Martha Jungwirth on Retrospective at Guggenheim Bilbao and Palazzo Cini Exhibition
Martha Jungwirth, the 84-year-old Austrian artist now represented by Thaddaeus Ropac, has major exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Palazzo Cini Gallery in Venice. The Bilbao show is a retrospective including works from the past two years, organized thematically around objects, portraits, landscapes, animals, and art history. It features large drawings from her Indesit series, first shown at Documenta 6 in 1977, inspired by a trip to New York and Mies van der Rohe's architectural drawings at MoMA. The Venice exhibition, at Palazzo Cini Gallery, is inspired by Joseph Conrad's *Heart of Darkness* and sparked by an article on French journalist Albert Londres and the 1931 Paris Colonial Exhibition.
The Signal
Jungwirth's trajectory from marginalization to blue-chip representation and major institutional shows signals a belated but decisive market and curatorial recognition of her work. Her practice, rooted in emotional intensity and rapid execution—she painted the Venice series in 14 days—aligns with current interest in gestural abstraction and politically engaged art. Collectors should note that her market is likely to strengthen as these high-profile exhibitions introduce her to new audiences, particularly in the US and Europe, where her exploration of colonialism and animal extinction resonates with contemporary discourse.
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- Artists: Martha Jungwirth
- People: Martha Jungwirth, Joseph Conrad, Albert Londres, Mies van der Rohe, Francisco Goya, Édouard Manet
- Galleries: Thaddaeus Ropac, Palazzo Cini Gallery
- Museums: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Museum of Modern Art, Fondation Beyeler, Musée du quai Branly—Jacques Chirac, Palais de la Porte Dorée
- Locations: Vienna, Bilbao, Venice, New York, Madrid, Basel, Paris
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