Louise Nevelson und George Rickey

Galerie Michael Haas is pleased to present the works of two exceptional American artists – Louise Nevelson and George Rickey – in a joint exhibition in the rooms on Niebuhrstraße and in Kunst Lager Haas.

Since the 1960s, both Louise Nevelson and George Rickey have been part of the German art scene through their participation in documenta III and IV. George Rickey is best known for his outdoor sculptures, for example his sculpture “Four Squares in a Square” (1969) returned to its place in front of the New National Gallery in Berlin just last year after the renovation. Nevelson’s works are less well known in Germany, which is surprising given that important works by Nevelson can be found in every American museum and her works are also present in public space in the USA – especially in New York.

Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), one of the most influential post-war artists, exhibited regularly on the New York art scene from the 1940s and later in the world’s most important museums. Especially for her mature work, memorable murals and sculptures, for which she is famous today, Nevelson used everyday objects and found objects of all kinds, which she carefully assembled into assemblages, sculptures and collages. She painted her powerful sculptures in monochrome, mostly black, and created mysterious worlds in her exhibitions. In her collages, she largely left the materials in their original state, their origin still clearly recognizable. Nevelson viewed her persona as an extension of her work and captivated photographers such as Helmut Newton and Marie Cosindas with her eccentric appearance.

George Warren Rickey (1907-2002) turned to kinetic sculpture and became one of its most important exponents. Rickey’s works, graceful stainless steel structures, some of enormous proportions, which are composed of strictly geometric shapes, are surprisingly lively in their idiosyncratic movement and seem to defy the laws of gravity – an effect that Rickey achieved by shifting their balance point using weights. These sculptures, which initially seem purely technical, find their inspiration in nature and, above all, move in this extremely fluently and naturally.

In the exhibition Louise Nevelson & George Rickey, the two artists are exhibited together for the first time. On display will be wall sculptures, collages and sculptures by Louise Nevelson, as well as wall and ceiling, interior and exterior sculptures by George Rickey. A catalog accompanies the exhibition. The exhibition of George Rickey’s works in the Michael Haas Gallery also marks the start of a series of exhibitions and events on George Rickey in and around Berlin in 2023. In June, a show of eight outdoor sculptures by Rickey will open in the Schlossgut Schwante sculpture park and in September the George Rickey Foundation will hold a symposium on the artist (also at Schlossgut Schwante).