Drawing the City. Paper-based works from 1945 to the present

About

Berlin has been drawn by its history, by triumphs and fiascos, by feudalism, pragmatism, liberalism, democracies and dictatorships. It has also been drawn and painted by many artists. The Berlinische Galerie holds one of the biggest and most significant collections of art about the city of Berlin. A special selection will go on display from 7 August, in many cases for the first time. More than 175 works by 22 women and 47 men will be on show: mostly drawings in all formats from big to small, much in colour, much in black-and-white, in very different techniques and in a variegated bouquet of representational art, photorealism, surrealism, late Expressionism, abstract styles, illustrations and comics. “Drawing the City” is structured in six chapters and features artists of world renown – among them Rainer Fetting, K.H. Hödicke, Tal R, Tacita Dean, Wolf Vostell – but also plenty of time and space for discoveries and rediscoveries of powerful works and powerful biographies of artists like Gabriele Basch, Thomas Bayrle, Gertrude Sandmann, Werner Heldt, Evelyn Kuwertz, Klaus Vogelsang. Exhibition curator Annelie Lütgens explores this fascination with the metropolis, links East with West. Traces of history can be detected in many works, and there are flickers of visual memory from Berlin in the Weimar Republic. This year Berlin marks the centenary of its birth in its current contours with a range of events and shows; “Drawing the City” is part of the celebration.