Review (via de Tagesspiegel): Malen im Hier und Jetzt
Installation featuring Untitled (Three Glasses) 1962 by Janice Biala in Die Form der Freiheit: Internationale Abstraktion nach 1945 (The Form of Freedom: International Abstraction after 1945). Museum Barberini, Potsdam, Germany, June 4-September 25, 2022. Image: Courtesy Museum Barberini
Painting in the here and now
by Fernhard Schulz
The prelude is a painting in light tones by Janice Biala. Born in 1903 in Poland, which was then part of Russia, she emigrated to the USA with her family in 1913. In 1952 she painted the picture that is now displayed so prominently in the Museum Barberini in Potsdam.
Her name is not among those mentioned in connection with post-war American art. Just as little as that of Hedda Sterne, whose dark-colored painting "NY #7" was created in 1955 and hung nearby. Only the small-format works by Jackson Pollock on the left (“The Teacup”, 1946) and Arshile Gorky on the right (“Pastorale”, 1945), who died early, provide support for the memory.
Rediscovered Artists
The start is program. With the exhibition entitled “The Form of Freedom”, curator Daniel Zamani wants to present “International Abstraction after 1945”, from Europe and North America, and wants to tread well-trodden paths and leave them at the same time. Committing by presenting works by all the artists famous as abstract artists, such as Mark Rothko , Willem de Kooning or Barnett Newman, but leaving at the same time by adding those overlooked to the list of 52 participating artists. Most of them are female artists, of whom only a few, like Lee Krasner or Helen Frankenthaler, have achieved the same visibility in the art world.
