Thaddaeus Ropac has announced its representation of the Hans Josephsohn Estate in partnership with the Kesselhaus Josephsohn, an archive and exhibition space dedicated to the Swiss sculptor in St. Gallen. The gallery will collaborate with Galerie Max Hetzler, Skarstedt Gallery, and Karma International to promote Josephsohn’s work. A solo exhibition is scheduled for July 2024 in Salzburg, and a retrospective curated by artist Albert Oehlen will take place in October 2024 at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris.
Josephsohn, who passed away in 2012, is celebrated for his six-decade-long career that reshaped the landscape of contemporary sculpture. His work reimagined the possibilities of figurative sculpture, often musing on the human form. From his early stele-like reliefs to his later sculptures that only vaguely allude to the human figure, the Swiss sculptor’s work explore the essence of human presence using materials like brass, copper, and cement.
“Hans Josephsohn is one of the most overlooked sculptors of the 20th century,” said Thaddaeus Ropac, founder of the gallery. “He is deeply rooted in the tradition of European sculpture, yet he was never part of an artist movement, allowing him to develop a wholly independent vision.”
Josephsohn’s major solo exhibitions include shows at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany in 2018; Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield, England in 2013; the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany in 2008; and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 2002. In 2012, his sculptures were paired with Alberto Giacometti’s work at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
