Unconscious Landscape. Works from the Ursula Hauser Collection

About

Over the course of four decades Ursula Hauser has assembled a deeply personal collection of works that brings together a remarkable overview of late 20th century modern masters in dialogue with contemporary artists. The exhibition, which is curated by Ursula Hauser’s daughter Manuela Wirth, together with Laura Bechter, Curator of the Ursula Hauser Collection, spans all five galleries in Somerset, presenting 65 works by female artists and artists’ estates including Louise Bourgeois, Heidi Bucher, Sonia Gomes, Eva Hesse, Sheila Hicks, Maria Lassnig, Lee Lozano, Meret Oppenheim, Carol Rama, Sylvia Sleigh and Alina Szapocznikow. This presentation follows a series of Hauser & Wirth exhibitions focused on important private collections including the Onnasch Collection, The Panza Collection and the Perlstein Collection.

Ursula Hauser has collected the work of female artists for the last forty years, long before equality in the visual arts became a talking point. She has always been drawn to work by visionary women, many of whom she has built long-standing relationships with. ‘Unconscious Landscape’ takes its title from Louise Bourgeois’ eponymous bronze sculpture (1967 – 68), which is included in the exhibition. The title alludes to how the collection has been formed; Ursula Hauser’s unconscious seeking out artists that she feels an affinity with, assembling works that she has a strong emotional draw to. Through this instinctive process, the collection is full of often challenging works that are intertwined with Hauser’s own personal trajectory.