FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
MIAMI--Opening on November 13, 2024, the Margulies Collection will present a rare look at 21 never-before-seen to the Miami-public artworks from the 20th Century. The historic works are a representative sample of four decades of collecting from the 1930’s to the 1970’s. The show emphasizes two artistic movements which form the core of the genealogy of the Margulies Collection—Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art—alongside works influencing and surrounding these movements. Historic Works from the Margulies Collection 1930’s – 1970’s includes works on paper and sculpture by César, de Kooning, Gorky, Gottlieb, Indiana, Kline, Lichtenstein, Miró, Pollock, Samaras, Smithson, Tanguy, Twombly and Warhol.
Of critical importance are five early abstract works on paper by de Kooning, Kline, Pollock, Gottlieb and Gorky made between 1940 and 1960 which are germinations of the movement developing in post-war America known as Abstract Expressionism or the New York School. The terms refer to the community of artists, many of whom were European immigrants, living and working in Greenwich Village in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Abstract Expressionism became synonymous with the pivotal moment when the artworld shifted from Paris to New York City after World War II when artists pursued abstraction as a main method of working.
The Abstract Expressionist artists were influenced by the idea of automatic writing or psychic automatism founded in the Surrealist movement in Europe—a method of working that allowed the artist to tap into the unconscious mind. Three drawings by French Surrealist painter Yves Tanguy from 1939 which show his invented forms illustrate this method. The influence of automatism can be seen in the biomorphic forms found in de Kooning’s Fire Island (1946) and Gorky’s untitled drawing from 1943, artists whom critic Clement Greenberg called, “reluctantly abstract”.
Five Andy Warhol silkscreen boxes made in 1964 are important examples of Pop Art. Dispelling the myth of the single artist genius and responding to the rise of commercial mass production after the War, Warhol famously created “The Factory” where he held parties and multiple people worked with him to create his silkscreen works in the 1960s. Another artist, Roy Lichtenstein, became fascinated with the graphic quality of comic books. His bronze sculpture Cup and Saucer I (1976) physically represents the delicate quality of steam coming from a hot beverage, similar to the way movement is expressed with the jagged outline of an explosion in a comic strip.
For the first time, the Margulies Collection is opening our doors to a guest collection based in Barcelona. As a continuation of an over ten-year history of collaboration with Foto Colectania Foundation, the Warehouse is pleased to present an exhibition of 150 photographs by Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese photographers, titled Beyond the Single Image: Spanish Photography from the Foto Colectania Collection, Barcelona. The exhibition was curated by scholar and curator Carles Guerra who culled these works from the more than 3,000 photographs in the Foto Colectania Collection, undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive private photography collections in the Iberian Peninsula. The longstanding partnership between our institutions began in 2011, when art critic and curator Regis Durand curated an exhibition of 165 photographs and 50 videos from the Margulies Collection which was shown in Barcelona. Thirteen years later, we are pleased to share this important international collection of Spanish photography in our Warehouse.
In our main exhibition space in Conceptual Works: 1980s – 2010s, the artists employ the use of industrial, manufactured and electrical materials to make their works. In the works of John Beech, car mats and door stops are taken from their functional place in vehicles and buildings (in the case of the door stops, from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) and arranged in the gallery setting. Matthew McCaslin and Peter Coffin use tube TVs in their work—utilizing both sculpture and time-based media to create their installations. No longer is neon relegated to store-front signs or fluorescent tubes used for lighting but are used to create illuminated sculptures in the works of Yuichi Higashionna, Martin Boyce, Jason Rhoades and Iván Navarro. Together these works represent the continuation and transformation of found objects and technology in conceptual art practices from the early 20th century onward.
Portraits from Here to There: Alec Soth and Jason Schmidt, pairs two artists in our photography hallway whose lens-based practices use a combination of portraits, architecture, and interiors to create a series of images about a subject or idea. Returning to the Warehouse is a set of 23 images from Jason Schmidt’s Artists series, chosen from the over 100 images from this body of work included in the Margulies Collection. Schmidt has famously captured the portraits of over 700 artists in their studio and work environments since 1995, providing context into the creative practice of making art. Artists portraits on display this season include Richard Serra, Jason Rhoades, Marina Abramovic, Jenny Holzer and Kori Newkirk, among others.
For the first time together, we are featuring eleven photographs by artist Alec Soth from several important early series of his work such as Sleeping by the Mississippi, NIAGARA, and Broken Manual. The seemingly disparate combination of portraiture, landscape, and objects in Alec Soth’s images create the feeling of a filmic narrative sequence without actually defining one for the viewer. Filmmaking is important to Soth who has cited the emotive films of Wim Wenders such as King of the Road (1976) and Paris, Texas (1984) as inspiration. The implied narratives of his works expand and contract the space between each—leaving the viewer to question how the photographer got from here to there.
Expanding our longstanding commitment to the most important artist of the 21st Century, Anselm Kiefer, we will be showing German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ critically acclaimed film, Anselm (2023). An illustration of Kiefer’s working practice and inspirations, the film feature’s themes and references which are deeply ingrained in the eight major installations, paintings, photographs and sculptures on display at the Warehouse, comprising the largest permanent exhibition space in the United States dedicated to the artist.
A major 40-foot-long immersive nylon installation by Korean-born, London-based artist Do Ho Suh depicting a life-size corridor of his first apartment in Chelsea is featured this season at the Warehouse. Suh has nicknamed these sculptures “Suitcase Homes” as the pink, lightweight, nylon material makes the work easily transportable and installable, mirroring his migratory life history. Another significant installation from the Margulies Collection by Suh, a recreation of the bathroom from the same Chelsea apartment on West 22nd Street, will be on loan to the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris for the Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &… exhibition from October 17, 2024 through February 24, 2025. Suh’s international recognition continues through the end of October 2024 at the Tate Modern in London where the artist is featured in a survey exhibition.
Extended Hours for Art Basel Miami Beach 2024
Monday – Saturday, December 2 – 7, 9am – 5pm
Coffee Served Every Morning
Coffee at the Margulies Collection
Mon Dec 2 Thru Sat Dec 7, 9am Onwards
No RSVP Required
Reading across Spanish Photography. A guided tour through the Foto Colectania Collection
Talk by Carles Guerra, Curator of the exhibition Beyond the Single Image. Spanish Photography from the Foto Colectania Collection, Barcelona.
Tuesday, Dec 3, 11am
RSVP to fotocolectania@fotocolectania.org
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse
591 NW 27th Street
Miami, FL 33127
margulieswarehouse.com
For images contact:
mcollection@bellsouth.net
305-576-1051