition.
Artists featured in the exhibition:
Alfred Auer, Urs Bänninger, Samuel Buri, Herbert Distel, Franz Eggenschwiler, Bendicht Fivian, Franz Gertsch, Margrit Jäggli, Urs Lüthi, Markus Raetz, Werner Ritter, Hugo Schumacher, Peter Stämpfli and others.
