Gustav Metzger

📖 The Scoop

Act or Perish: Gustav Metzger: a Retrospective is the first extensive overview of an artistic oeuvre considered as one of the most important in the 20th century, and spans the period from the late 1940s until today. It includes a systematic insight into Gustav Metzger's early years of political activism and his formative years as an artist. Showing the influence of environmental and political engagement on his artistic radicalization, it includes documentary material from the artist's newly rediscovered own archives. Gustav Metzger was born in 1926 in Germany to a family of Polish-Jewish descent. He grew up in the shadow of increased Nazi propaganda and power display in his hometown of Nurenberg. Metzger was rescued in 1939 and taken to England by the buses of the Refugee Children Movement, while his parents and elder brother perished in the Holocaust. A central role in Gustav Metzger's art is held by his manifestos for Auto-Destructive art - the first was published in 1959. The exhibition sheds light on how this radical move evolved from his experiments and developments with painting. In particular, his "demonstrations" with acid paintings, together with works on industrial materials, like mild steel and plastic, show a direct relationship to the manifestos for Auto-Destructive art.

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