With the collection of 7000 works from the 800th century to today and the curatorship of Carole Haensler, on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of its activity, is once again a cultural reference point for the Canton of Ticino: now with the exhibition Looking for Lissitzky. El Lissitzky and Switzerland (1919–1929) celebrates the Swiss stay of the artist, a leading exponent of the Russian Avant-garde and is divided into 12 thematic sections and open until January 25, 2026.
The Russian Lissitzky (1890-1941) engineer, architect, photographer, theoretician and artist friend of Kazimir Malevich he approached the Suprematism with abstract and geometric paintings Proun (an acronym which in Russian combines the initials of “project for the affirmation of the new”) and then joined forces with Aleksander Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin at Constructivist movement using photomontage techniques and collage even propagandistic. A multifaceted figure, he collaborated with, among others, Max Bill, Hans Richter, and Löszlö Moholy-Nagy.
During his Swiss period for a period of cure (between Ascona, Locarno and Ambrì), Lissitzky developed projects for the German company Pelikan, created the famous “Self-portrait” (The builder) on display with various typographical prospectuses, essay texts (ABC magazine) and studies dedicated to visionary architectural projects for building horizontal skyscrapers (“Lenin’s Tribune” and the “Wolkenbugel”); in the two-year period 1924-1925 he published You are born (a special of the Dadaist magazine Merz by Kurt Schwitter) and The Isms of Art (Die Kunstismen) with Hans Arp (Jean), an overview of the artistic trends of the time.
The exhibition is an excellent opportunity to explore the artist's transdisciplinary creativity and the lasting impact of his prolific artistic practice on the Swiss art scene.
