VENUS TRAP

To accompany the exhibition Ladies First! - which is dedicated to works by female artists in the Schaufler Collection - the special exhibition VENUS TRAP focuses on the woman as a subject in the work of male artists. The depiction of the feminine, often in nudes, occupies a prominent position in the history of art, whether in religious, mythological, or modern portraits. In the modern era, the relationship between the artist and the model has come increasingly to the fore and is addressed individually in the works.

Contemporary artists have grappled again and again with divas, icons of style, seductive femmes fatales, and archetypical sex symbols. In the process they reveal the ambiguity of the male gaze that shows the woman as muse or dangerous “trap.” The exhibition VENUS TRAP presents works by around twenty artists from the Schaufler Collection, including the genres of photography, video, and painting. More than fifty works document the theme of femininity as an exhaustible, continuing source of inspiration. Works by internationally renowned artists such as Alex Katz, Jim Dine, Imi Knoebel, Yasumasa Morimura, and Ugo Rondinone are seen alongside never before exhibited works by Anselm Kiefer from among the recent acquisitions of the Schaufler Collection.