Mad Square at AGNSW

[Michael W]

A quick note for anyone in the Sydney area.
The Mad Square is an exhibition about German art of the 1920s and '30s, and closes in a week. It costs $20 to get in but is well worth a look. I spent about 3 hours there today. Along with paintings and drawings there are also some examples of Bauhaus furniture and some significant photographic works. There are half a dozen or so August Sander prints that look to be vintage. Also some Moholy-Nagy photograms and modernist "machine" style photos. One photographer I had not previously heard of was Hugo Erfurth who was represented by some very good bromoils. Apart from the photos there are many superb paintings, drawings and prints by the likes of Grosz, Beckmann & Dix. A few small but excellent collages by Kurt Schwitters. It covers various movements from Expressionism to Dada, Bauhaus and the objective machine style. There are some sensational large posters on political themes as well as for films such as the Cabinet of Dr Caligari. It's on at the AGNSW - Art Gallery of New South Wales.

 

[Michael W]

One thing I forgot to mention in the first post. It was interesting to look at the appearance of the vintage photographic prints. All were quite warmtone and generally lower contrast than modern papers. I didn't see any gleaming white highlights - most high tones were somewhat subdued. Reminded me of the Foma 123 velvet stipple paper. This was across the prints of half a dozen or more photographers so I suppose it was inherent in the materials of the era.