Isa Genzken
meets Liebieghaus

3/6–8/31/2025

The Liebieghaus is forging a unique link between the present and the past by juxtaposing powerful works by Isa Genzken (b. 1948) with its sculpture collection spanning 5,000 years. In the presentation, selected works by the renowned artist will be on display alongside ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman, as well as medieval and modern-era works from the museum’s outstanding collection.

Opening

Look forward to the opening of the exhibition “Isa Genzken meets Liebieghaus” on Wednesday, 5 March from 7.30 pm. Experience the artist’s works in the midst of the sculpture collection and round off the evening with drinks and snacks after your visit. Admission is free.

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Ticket Special

Free admission to the Liebieghaus!

With your ticket for the exhibition “Rembrandt’s Amsterdam. Golden Times?” at the Städel Museum, you can visit the exhibition “Isa Genzken meets Liebieghaus” free of charge from 6 to 23 March upon presentation at the Liebieghaus ticket counter. Discover one of the most important contemporary artists!

Please note: The offer is only valid on the same day as your visit to the Städel Museum.

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About the Exhibition

Isa Genzken is one of the most important contemporary artists and has been a major influence on the international art scene since the 1980s. Her diverse oeuvre encompasses sculpture, collage, painting, film and photography and is characterized by the combination of personal experience with extensive references to art history, architecture and modernism. Often dealing with the remnants of material culture and the decay of architectural structures, she uses her own biography to explore central themes such as identity, beauty and the role of the individual in society. She combines an impressive variety of materials—from textiles, cement and glass to stuffed animals and aeroplane windows—to create enigmatic sculptures that reflect the fragility of the modern world. Her works challenge social and cultural ideals, including those associated with the notion of marble-white ancient sculpture. In this way her work also provides a contemporary commentary on the polychromy of ancient sculpture.

The exhibition takes as its point of departure the polychromy of statues, a subject on which the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung is internationally renowned for its research and educational work. Isa Genzken has taken up these scientific findings in various works and translated them into her own formal language. Among the works on display at the Liebieghaus are her reinterpretations of the casts of Nefertiti, as well as works from 2016 for which she created a collage from numerous pages of a catalogue for the exhibition “GODS IN COLOR” (2010). Key sculptures from Genzken’s oeuvre, such as “Fenster” (1990) and “Weltempfänger ‘Berlin’” (1991), as well as the film “Die kleine Bushaltestelle (Gerüstbau)” (2012), are included in the presentation at the Liebieghaus, providing a broad insight into her work. The exhibition extends into almost all areas of the permanent exhibition: from the Liebieghaus garden to the antiquities collection and the medieval rooms.

Curator: Prof Dr Vinzenz Brinkmann (Head of the Department of Antiquities and Asia, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung)
Project Manager: Jakob Salzmann (Curatorial Assistant, Department of Antiquities and Asia, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung)

Sponsored by: Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain gGmbH, Städelscher Museums-Verein e.V.