Major Kirkeby exhibition
at HEART
HEART
HERNING MUSEUM
OF CONTEMPORARY ART
BIRK CENTERPARK 8
DK 7400 HERNING
WWW.HEARTMUS.DK
With the exhibition Per Kirkeby – The True Image opening on 12
September, HEART wants to breathe new life into the story about
the avant-garde in Herning. Featuring more than 94 paintings,
Masonites, and sculptures from 1963-1990, HEART will be
undertaking a significant Kirkeby exhibition based on the vigorous
art milieu unfolding on these moors half a century ago.
Kirkeby sold from a basement in Herning
It is common knowledge that there was a veritable boom of Danish and
Italian art during the 1950s and 60s in the Herning area. Conversely,
little is known about Per Kirkeby’s role in this narrative.
Per Kirkeby created his first brick sculpture in Ikast in 1973. It’s
still there – in the ’art district’ in Per Kirkeby Vej. Since then, many
of Kirkeby’s Masonites were sold in the area. Private art patrons in
Herning bought Kirkeby’s works from the industrious art dealer Svend
Hansen from Copenhagen – many of the early Masonites were kept
in a basement of a private house in the town. The vocational training
college, too, bought Kirkeby’s works, and a fine collection of Kirkeby’s
art is now adorning the corridors of Herning Business School.
Continuing the local history of art
With the exhibition Per Kirkeby – The True Image, HEART wants to bring
Per Kirkeby into the unique history of this area. In the wake of artists
such as Piero Manzoni and Paul Gadegaard in the 1960s, Per Kirkeby
posed an interesting option for the art lovers in Herning. Focusing on
works that were once bought and sold in this area, HEART wants to
show Kirkeby from a local perspective which, once and for all, secures
the artist a place in the avant-garde movement in Herning.
Brand new Kirkeby sculpture for HEART
At HEART, visitors will be able to see a significant Per Kirkeby
exhibition showing the essence of his impressive oeuvre. Paintings,
blackboards, and sculptures expose the multifaceted artistic activities
of Kirkeby, and in HEART’s architect-designed museum building from
2009, Kirkeby’s large-sized works are shown to their best advantage.
Arrangements are in place for a new sculpture to be executed in the
gallery – made especially for this exhibition by Per Kirkeby.
Per Kirkeby – The True Image forms part of HEART’s exhibition
concept HEARThistory and will be showing from 12 September 2015
to 17 January 2016. The preview is scheduled for 11 September from
17-19 and the press will be most welcome to attend.
HEART
HERNING MUSEUM
OF CONTEMPORARY ART
BIRK CENTERPARK 8
DK 7400 HERNING
WWW.HEARTMUS.DK
The exhibition has been generously supported by:
Queen Margrethe’s and Prince Henrik’s Foundation
Augustinus Fonden
New Carlsberg Foundation
Beckett-fonden
Knud Højgaards Fond
Oticon Fonden
The Danish Arts Foundation
Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond
Curator:
Holger Reenberg
Contact:
Holger Reenberg, museum director
+45 96 28 17 00 / [email protected]
Ane Liebing Grøngaard, head of communications
+45 96 28 17 05 / [email protected]