Tate Liverpool
DLA Piper Series: International Modern Art displays art from the Tate Collection and this spring there are some exciting new changes being made to give you the chance to see more work by major international artists.
The display is arranged chronologically from 1900 and divided into five sections, each of which focuses on a specific theme or art movement. Painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation are featured by a wide range of artists from Edgar Degas through to Grayson Perry. Many have not been shown in Liverpool until now, and have been selected to reflect the richness and variety of the Tate Collection.
From 13 March 2006 major new works to be seen include The Inattentive Reader 1919 by Henri Mattise, a beautiful study of intimacy and melancholy in the portrait of a woman, and Karel Appel’s Questioning Children 1949. The expressive power of Questioning Children, which incorporates both sculpture and painting, lies in the use of discarded pieces of wood which have been crudely painted to suggest figures and then nailed to an old window shutter.
The display will include a completely rejuvenated section concentrating on Nouveau Realism and Pop Art in the 1960s that features artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenberg and Christo. Other featured works include Prose Poems 1959-60 by Daniel Spoerri, in which a table of everyday objects from one moment in the artist’s life has been immortalized and displayed like a painting, Condition of Woman I 1960 by Arman, a collection of objects taken from his first wife’s bathroom and displayed in a glass case like a reliquary, and one of the most important and beautiful works of the last fifty years: the sublime monochrome by Yves Klein, IKB 79 1959, painted in his trademark blue.
The Focus Room, at the start of the display, offers a more intimate look at the work of a particular artist. From 8 April 2006 the Focus Room will present a series of prints by Robert Rauschenberg - one of the 20th century’s greatest artists. His practice has embraced painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and performance art, sometimes combining disciplines within a single artwork. Often motivated by social conscience and the desire for egalitarianism, his work continually draws our attention to wider artistic, social, political, and cultural contexts. Rauschenberg has been a long-time collaborator with dancer and choreographer Trisha Brown, and this display coincides with the first visit to Liverpool by Trisha Brown Dance Company (Liverpool Playhouse: 7 and 8 June 2006). One of the three dance pieces that will be performed includes Rauschenberg’s Set and Reset. These two events are part of the Liverpool Performs programme, co-ordinated by the Liverpool Culture Company in the build-up to Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008.
The DLA Piper Series is a changing display of exemplary works of international modern and contemporary art from the Tate Collection.