Artists

Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Yves Netzhammer

Press release

Focusing on the final years of Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s (1881–1919) life and work in Berlin and Zurich, the Kunsthaus Zürich presents a major monographic exhibition. In a space-filling mise en scène conceived by Swiss artist Yves Netzhammer (b. 1970), sculptures, drawings, etchings and paintings enter into dialogue with a contemporary staging that powerfully addresses vulnerability and the human condition. At the heart of the exhibition are Lehmbruck’s late creative phases in Berlin (1914–1916) and Zurich (1916–1919). Working in a repurposed garage, he created masterpieces such as Seated Youth (1916/17), Woman Praying (1918) and Head of a Thinker (1918). These figures translate grief, longing and transcendence into moving forms. During the First World War, Lehmbruck connected with intellectuals such as Fritz von Unruh, Ludwig Rubiner and Leonhard Frank. Inspired by encounters in Paris with Rodin, Brancusi and Modigliani, he dedicated himself uncompromisingly to the human body. Female Torso (1918) marks both an artistic turning point and a shattering legacy – in 1919, Lehmbruck took his own life in Berlin. His art resonates with universal human experiences and endures as a silent memorial to vulnerability and humanity. Yves Netzhammer sets Lehmbruck's oeuvre in a contemporary field of tension: through digital drawings, animations and large-scale installations he opens up new perspectives – for the first time, a contemporary artist stages Lehmbruck’s works.