Last Paintings. Ad Reinhardt

The Josef Albers Museum in Bottrop has been working on a long-term project called Albers in Context since 2004 which investigates the interconnection between Josef Albers’ artwork and artistic teachings and American art since the middle of the 20th century. Following exhibitions on Agnes Martin (2004), Sol LeWitt (2006) and Donald Judd (2008), in 2010 the museum focused on works by Ad Reinhardt, a leading protagonist of abstract expressionism – one of the first distinctly American genres which consciously set itself apart from traditional European models.
Reinhardt and Albers met each other at Yale University. The German painter received a teaching position there after the National Socialists banned the Bauhaus and made it impossible for him to work in Germany any longer. Shortly thereafter Ad Reinhardt became renowned for his “Black Paintings”, seemingly monochrome black images which he incessantly painted starting in 1953 and described as the “last paintings” which could ever be painted.
The exhibition placed 40 works by Reinhardt alongside 30 pieces by Albers. It also featured loans from important European collections as well as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the Yale University Gallery and National Gallery of Art in Washington. The organizers hope the exhibition will significantly advance the study of American-German art history after World War II.

Curator: Heinz Liesbrock
Artist: Ad Reinhardt (USA)

Venue and schedule:
Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop, 26 September 2010 – 9 January 2011