What's On at Europe's Museums
June 21, 2004
Daniel Libeskind in Poland
Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw
The work of Polish-born architect Daniel Libeskind, who now lives in New York, is the focal point of an exhibition at Warsaw's Zacheta Gallery. The first public viewing of Libeskind's works in Poland is being shown under the motto: "The Architecture of Remembrance." The show includes, among other objects, models of Libeskind's most famous projects including the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the new World Trade Center design for New York City.
Through August 1. The exhibition is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Au Bon Pain
Fondation Cartier, Paris
French fashion designer and enfant terrible Jean Paul Gaultier has developed an unusual collection for the Fondation Cartier museum in Paris. Instead of his usual luxurious fabrics -- silk, leather or tafetta, Gaultier's latest collection has been designed with baker's dough. "Pain Couture," an exhibition of Gaultier's bread creations, is on display at the museum through the fall. The idea behind the show is to make art and fashion a bit livelier by using a material that's part of our daily lives--bread. And good news for those who can't afford Gaultier's haute couture: the museum café is selling baguettes designed especially by the designer for visitors.
"Pain Couture" runs through Oct. 10. It is open daily, except Monday, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Souvenirs from China
Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, France
On a mission for Strasbourg shop owners, August Haussmann traveled from Logelbach, France to China in 1844. The 29-year-old made business contacts there -- but he also he also sent cases and cases of exotic objects to the Colmar Museum of Natural History and Ethnology. With its show "Between Monkeys and Dragons," the museum is exhibiting 100 of Haussmann's treasures along with Chinese antiquities from the collection of Colmar's renowned Unterlinden Museum. The curiosities include shoes for women with bound feet, weapons decorated with gold coins, fans made of eagle feathers, opium pipes, musical instruments and exquisite fabrics.
"Between Monkeys and Dragons" runs through August 24. It is open Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and again from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. On Sundays, the museum is open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The 10 Commandments
Deutsches Hygiene Museum, Dresden
Dresden's Deutsches Hygiene Museum is looking to the Bible to guide its latest exhibition. In the show, works by contemporary artists are sorted and organized around themes from the 10 commandments. The show is courageous for a city well known for Baroque beauty but less so for modern art. Curated by Klaus Biesenbach, artistic director of Kunst-Werke Berlin and leading curator of the New York Museum of Modern Art's P.S. 1 gallery, the exhibition is divided into 10 different rooms representing each commandment. Within them, more than 100 works from 69 artists are on display. Rather than relying on historical material and paintings, the museum has chosen contemporary artists whose work captures the social and ethical tensions in our modern world.
"The 10 Commandments" runs through Dec. 5. It is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A painterly Anne Frank
Städel Museum, Frankfurt
Until recently, the work of Charlotte Salomon was little known in Germany. After her death at Auschwitz in 1943, her work quietly disappeared into obscurity. In two short years, the Jewish artist, born in Berlin in 1917, created an astonishing 1,325 paintings documenting her dramatic life during a stay in Southern France before her capture, deportation and murder by the Nazis. Sixty years later, the painter's work, which is roughly analogous to the art-world version of the Diary of Anne Frank, is being shown in a major retrospective in Frankfurt. The museum is seeking not only to tell Salomon's story, but also to build the reputation of someone it considers to be one of the last century's important artists. The exhibition includes Salomon's paintings, gouaches, writings and music.
"Charlotte Salomon: Life? Or Theater?" runs through August 22. It is open Tuesday and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Wednesday and Thursdays, the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.