David Zwirner and Iwan Wirth are pleased to announce the opening of their new gallery, Zwirner & Wirth, at 32 East 69th Street on February 23rd, 2000. Their inaugural exhibition entitled, Gerhard Richter: Early Paintings will include works from the 1960s and 1970s by the German artist.
This new partnership unites New York gallerist David Zwirner and Swiss dealer Iwan Wirth. The gallery will occupy the first two floors of a townhouse at 69th Street and Madison Avenue, recently renovated by Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects. The new location will operate in addition to their existing galleries: David Zwirner at 43 Greene Street in New York, and Galerie Hauser & Wirth at Limmatstrasse 270 in Zurich.
Galerie Hauser & Wirth was founded in Zurich in 1991 by its principals Ursula Hauser and Iwan Wirth. The gallery represents Louise Bourgeois, Mary Heilman, Pipilotti Rist, John McCracken, Rachel Khedoori, Dan Graham, Fischli & Weiss and the estate of Dieter Roth. Galerie Hauser & Wirth has presented exhibitions with the works of Egon Schiele, Nam June Paik, Francis Picabia, Bruce Nauman and Gerhard Richter, and has published numerous catalogues and monographs..
David Zwirner's downtown gallery, open since 1993, represents a stable of artists including Franz West, Stan Douglas, Diana Thater, Luc Tuymans, On Kawara, Toba Khedoori, Jason Rhoades, Raymond Pettibon and the estate of Gordon Matta-Clark. David Zwirner has exhibited the work of Sigmar Polke, Georg Baselitz, Gerhard Richter and in conjunction with Galerie Hauser & Wirth, Francis Picabia and Marcel Broodthaers. The new gallery, Zwirner & Wirth, will exhibit modern and contemporary masters.
A group of works dating from the first decade of Gerhard Richter's oeuvre has been assembled for the opening exhibition. Richter's early paintings are based on photography, both his own and found imagery, as documented in the famous photographic cycle, "Atlas." The exhibition, which will also include some photographs, traces Richter's work with key examples from the 60s and 70s, such as "Madchen auf Einem Esel" (1966) and "Kleiner Akt", (1967). The centerpiece of the show is a series of four paintings from 1975 entitled, "Tourist I - Tourist IV" where Mr. Richter deconstructs the image of a tourist accident derived from newspaper clippings. In these paintings, which to date have not been seen in the United States, one can see the artist's exploration of the subject through increasing levels of abstraction. Whereas "Tourist I" is painted in full color, the final painting, "Tourist IV", is entirely monochromatic; remnants of the image are revealed only through the brushstrokes.
Zwirner & Wirth is planning an exhibition of the work of Thomas Ruff to open in late April, as well as a summer exhibition of recent acquisitions. In the fall, one-person exhibitions with Dan Flavin and John McCracken are scheduled, in addition to an exhibition of works from the Arte Povera movement.