Concurrent with the Ruth Weisberg exhibition, Jack Rutberg Gallery will present "Hans Burkhardt: Paintings of the 1960s, Part II." This installation presents, in edited form, the critically-acclaimed exhibition "Hans Burkhardt: Paintings from the 1960's," cited as one of the "Top Shows of 2008" of L.A. museums and galleries by LA Weekly.
Although reduced in format, this powerful survey from this decade of revolution includes paintings of monumental scale, cited by some historians as ranking among the most important paintings on the subject of war in all of modern art. The exhibition includes as its centerpiece My Lai of 1968; a monumental painting employing real human skulls, about which critic Donald Kuspit stated that “Burkhardt is a master – indeed, the inventor – of the abstract memento mori.” In reviewing this exhibition in its original version, Christopher Miles cited this as one of the major exhibitions of 2008, declaring: “viewing this museum-worthy exhibition, as well as examining the broader range of Burkhardt’s six decade oeuvre, one sees little room for doubt as to the need to reconsider Burkhardt’s place locally and internationally…” Peter Selz writes: “Hans Burkhardt, a major voice of modernist American art . . . is a master of abstract painting.”
Hans Burkhardt was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1904. He immigrated to New York in 1924, where he shared Arshile Gorky’s studio for the better part of the years 1928-37. When he moved to Los Angeles in 1937, Burkhardt represented the most significant bridge between New York and Los Angeles, in that his paintings of the 1930s are part of the genesis of American Abstract Expressionism. In Los Angeles, Burkhardt created an extraordinary body of work that elicited Kuspit’s declaration: “I knew it had to exist in American painting, and here it is.”
In 1992, two years before his death, Burkhardt was honored for his lifetime achievement by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. The Burkhardt exhibition is accompanied by an 88-page publication with 77 color illustrations.
The Ruth Weisberg and Hans Burkhardt exhibitions offer an opportunity to view two important Los Angeles artists who had great artistic admiration for one another.
“Ruth Weisberg - Selected Works” & “Hans Burkhardt: Paintings of the 1960s, Part II” opens February 7 and extends through April 18 at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts located at 357 N. La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90036. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For further information phone (323) 938-5222.
