Hans Josephsohn

Hans Josephsohn (born May 1920) is a Swiss sculptor. He lives and works in Zurich.

Josephsohn was born in Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad), East Prussia. Here he attended elementary school and completed high school in 1937. That same year, he left his homeland and moved to Florence with a small scholarship, in order to study art. Due to his Jewish ancestry, he had to leave Italy a short time later and fled to Switzerland. He arrived in Zurich in 1938 and became a student of the sculptor Otto Müller. In 1943 Josephsohn moved into his first atelier, and starting in 1964 began shwoing his works in various solo shows within Switzerland. He acquired Swiss citizenship in 1964. Josephsohn's works began to attract the attention of a larger audience at the end of the 1990s. The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam dedicated a large solo exhibition to the artist in 2002. In 2003 Josephson received the art prize of Zurich. Various group and solo exhibitions followed this, among others in the Diözesanmuseum Kolumba in Cologne (2005) and in the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2007). In 2008, the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt/Main organized a large solo exhibition of Josephsohn's works. In the years since 2000, Jospehsohn's work has increasingly been regarded, also internationally, as a significant contribution to visual art.

Permanent installations of Hans Josephsohn's works can be seen at the museum La Congiunta in Tessin, Switzerland, which was built by Peter Märkli and Stefan Bellwalder and opened in 1992. In 2003 the Kesselhaus Jospehsohn in St. Gallen, Switzerland, opened, where a regularly alternating selection of works is presented. At the same time, the Kesselhaus is functioning as a storage and archive for Josephsohn's works and it is located next to the Kunstgiesserei St. Gallen where Hans Jospehsohn's works are cast.

Hans Josephsohn is represented by the Galerie Felix Lehner and Hauser & Wirth.

On Hans Josephsohn

Josephsohn's sculptures focus on the human figure as a volume in space. From the beginning of his career he has worked, from the model, on sculpture's most timeless, constant themes: Representations of the human figure, standing, sitting, reclining, has worked on portrait heads or half-figures, made in plaster, some then later, cast in bronze.

Josephsohn's figures are bereft of any portrait-like individualization. And they stand out for their simplicity, for their being limited to the simple postures of the human body. The wish for permanence plays a key role: "My figures must be enduring in their expression, in their stance", Jospehsohn said, "A narrative gesture is out of the question". His works evoke prehistory, ancient stone steles and romanesque figures.

Josephsohn's favourite working material is plaster. He finds it ideal if simply it permits directness and spontaneity, both of which are necessary for Jospehsohn's working process. Plaster allows him to repeatedly add material or take it away. The directness of the work process is reflected not only in the immense vitality of the figures but even more by the traces left by this process. For example, finger imprints remain on the surface, referencing the artist's hands as it seeks to mold the material.

His artistic examination of the human figure is influenced and determined by his own experience, which for him as an artist is shaped above all by his everyday work in the studio but also by the interpersonal relations in his life. He seeks his models in his own personal world: They are for the most part friends, relatives - almost always women, very often his own life partner. Real persons are the starting point of this work and search for forms but his works hardly ever have portrait-like character or individual traits. Thus, also for those who know Josephsohn's models personally, when viewing the corresponding works there is little to remind one of the individuals.

Selected exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2009

Hauser & Wirth Outdoor Sculpture: Hans Josephsohn, Southwood Gardens, London, UK

2008

Josephsohn Bildhauer, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Hauser & Wirth, London, UK

2007

Sculpture at Schönthal, Kloster Schönthal, Langenbruck, Switzerland

2006

Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich, Switzerland

Peter Blum Gallery, New York NY, USA

2005

Museum Liner, Appenzell, Switzerland

Kolumba, Diözesanmuseum, Cologne, Germany

2004

Galerie Reckermann, Cologne, Germany

Kesselhaus Josephsohn, St. Gallen, Switzerland

Evangelische Stadtkirche, Darmstadt, Germany

2003

Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg, Germany

2002

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich, Switzerland

2001

Haus der Kunst der Stadt Brünn, Brno, Czech Republic

2000

Galerie Bon van Orsouw, Zurich, Switzerland

1997

Helmhaus Zurich, Switzerland

1993

Galerie Im Trudelhaus, Baden, Switzerland

1988

Galerie Produga, Zurich, Switzerland

1985

Stiftung Landis & Gyr, Zug, Switzerland

1984

Urania-Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland

1982

Kunsthalle im Waaghaus, Winterthur, Switzerland

1981

Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland

1978

Galerie an der Stadthausgasse, Schaffhausen, Switzerland

1975

Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland

1972

Galerie "Zum Elephanten", Zurzach, Switzerland

1969

Galerie Daniel Keel, Zurich, Switzerland

1967

Technisches Rathaus, Tübingen, Germany

1966

Galerie Obere Zäune, Zurich, Switzerland

1965

Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland

1964

Helmhaus Zurich, Switzerland

1962

Galerie am Stadelhofen, Zurich, Switzerland

1956

Städtische Kunstkammer zum Strauhof, Zurich, Switzerland

Group Exhibitions

2009

Visible Invisible, Parasol Unit Foundation of Contemporary Art, London, UK

ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, UK

Hauptsache Köpfe. Merkwürdige Häupter, Galerie Reckermann, Cologne, Germany

2007

The Third Mind, Palais de Toky, Paris, France

Klaus Merz und die Bilder, Literaturmuseum Strauhof, Zurich, Switzerland

Hans Josephsohn und Marisa Merz, Galerie Buchmann, Lugano, Switzerland

Hans Josephsohn und Ernst Hermanns, Galerie Reckermann, Cologne, Germany

2006

Die obere Hälfte - die Büste seit August Rodin, Museum Liner, Appenzell, Switzerland (Travelling Exhibition)

2005

Die obere Hälfte - die Büste seit August Rodin, Städtische Museen Heilbronn, Germany (Travelling Exhibition)

Die obere Hälfte - die Büste seit August Rodin, Museum Liner, Appenzell, Switzerland (Travelling Exhibition)

Die obere Hälfte - die Büste seit August Rodin, Kunsthalle Emden, Germany (Travelling Exhibition)

Architektur + Kunst - Dialoge, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria

2004

Mind the Gap, Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany

2000

Der verlorene Blick, Galerie Lelong, Zurich, Switzerland

1999

Haus Bill, Zumikon, Switzerland

1998

Spurensuche Mensch, Seedamm Kulturzentrum, Pfäffikon, Switzerland

1994

Eine Art Kunstszene, Helmhaus Zürich, Switzerland

1988

Kunstszene Zürich '88, Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland

1986

Galerie im Trudelhaus, Baden, Switzerland

1972

Künstler im Atelier, Museum Strauhof, Zurich, Switzerland

1961

Nationale, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland

1949

Junge Zürcher Künstler, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland

1949

Emigrantenkünstler in der Schweiz, Helmhaus, Zurich, Switzerland

External links