Throughout history, marble has exuded power, status and beauty. It is also synonymous with Kunsten, whose building will be celebrating its 50th birthday in 2022. To celebrate the occasion, the museum will be presenting a diverse cornucopia of works in marble, created by a number of history’s artistic heavyweights: Auguste Rodin, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Asger Jorn, Barbara Hepworth, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Marc Quinn, Louise Bourgeois – to name but a few.
Used in art since antiquity, more than any other material marble helped define classical art and our understanding of the origins of Western culture.
Traditionally speaking, marble reflected status, history, power and the classical ideals of beauty. Countless of the most iconic works in the history of art are made of marble, ranging from sculptures such as Laocoön and the Venus de Milo to architectural masterpieces that include the Parthenon and the Taj Mahal. In recent years, while marble has also become a much-loved material in interior design, many associate it with the kitsch of the 1980s. Despite, or because of the aura of the material and its unmistakably sensuous qualities, in recent decades marble has once again become a favourite material for many contemporary artists.
The exhibition MARBLE spotlights how the material is processed, understood and interpreted in contemporary art, and the significance of marble as a material in terms of the content a work of art projects to the world.