In Her Hands: Women Sculptors of Surrealism

Sonja Ferlov Mancoba (1911–1984) / Maria Martins (1894–1973) / Isabelle Waldberg (1911–1990)

The exhibition In Her Hands: Women Sculptors of Surrealism celebrates the rediscovery of three extraordinary female modern artists: Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, Maria Martins and Isabelle Waldberg were – each in their own way – protagonists of the international art movement of Surrealism between 1930 and 1960. In the exhibition, sculptures by these three sculptors are juxtaposed for the first time and their expansive presence is brought to life.

Between Paris, Copenhagen and New York, Mancoba, Martins and Waldberg were part of the international art scene and developed the surrealist visual language in an innovative, unconventional and decisive way. The characteristic organic formal language of the Dane Sonja Ferlov Mancoba (1911–1984) was strongly influenced by non-European art, but also by the artist group CoBrA. She intuitively created semi-abstract creatures, warrior figures and masks made of clay and plaster. The Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins (1894–1973) interwoven Afro-Brazilian myths of the Amazon with the formal language of modernism in her organic-figurative objects. Isabelle Waldberg's (1911–1990) multifaceted oeuvre ranges from filigree linear wooden structures to abstract bronze sculptures and collages. The three sculptors were part of the international avant-garde in Paris in the years before the Second World War, and Martins and Waldberg were also central figures in New York during the war years. They belonged to the circle around Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti, Piet Mondrian and Peggy Guggenheim. 

The exhibition In Her Hands is the first to put the artistic concerns and the often unconventional formal language of the three sculptors in relation to one another. In doing so, it focuses on the material, which was of great importance to all three in the creative process. Their intensive sensual and intellectual engagement with the materials is reflected in the design of lines, volumes, spaces and expressive gestures of their objects. The sculptural ensembles allow viewers to immerse themselves directly in the visual worlds of the artists. Surprising references to the aesthetics of today's forms in pop culture, design and film can be discovered.

In addition, the exhibition design of the show is based on the style of staging that was also chosen for exhibitions of the artists' works during their lifetime: For the first time, visitors are presented with a completely new spatial experience in the Bucerius Kunst Forum, as the windows remain unobstructed, allowing daylight to flood the room; instead of walls, curtains structure the presentation. 

The numerous innovative female painters of Surrealism, which was initially dominated by men, have only recently been recognized for their importance and exhibited. The Bucerius Kunst Forum is now presenting three original female positions in Surrealist sculpture.

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