Hans Josephsohn
The work of
the Swiss artist Hans Josephsohn (1920-2012), one of the
great
masters of sculpture of the second half of the 20th century
Born in
1920 in Eastern Prussia from Jewish parents, Hans Josephsohn left Germany
in 1937 and
settled in Florence with the aim of studying art. Forced to leave due
to fascist
racial laws, he moved to Switzerland, which became his adoptive country.
Josephsohn’s
oeuvre has been defined as “existential sculpture”: in a time that was
strongly
characterised by the physical and moral devastation left by World War II,
Hans
Josephsohn developed a language capable to talk about the fragile relationship
of mankind
with the surrounding world. He was concerned with representing the
human being
as a figure in space throughout his life. His sculptures are characterised
by an
ambivalence of the almost abstract figure whose individuality is secured by its
form,
material and surface.
The book is
published on the occasion of the biggest Josephsohn exhibition at the
Musée d’Art
Moderne in Paris, curated by the german painter Albert Oehlen. It aims
to show why
Josephsohn, though being little known during his lifetime, is recognized
as “the
most important sculptor since Giacometti” (Jackie Wullschlager).
The book
includes a foreword by Fabrice Hergott, director of Musée d’Art Moderne;
an
introduction by the exhibition curator, the artist Albert Oehlen; a
biographical
essay byJackie Wullschlager, chief-critic of the Financial Times and author of the
celebrated
biography
Monet. The restless vision; an essay by Max Dax on archetype and
an essay on
Josephson’s spiritual dimension and archaic qualities by British sculptor
Thomas
Houseago; a photo essay on the Josephsohn-Estate in St. Gallen by leading
international
photographer François Halard; a wide-ranging oral history compiled out
of eight
new interviews with Josephsohn’s closest allies and family, including both his
wifes, the
head of his foundry Felix Lehner as well as the Swiss architect Peter Märkli,
who
designed La Congiunta museum for Josephsohn’s works in Ticino; an essay by
French
philosopher Danièle Cohn about memory, trauma and space in Josephsohn’s
work;
Josephsohn in his own words and biographical details. The book is designed
by the
acclaimed art director Mike Meiré and Christopher Tröster.