Markus Lüpertz: Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

Michael Werner Gallery, Beverly Hills is pleased to present its inaugural exhibition Markus Lüpertz - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. This groundbreaking exhibition pairs paintings of Markus Lüpertz (b. 1941), one of the most important German painters of the post-war period, with paintings and drawings of 19th Century French master Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898). 

Over the course of a nearly seven-decade career, Lüpertz has created an expansive body of work, which art historian Aimée Brown Price describes as “replete with staunch emotional, historical, and personal content.” Lüpertz mulls over, repeats, and recontextualizes imagery with deep cultural and personal resonance, often culling from the work of past artists, such as Poussin, Rembrandt, Goya, and Courbet. Lüpertz has said, “I live with artists I routinely retrieve from the recesses of history, and then they become a part of my everyday life, they are my companions, they exist for me. I deal with them as if they were alive.”

Lüpertz has been engaged with Puvis de Chavannes since 2011, connecting himself to a lineage of important, renowned artists who have been inspired by the great French master. During his lifetime, Puvis de Chavannes pushed forward modernism and influenced the work of Seurat, Gauguin, and Cézanne. Posthumously, he influenced Matisse as well as Picasso’s Blue Period. Van Gogh called him the “master of us all.”

The paintings by Lüpertz in the exhibition date from 2013 and chart his exchange with Puvis de Chavannes over the ensuing decade. At times, Lüpertz pays homage by incorporating objects and figures from Puvis de Chavannes’s paintings into his compositions. Other times, he simply evokes the unique, mystic classicism that permeates the works of Puvis de Chavannes. Lüpertz’s paintings are complemented by an impressive array of drawings and paintings by Puvis de Chavannes, some of which are landscapes, preparatory drawings for commissions, epic scenes, and portraiture.

Markus Lüpertz has been the subject of numerous surveys in recent years, including at the Hirshhorn Museum and the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Kunst- und Austellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; The Hermitage State Museum, St. Petersburg, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art; and Palazzo Loredan, Venice.

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes was called “the painter of France” during his lifetime. His works hang in major museums around the world, including The Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Petit Palais, Musée Picasso, The Rijksmuseum, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian, and Carnegie Museum of Art, to name only a few.

Markus Lüpertz - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes opens to the public on 22 June from 10am to 6pm, followed by an opening reception on 22 June from 6 to 8pm and will remain on view through 7 September. A catalogue with text by art historian Aimée Brown Price will accompany the exhibition. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 6 pm.