AICA exhibition of the year 2017: ‘Surreal Objectivity: Works from the 1920s and 1930s from the Nationalgalerie’

07.11.2017
Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg

The International Association of Art Critics (AICA) has chosen Surreal Objectivity: Works from the 1920s and 1930s from the Nationalgalerie as the best exhibition of the year 2017. The exhibition at the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg in Berlin-Charlottenburg took a fresh and unusual look at the phenomenon of the Neue Sachlichkeit, or ‘New Objectivity’, seen through the lens of Surrealism.

In a statement, Udo Kittelmann, director of the Nationalgalerie (of which the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg is part), commented: ‘We are especially pleased that this exhibition has been critically well received, as it was the product of a prolonged and intense study of the Nationalgalerie’s collection. The curatorial and academic study of the collection is one of the fundamental and indispensable pillars in any museum’s work, and also plays a pivotal part in the ongoing reassessment of the canon of art history, by viewing it from a fresh critical perspective.’

The curator of the exhibition, Kyllikki Zacharias, went on to say: ‘Besides the pleasure of sifting through the Nationalgalerie’s holdings and looking at the works from a different angle and being able to pick out some true gems along the way, the most gratifying thing for me was to have contributed to the rediscovery of many artists who have, quite wrongly, faded into obscurity.’