Press release Galerie Knoell, booth J11

To mark the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus, Basel-based Galerie Knoell dedicates a solo historic presentation to the Swiss artist, architect and designer (1908-1994). It is the gallery’s first participation at Art Basel.

Displaying early works ranging from the 1940’s to the 1960’s, Galerie Knoell’s presentation emulates the artists understanding of his output as a gesamtkunstwerk – a total artwork, and juxtaposes Bill’s works on canvas, paper and in sculpture against his original early furniture from the 1940’s.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential Swiss artists of all time, after initially training as a silversmith Bill moved from his native Switzerland to Dessau, Germany, to attend the Bauhaus from 1927 until 1929. There, where Bill met his lifetime friend and collaborator Josef Albers, he studied under and Wassily Kandinsky and became preoccupied with furthering Theo van Doesburg’s 1924 introduction of ‘’.

Bill’s intense theoretical exploration of Concrete art is of particular importance in the presentation. A style of art based on geometrical foundations and referring to nothing other than itself, Concrete art should not recognise the abstraction of the external world but solely the pure form, or ‘principle of order’ that it presents. Individual expression, based on mathematical thinking, should result in works that constitute self- sufficient form: arising from themselves and standing by themselves. Above all, this presentation displays Bill’s ability to communicate simple ideas of geometric elegance in the basic purity and honesty of a composition.

Along with a key group of Swiss artists, in 1937 Bill formed the Allianz group, who collectively advocated Concrete art, promoting it in several important exhibitions in the 1930’s and 1940’s in key cultural institutions across Switzerland. This included shows at the Kunsthalle Basel in 1937 and the Kunsthaus Zürich in 1942. By 1951, Concrete art had gained an international following, which was underlined by Bill winning first prize for sculpture at the inaugural São Paulo Biennale. This had a revolutionary effect on South American artistic output, inspiring a second generation of important Concrete artists that include Lygia Pape, Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica.

Galerie Knoell’s presentation at Art Basel brings Bill’s work back to his native Switzerland whilst honouring the anniversary of the artist’s alma mater, and connects together links from Bill’s career and international influence that span almost an entire century.

Galerie Knoell, Im Erasmushaus, Bäumleingasse 18, 4051 Basel, Switzerland [email protected], Tel. +4161 692 29 88, www.galerieknoell.ch, contact: Carlo Knöll