Eija-Lisa Ahtila: Real Characters, Invented Worlds

30 April - 28 July 2002

The Finnish artist, Eija-Liisa Ahtila (b. 1959), first came to prominence in the early 1990s. Her work deals with the theme of human relationships - within families, between lovers, among genders - drawn from the artist's own experience and observations. This exhibition was the first mid-career survey of Ahtila's work in this country and featured video, film, photography and installations. It included key works from the past ten years, including a brand new work, The Present, a cinematic journey chronicling episodes in the lives of five women. Curated by Susan May assisted by Katherine Green, this exhibition toured to Kiasma, Helsinki.

Matisse/Picasso

11 May - 18 August 2002

Sponsored by Ernst & Young

This exhibition brought together major masterpieces by two giants of modern art and received great critical and public acclaim, attracting an average daily attendance of 4,671 to achieve a total attendance of 467,166 visitors. Through a series of groupings of over thirty paintings and sculptures, the exhibition provided an opportunity to compare Matisse's expressive use of colour and line alongside Picasso's stylistic virtuosity. It traced the fascinating and intricate relationship between the two artists from its beginnings in Paris in 1906 to the period after 1954 when, following Matisse's death, Picasso paid tribute to him and his work, both directly and indirectly. Matisse Picasso was a major collaboration between the Grand Palais in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and toured to Paris and New York following its presentation in London. Curated by Elizabeth Cowling and John Golding, the exhibition was co-ordinated by Ruth Rattenbury assisted by Sophie Clark for its London presentation.

Barnett Newman

20 September 2002 - 5 January 2003

Supported by The Henry Luce Foundation

Barnett Newman (1905-1970) was one of the leaders of the group of American artists known as the Abstract Expressionists, whose large scale work defined American art in the 1950s and 1960s. Newman's signature style featured large canvases of intense colour interrupted by vertical bands that he referred to as 'zips'. This exhibition was the first full scale retrospective of Newman's work since 1972 and included a unique opportunity to see the series titled Stations of the Cross 1958-66, widely considered to be his greatest masterpiece, and not shown in Europe for thirty years. The exhibition was organised by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and was curated for its London showing by Sheena Wagstaff assisted by Juliet Bingham.

Eva Hesse

13 November 2002 -9 March 2003

Supported by Tate Members

Eva Hesse's remarkable achievement as a sculptor has given her almost mythic status in the art world. Her career developed during the 1960s and she became known for her experimentation with materials such as string, resin and latex to make visceral sculptures that explored the expressive possibilities of abstract form and themes of sexuality. This exhibition, selected by Elisabeth Sussman and Dr Renate Petzinger and curated for its London presentation by Sheena Wagstaff assisted by Helen Sainsbury, featured over 130 of the artist's works including the majority of her major sculptures, paintings and works on paper. The exhibition toured to London from San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Museum Wiesbaden.

Max Beckmann

13 February - 5 May 2003

Media partner: The Times

This was the first major retrospective of Max Beckmann in the UK since 1965. This exhibition provided a chronological overview of Beckmann's artistic career and focused on three pivotal periods: 1918-23, 1927-32 and the late 1930s into the 1940s. The first period reflected the impact of the First World War, during which Beckmann served as a medical orderly. By contrast, the second period was coloured by prosperity and public recognition of the artist's work. The final period was once again marked by the experience of war. Under the Nazi regime Beckmann was classified as a 'degenerate' artist and fled to Amsterdam in 1937. Beckmann's engagement with modernism and his ability to adapt and innovate resulted in a highly personal vision and style. His paintings bring together characters from the entertainment world - circus, actors, and masquerades - with figures drawn from ancient myths. They also feature his own person in a famous group of self-portraits. The exhibition was curated by Sean Rainbird assisted by Susanne Bieber for its London showing which followed its first presentation at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. From London it went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Cruel and Tender: The Real in the Twentieth-Century Photograph

5 June - 7 September 2003

Sponsored by UBS

Cruel and Tender was Tate's first major exhibition dedicated to photography. The exhibition explored how twenty-three of the foremost photographers of the twentieth century pictured the people and places of the world around them, creating some of photography's most memorable images. Walker Evans's American photographs launched a host of images which conflated the mythic and the mundane in American life. Twenty years later, Robert Frank's shocking dissection of society, The Americans caused a furore with its seemingly casual and graphic depictions of segregated America. The exhibition took an equivocal look at the environment, from Robert Adams's in-depth study of Denver's urban sprawl, to Andreas Gursky's monumental studies of supermarkets, shopping malls and rubbish dumps. Cruel and Tender was a collaborative exhibition between Tate Modern and Museum Ludwig, Köln, and was curated by Emma Dexter and Thomas Weski, assisted by Helen Sainsbury, Sophie Clark and Silvia Baumgart.

Polke: History of Everything

9 October 2003 - 4 January 2004

Supported by Tate International Council

Sigmar Polke is one of the most significant painters of the post-war generation. Since the early 1960s, Polke has experimented with a wide range of styles and subject matter, using a variety of different materials and techniques. Sigmar Polke: History of Everything showcased Polke's work over the last six years. Initiated by the Dallas Museum of Art, several of the works were made with the original venue in mind, reflecting its Texan locale and the gun culture of the American West. The presentation also included several large-scale works made specifically for London, using imagery from local newspaper and magazines that appeared to reflect on aspects of British culture - including a comic allusion to Britain's reputedly uptight attitudes to sex in a group of works depicting rural nudist colonies. Curated by Vicente Todolí in close collaboration with the artist, assisted by Juliet Bingham.

Common Wealth

22 October - 28 December 2003

Common Wealth was a group exhibition that brought together five celebrated international contemporary artists from Europe and Latin America, in the most important display of their work in the UK to date. Featuring Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Thomas Hirschhorn, Carsten Höller, and Gabriel Orozco, the exhibition included large-scale installations, many of which were interactive and encouraged visitor participation, as a way of exploring the meanings, implications and politics of the words 'common' and 'wealth'. The exhibition was curated by Jessica Morgan, assisted by Sophie McKinlay.

Donald Judd

29 January - 9 May 2004

Supported by Tate Members
Media partner: The Guardian

One of the most significant American artists of the post-war period, Donald Judd changed the course of modern sculpture. This exhibition marked the first substantial retrospective of his career since 1988. Judd broke new ground in rejecting existing traditions of artistic expression and craftsmanship by using industrial materials such as Plexiglass, sheet metal and plywood. His works also created a new kind of relationship with the space around them. Judd's pared-down forms and sensuous use of industrial materials remain a feature of much contemporary art, architecture and design. Curated by Nicholas Serota, assisted by Helen Sainsbury.

Constantin Brancusi: The Essence of Things

12 February - 23 May 2004

Sponsored by Aviva

One of the founding figures of modern sculpture, Brancusi (1876-1957) introduced abstraction and primitivism into sculpture. This was the first major Brancusi exhibition ever held in this country and focused on Brancusi's carvings, in which he developed central themes that touch upon essential, even spiritual, questions. The exhibition traced Brancusi's practice of refining sculptural form throughout his lifetime: from his work, The Kiss, to the sequence of Birds developed over thirty years. The exhibition was a collaboration between Tate Modern and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and was curated by Carmen Giménez and Matthew Gale, assisted by Ben Borthwick.

Eva Hesse
1936-1970
Tomorrow's Apples
1965

From the Eva Hesse exhibition, Tate Modern