The Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art presents East of Eden / Photorealism: Versions of Reality: Photorealism as a Cold-War phenomenon, on view 14 September 2011–15 January 2012.

Don Eddy, Untitled (Volkswagen), 1971. Acryl on canvas, 122 x 152 cm. Photo © MUMOK, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Leihgabe der Österreichischen Ludwig Stiftung

Photorealism came into its own at the end of the 1960s, arising from the challenge posed by photographic depiction to realist painting, and is mostly associated with well-known American and Western European artists and their works. The Budapest Ludwig Museum exhibition expands the scope of earlier shows in Vienna (MUMOK, 2010) and Aachen (Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, 2011), both of which included materials from the Ludwig’s collection. Our exhibition offers new approaches to similar Central- and Eastern European tendencies by virtue of a complex interpretation of Cold War realism.

True-to-life photographic representation and analytical depiction also found followers on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain, although not in the same measures or with the same convictions as in the West. The different political and cultural contexts, the long-standing historical tradition of realism and the lack of an art market or consumer culture meant that Central and Eastern European photo-based realism faced fundamentally different perspectives.

The exhibition deliberately shifts our expectations of style, and discusses the extended understanding of photorealism as a terminus to allow us to appreciate parallels and dissimilarities, and the various aims and intentions, rather than merely placing works in competition with one another or listing influences. In doing so, the aim is to explore traces of the recent past that remain, albeit in more transient form, with us today.

Curated by Nikolett Erőss

Artists in the show include: Robert Bechtle, William Beckman, France Berko Berčič, Bernáth(y) Sándor, Milan Bočkay, Corneliu Brudascu, John Clem Clarke, Chuck Close, Robert Cottingham, Csernus Tibor, Milutin Dragojlović, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Halina Eysymont, Jadranka Fatur, Fehér László, Julián Filo, Gérard Gasiorowski, Franz Gertsch, Ralph Goings, Ion Grigorescu, Tadeusz Grzegorczyk, Jean Olivier Hucleux, Kelemen Károly, Konrad Klapheck, Kocsis Imre, Łukasz Korolkiewicz, Ewa Kuryluk, Lakner László, Matei Lăzărescu, Richard McLean, Méhes László, Méhes Lóránt, Franc Mesarič, Jacques Monory, Malcolm Morley, Lowell Nesbitt, Nyári István, Theodor Pištěk, Sigmar Polke, Stephen Posen, Gerhard Richter, Veronika Rónaiová, James Rosenquist, Mimmo Rotella, Andrzej Sadowski, John Salt, Ben Schonzeit, Paul Staiger, Andrzej Strumiłło, Andrzej Szumigaj, Andrzej Tryzno, Gerd Winner

The exhibition has been realised in collaboration with: Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien and Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen

The main sponsor of the Museum is Mastercard.
Supported by: Peter und Irene Ludwig Stiftung, Aachen, Uniqa Insurance Company, National Cultural Fund, Hungary
Educational programs are supported by Raiffeisen Bank.

Lower image: Jadranka Fatur, "Lift," 1974. Oil on canvas. Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art
1095 Budapest, Komor Marcell u. 1.
Hungary
T +36 1 555 3444
info@ludwigmuseum.hu
www.ludwigmuseum.hu

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