Jeff Wall Livres

Trained as an art historian, Jeff Wall has been working for over 25 years on his expansive light boxes of staged scenes. These backlit photographic transparencies are set in cases generally associated with advertising display; but, instead of advertisements, Wall fills them with moments of everyday life that usually go unacknowledged: workers restoring a historic building, a janitor mopping a floor, a kitchen flooded with sunlight, the side of a house in the prairies. Carefully staged and meticulously composed, often over and over again until the perfect image has been achieved, Wall's images have explored a wide range of social and political themes, including urban violence, racism, poverty, gender and class conflicts, history, memory, and representation. Like the great French realist painters of the 19th century, Wall is, in the words of Charles Baudelaire, "a painter of modern life."

A complete overview of the pioneering artist who brought photography to contemporary art.

Jacques Herzog and Jeff Wall are among art and architecture’s most successful representatives, and Herzog & de Meuron’s architecture in the art domain (e. g. Tate Modern, London) has, since the 70s, attracted particular attention. Wall, for his part, has repeatedly in his motifs sought dialogue with architecture. His photography of Herzog & de Meuron’s „Dominus Winery“ (1999) in California represents the point of departure for a discussion on the relationship between art and photography. Questions arise as a result on topics such as 'photogenic architecture', the construction of pictures and buildings, and the time factor.

The book showcases new works by a highly acclaimed photo artist, presenting them in conversation with iconic images from the artist's early career. Each set of works is paired with insightful commentary from the artist, offering a deeper understanding of the evolution of their artistic vision and the themes explored throughout their body of work. This unique dialogue enriches the viewer's experience and appreciation of both the new and classic pieces.

Die erste große Sonderausstellung in der neuen Kunsthalle Mannheim widmet sich dem internationalen Fotokünstler Jeff Wall (* 1946). Sein Markenzeichen sind großformatige Dialeuchtkästen, die wie sorgfältig komponierte Film-Stills wirken. Der studierte Kunsthistoriker knüpft mit seinen Werken vielseitige Verbindungen zur Kunstgeschichte und wird aufgrund seiner aufwändigen Inszenierungen immer wieder mit den Meistern der Moderne wie Eugène Delacroix und Edouard Manet verglichen. In der Kunsthalle Mannheim liegt ein besonderer Fokus auf Konstellationen, die das fotografische Medium in Form einer Spurensuche präsentieren. Neben Dialeuchtkästen und Schwarz-Weiß-Fotografien werden als dritte wichtige Werkgruppe seine farbigen C-Prints gezeigt. Die mit internationalen Leihgaben bestückte Schau ermöglicht einen neuen Blick auf Arbeiten des Künstlers, die bisher selten in Ausstellungen gezeigt wurden. Eine Kooperation mit dem Mudam Luxembourg (Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean), wo die Ausstellung im Anschluss präsentiert wird.