Venues
Museum Rietberg
left: Handmask, Mango, Tompieme, Liberia, western Dan region, Nyor Diaple, ca. 1970, wood, 18 x 13 x 4 cm, Museum Rietberg, acc. no. 2015.243, acquired in 1975 by Eberhard Fischer, gift of Eberhard and Barbara Fischer, Museum Rietberg, Zurich; right: Portrait mask of Hans Himmelheber, Jean Don Gba, Ivory Coast, Dan region, Petit Baple, February 13, 15, and 17, 1971, wood, 27 x 17 x 10 cm, Museum Rietberg, 2017.36, acquired in 1971 by Hans Himmelheber, gift of Eberhard and Barbara Fischer, Museum Rietberg, Zurich
Look Closer focuses on the art anthropologist Hans Himmelheber (1908–2003). His research into the artistic personality and aesthetics heralded a fundamental shift in African art history. The exhibition is thought-provoking: how does knowledge about the production of art in Africa come about?
Visitors can explore questions surrounding the purchase of art and its trade; research and teaching; art and the portrait. Four contemporary artists – Désiré Amani, Michèle Magema, Obou Gbais, David Shongo – offer their views of the Himmelheber Archive.
8002 Zürich
Noh mask of the Shakumi type with brocade cushion and storage bag, Japan, Edo period, 17th–18th c. (mask), late 19th c. (bag and cushion), Hinoki, Japanese cypress, inv. no. RJP 4017, gift of Balthasar Reinhart, Museum Rietberg. – 17th/18th c. up to around 1907 or later, princely Maeda family; ca. 1907 or later to 1928, Ernst Grosse, Freiburg i.Br.; 1928 to 1955, Georg Reinhart, Winterthur; 1955 to 1989, Balthasar Reinhart, Winterthur
Since 1952, the Museum Rietberg has brought together unique art made by the world’s very different cultures – but how did it get here? What routes did it take? What modifications in material and changes in meaning did it undergo on its travels?
The exhibition Pathways of Art traces these routes and shows across some 20 stations who was involved in the trade and respective acquisitions and who owned the works before they entered the museum.
8002 Zürich
(limited availability)
with Cherry-Ann Davis, New Kyd and Teddy Pratt
Moderation: Larissa Tiki-Mbassi
Program curators: Keabetswe Boccomino and Jonas Lendenmann