Curators: Marek Żydowicz, Michael Haas
In 2018, the International Festival of the Art of Cinematography EnergaCAMERIMAGE and the Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Toruń will present over 200 selected pieces of modern and contemporary painting. The main idea behind the exhibition is to support the claim – Painting Still Alive – and to prove it with a showcase of the 20th and 21st century masterpieces that have not yet been exhibited in museums or galleries in this part of Europe. The selection was made by Marek Żydowicz, Camerimage Festival director and COCA curator, together with Michael Haas, the collection owner.
The whole collection includes nearly 2.000 pieces of art. The exhibition Painting Still Alive will present the works of 173 most remarkable, world-renowned artists of the 20th century, including Pierre Bonnard, Georges Rouault, Maurice Denis, Henri Matisse, Otto Dix, Jankel Adler, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Odille Redon, Emil Nolde, Pablo Picasso, James Ensor, Giorgio de Chirico, Piet Mondrian, Francis Picabia, Rene Magritte, Joan Miró, Kurt Schwitters, Jean Dubuffet, Oscar Kokoschka, Andy Warhol, Anselm Kiefer, Frank Stella, Markus Lüpertz, Hans Bellmer, Georg Baselitz, Sigmar Polke, Mimmo Palladino, Antoni Tàpiesa, Leiko Ikemura, Jordi Alcaraz.
The exhibition will also feature Polish elements, including the works of a forgotten Polish artist, Pinchas Burstein, that left Poland and worked under the name Maryan, as well as young Polish artists: Karolina Zdunek, Wojtek Zasadni and Tomasz Kowalski.
The diversity of styles, techniques, motifs and themes used by the artists from all over the world in the last hundred years will allow the Toruń exhibition to serve as an almost textbook reminder of the most important art trends and tendencies in the 20th century.
Such an extensive display of artworks by the most remarkable artists from all over the world is very rare for a Polish gallery. Putting this exhibition together required tremendous amount of work, time and resources. The collection itself holds an enormous educational value, as it not only gives the opportunity to discover some of the lesser known works of great artists, often scattered across respected art galleries and museums all over the world, but also allows the audience to reflect on the very concept of the collection built up by the German art dealer over the last 40 years.