Radical!

The show Radical! creates a dialogue between more than seventy female artists from over twenty countries, opening fresh perspectives on the diversity and boundary-pushing aspects of Modernism.

Irrespective of background and style, these artists were united in their quest for new visual languages and forms of representation to capture the modern world. The artists’ works compellingly document their seminal contribution to a changing society and their vehement reactions to urgent issues in a period shaped by historical upheaval and technological change. They devised possible identities outside accepted role models, took a critical stance on political events, and anchored the aesthetic ideals of Modernism in people’s everyday lives.

Rather than continuing to slot these women artists into a linear history of artistic styles, the show extricates them from the framework that played a key role in their slide into obscurity. Instead, it spotlights the individuality of their artistic practice, ranging from abstract to figurative, from criticism to activism. In this way, the exhibition challenges the male-driven art history that marginalized or even erased women artists from the canon of modern art. At the same time, the show enriches this art-historical narrative with a kaleidoscope of new perspectives.

The exhibition includes works by Gertrud Arndt, Bendetta, Romaine Brooks, Elizabeth Catlett, Claude Cahun, Sonia Delaunay, Inji Efflatoun, Alexandra Exter, Leonor Fini, Jacoba van Heemskerck van Beest, Hannah Höch, Erika Giovanna Klien, Katarzyna Kobro, Käthe Kollwitz, Lotte Laserstein, Tamara de Lempicka, Alice Lex-Nerlinger, Jeanne Mammen, Marlow Moss, Alice Neel, Gazbia Sirry, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Charley Toorop, Fahrelnissa Zeid, and many other artists.

The exhibition Radical! Women Artists and Modernism 1910–1950 is a joint project with Museum Arnhem and the Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie, Saarbrücken.