Drawing Rooms

The medium of drawing is more relevant today than ever before. Young artists in particular are dedicating themselves once more to drawing alone, using it confidently to make their mark. They regard their drawings not only as self-contained studies but as constructions, diagrams, reports or even as musical scores, in which the line becomes a means of expressing time, memory and space. »Drawings are concentrations of time and space, future and past, mental, intellectual and even metaphysical experience and thought,« says the Frankfurt artist Lucie Beppler, summarising the characteristics of line, stroke and contour. For her, »Drawing is the most intense, most diverse, most humble medium; the finest means of artistic expression.«

Drawing is reaching out into the third dimension, in moving images or even animated film. Interactions between the line drawn on the wall and the animated line in the computer are giving rise to entirely new forms of graphical perception. These new currents are showcased in the two-part exhibition Drawing Rooms. On the occasion of the reopening of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Department of Prints, Drawings and Photography is showing a selection of drawings from its collection spanning the years 1950–2016, including numerous acquisitions from the past fifteen years. With over 200 works by a total of 80 artists in two exhibitions, this constitutes the first comprehensive overview of an extraordinary inventory of contemporary drawing. While the first part focuses on developments from the 1950s to today, the second part, opening in November 2016, will showcase wall drawings, room installations and virtual animations.

Part I 30. April 2016 – 30. Oktober 2016

Artists: Martin Assig, Jill Baroff, Lucie Beppler, KP Brehmer, Karoline Bröckel, John Cage, Hanne Darboven, Jim Dine, Felix Droese, Friedrich Einhoff, Nadine Fecht, Karl Otto Götz, Lothar Götz, Katharina Hinsberg, Rebecca Horn, Balz Isler, Margrit Kahl, Karoly Keserü, Jürgen Klauke, Astrid Köppe, Sol LeWitt, Philip Loersch, Thomas Müller, Bettina Munk, Gudrun Piper, Sigmar Polke, Arnulf Rainer, James Rosenquist, Dieter Roth, Sebastian Rug, Fred Sandback, Nora Schattauer, Jan Schoonhoven, K. R. H. Sonderborg, Malte Spohr, German Stegmaier, Gabi Steinhauser, Kai Sudeck, Rosemarie Trockel, Jorinde Voigt. 
 

Part II 25. November 2016 – 21. Mai 2017

Artists: Silvia Bächli, Georg Baselitz, Detlef Birgfeld, Bernhard Johannes Blume, Sandra Boeschenstein, Marcel van Eeden, Bea Emsbach, Lili Fischer, Olav Christopher Jenssen, Carolin Joerg / Michael Fragstein, Hubert Kiecol, Konrad Klapheck, Andree Korpys/ Markus Löffler, Norbert Kricke, Klaus Kumrow, Olaf Metzel, Nanne Meyer, Mariella Mosler, Ulrich Rückriem, Gerhard Rühm, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Thomas Schütte, David Tremlett, Barbara Camilla Tucholski, Clivia Vorrath, Franz Erhard Walther, Mark Williams u. a.