Menu

A line (a)round an idea

Selected Works on Paper

May 2–July 27, 2019
Geneva

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Cy Twombly Foundation; © 2019 Richard Artschwager/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Serra; © 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate of Sam Francis/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London; © 2019 Christine Hiebert; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Brice Marden; © 2019 Bruce Conner/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Cy Twombly Foundation; © 2019 Richard Artschwager/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Serra; © 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate of Sam Francis/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London; © 2019 Christine Hiebert; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Brice Marden; © 2019 Bruce Conner/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Cy Twombly Foundation; © 2019 Richard Artschwager/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Serra; © 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Cy Twombly Foundation; © 2019 Richard Artschwager/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Serra; © 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Estate of Sam Francis/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London; © 2019 Christine Hiebert; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Brice Marden; © 2019 Bruce Conner/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate Günther Förg

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Estate of Sam Francis/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London; © 2019 Christine Hiebert; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Brice Marden; © 2019 Bruce Conner/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Estate Günther Förg

Works Exhibited

Robert Motherwell, Open with Elegy, 1968 Acrylic and graphite on Arches watercolor rag paper, 6 × 7 ⅝ inches (15.2 × 19.4 cm)© 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Robert Motherwell, Open with Elegy, 1968

Acrylic and graphite on Arches watercolor rag paper, 6 × 7 ⅝ inches (15.2 × 19.4 cm)
© 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Franz Kline, Untitled, c. 1950–59 Ink on paper, 14 × 11 inches (35.6 × 27.9 cm)© 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Franz Kline, Untitled, c. 1950–59

Ink on paper, 14 × 11 inches (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
© 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

About

Drawing is putting a line around an idea.
—Henri Matisse

Gagosian is pleased to present A line (a)round an idea, an exhibition of black-and-white works on paper by Richard Artschwager, Georg Baselitz, Bruce Conner, Willem de Kooning, Günther Förg, Sam Francis, Keith Haring, Christine Hiebert, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Brice Marden, Henri Matisse, Robert Motherwell, Richard Serra, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, and others.

In the act of drawing, an artist physically experiences the full potential of the most direct gestures. The works included in A line (a)round an idea reveal the ways in which modern and contemporary artists have explored the clarity and activating power of the simple line, mark, splatter, or stroke.

Contrasting with the bold gestural abstractions of Francis, Kline, Motherwell, and Serra, the figurative works in the exhibition use the immediacy of drawing to map the contours of the human body—from de Kooning’s Woman (c. 1965), a standing nude that appears to dissolve into hazy charcoal curves, to the visceral, inky drips of Baselitz’s inverted figure from 2015.

Read more

Dessiner met une ligne autour d’une idée.
—Henri Matisse

Gagosian a le plaisir de présenter A line (a)round an idea, une exposition d’œuvres en noir et blanc sur papier de Richard Artschwager, Georg Baselitz, Bruce Conner, Willem de Kooning, Günther Förg, Sam Francis, Keith Haring, Christine Hiebert, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Brice Marden, Henri Matisse, Robert Motherwell, Richard Serra, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann et d’autres encore.

En dessinant, l’artiste ressent physiquement toutes les possibilités des gestes les plus directs. Les œuvres présentées dans A line (a)round an idea montrent la manière dont des artistes modernes et contemporains ont exploré la précision et le pouvoir d’activation de la simple ligne, trace ou éclaboussure.

En contraste avec les puissantes abstractions gestuelles de Francis, de Kline, de Motherwell et de Serra, les œuvres figuratives de l’exposition s’emparent du caractère immédiat du dessin pour tracer les contours du corps humain, de Woman de de Kooning (vers 1965), un nu debout qui semble se dissoudre en des courbes floues réalisées au fusain, jusqu’au gouttes viscérales faites d’encre de la silhouette à l’envers de Baselitz datant de 2015.

