The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are pleased to present the first one-person museum exhibition in America of the Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein. The Child:
Works by Gottfried Helnwein features a major theme that has appeared in his work over the last thirty-five years.
For Helnwein, the child is the symbol of innocence, but also of innocence betrayed. In today's world, the malevolent forces of war, poverty, and sexual exploitation and the numbing, predatory influence of modern media assault the virtue of children. Robert Flynn Johnson, the curator in charge of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, has assembled a thought-provoking selection of Helnwein's works and provided an insightful essay on his art in this exhibition catalogue.
Helnwein's work concerning the child includes paintings, drawings, and photographs, and it ranges from subtle inscrutability to scenes of stark brutality.
Of course, brutal scenes - witness The Massacre of the Innocents - have been important and regularly visited motifs in the history of art. What makes Helnwein's art significant is its ability to make us reflect emotionally and intellectually on the very expressive subjects he chooses. Many people feel that museums should be a refuge in which to experience quiet beauty divorced from the coarseness of the world. This notion sells short the purposes of art, the function of museums, and the intellectual curiosity of the public.
The Child: Works by Gottfried Helnwein will inspire and enlighten many.
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Gottfried Helnwein and The Child through the years,
By Wayne Chinsang "tlchicken.com" (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Child - Works By Gottfried Helnwein (Hardcover)
For nearly four decades, Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein has utilized the subject of children in his work. From photographs to illustrations, paintings to installations, Helnwein has tackled numerous subjects, from childhood innocence to the Holocaust, in a dramatic and often awe-inspiring fashion.
Collected here are some of Helnwein's child-based work. Published by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, this catalogue showcases the work that was featured in Helnwein's 2004 one-man show there. From the early seventies (1971's "Embarrassing") to the early 2000s (including an amazing piece from 2003 called "Stage Fright"), this collection serves as both a coffee table conversation piece and a work of art all of its own. It's also a good starting point for those who might not be fully familiar with Helnwein's work yet, but are looking to own a book that spans his many years as an artist.
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