Les dessins de Matisse et de Wesselmann réunissent la fonction graphique de la ligne et les sujets classiques que sont la nature morte ou les scènes d’intérieur. Le premier trace le contour d’une composition de fruits charnus et le second représente le visage de profil d’une femme entouré de la bordure d’un coussin, de fleurs et d’une table. Au lieu de créer une illusion de volume grâce à la lumière et les ombres, les deux artistes dessinent leurs sujets uniquement au moyen de lignes. En adoptant une approche similaire, Warhol montre une faucille et un marteau appuyés contre un mur, objets chargés d’une connotation politique, irrévérencieusement exécutés à main levée et tendant vers l’abstraction. Ou encore Hofmann, avec Drawing for Fruit Bowl III (de 1950), qui se rebelle contre le plan du tableau lui-même en cassant la composition en fragments cubistes.

En partant des gestes spontanés des expressionnistes abstraits pour arriver à l’assemblage de mine de plomb et de cire d’abeille de Marden, en passant par les taches d’encre Rorschach de Conner et les empreintes décousues de Hiebert, A line (a)round an idea montre une large palette de sujets et d’attitudes. Au travers du temps et par le biais du support et du genre, chaque artiste inscrit des idées et des sensations éphémères dans une pérennité matérielle.

Brice Marden

Brice Marden

Larry Gagosian celebrates the unmatched life and legacy of Brice Marden.

Georg Baselitz and Richard Calvocoressi sit next to each other in the artist’s studio

In Conversation
Georg Baselitz and Richard Calvocoressi

In conjunction with the exhibition The Painter in His Bed, at Gagosian, New York, Georg Baselitz and Richard Calvocoressi discuss the motif of the stag in the artist’s newest paintings.  

Christopher Makos, Andy Warhol at Paris Apartment Window, 1981

In Conversation
Christopher Makos and Jessica Beck

Andy Warhol’s Insiders at the Gagosian Shop in London’s historic Burlington Arcade is a group exhibition and shop takeover that feature works by Warhol and portraits of the artist by friends and collaborators including photographers Ronnie Cutrone, Michael Halsband, Christopher Makos, and Billy Name. To celebrate the occasion, Makos met with Gagosian director Jessica Beck to speak about his friendship with Warhol and the joy of the unexpected.

Jessica Beck

Andy Warhol: Silver Screen

In this video, Jessica Beck, director at Gagosian, Beverly Hills, sits down to discuss the three early paintings by Andy Warhol from 1963 featured in the exhibition Andy Warhol: Silver Screen, at Gagosian in Paris.

Richard Avedon’s Marilyn Monroe, actor, New York, May 6, 1957 on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Summer 2023

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2023

The Summer 2023 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Richard Avedon’s Marilyn Monroe, actor, New York, May 6, 1957 on its cover.

A person sitting down behind six paintings

“Tight and Small and Figurative”: Tom Wesselmann’s Early Collages

Susan Davidson, editor of the forthcoming monograph on the Great American Nudes, a series of works by Tom Wesselmann, explores the artist’s early experiments with collage, tracing their development from humble beginnings to the iconic series of paintings.

News

Installation view, A line (a)round an idea: Selected Works on Paper, Gagosian, Geneva, May 2–July 27, 2019. Artwork, left to right: © Cy Twombly Foundation; © 2019 Richard Artschwager/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Serra; © 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Tour

A line (a)round an idea
Selected Works on Paper

Saturday, June 22, 2019, 11am
Gagosian, Geneva

This event has been canceled.

Join us for a tour of A line (a)round an idea at Gagosian, Geneva. The exhibition, which presents black-and-white works on paper spanning a period of seventy years, includes work by Richard Artschwager, Georg Baselitz, Bruce Conner, Willem de Kooning, Günther Förg, Sam Francis, Keith Haring, Christine Hiebert, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Brice Marden, Henri Matisse, Robert Motherwell, Ad Reinhardt, Richard Serra, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, and others. Gagosian’s Johan Nauckhoff will give an overview of the exhibition, focusing on ways in which modern and contemporary artists have explored the clarity and activating power of the simple line, mark, splatter, or stroke. To attend the free event, RSVP to genevatours@gagosian.com. Space is limited.

Installation view, A line (a)round an idea: Selected Works on Paper, Gagosian, Geneva, May 2–July 27, 2019. Artwork, left to right: © Cy Twombly Foundation; © 2019 Richard Artschwager/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2019 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Serra; © 2019 Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York