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10 am to 6 pm




October 18, 2024, to February 23, 2025

Medardo Rosso
Inventing Modern Sculpture

Medardo Rosso

Artist and artisan, art theorist and proto-installation artist, master of high-publicity productions and rival of Auguste Rodin, Medardo Rosso (b. 1858 in Turin, d. 1928 in Milan) was one of the great pioneers of modernism and a figure as extraordinary as he was eccentric.
mumok is dedicating a comprehensive retrospective to the Italian-French artist’s still little-known oeuvre, which will feature about fifty sculptures and a large selection of photographs, photocollages, and drawings. The show thus also ties in with the museum’s earliest collection holdings.

The exhibition delves into a thorough analysis of Rosso’s processual and repetitive approach, with which the artist defied all conventions of traditional sculpture. A concise selection of works by artists directly or indirectly influenced by Rosso further unpack and create a dialogue with Rosso’s equally groundbreaking and hermetic work. The show thus adheres to Rosso’s own artistic practice of not exhibiting alone but always in “conversation” with others.

Artists in dialogue with Medardo Rosso 
Giovanni Anselmo / Guillaume Apollinaire / Francis Bacon / Nairy Baghramian / Olga Balema / Phyllida Barlow / Lynda Benglis / Louise Bourgeois / Anton Giulio Bragaglia / Constantin Brâncuși / Eugène Carrière / John Chamberlain / Honoré Daumier / Edgar Degas / Raymond Duchamp-Villon / Luciano Fabro / Loïe Fuller / Isa Genzken / Alberto Giacometti / Robert Gober / David Hammons / Eva Hesse / Jasper Johns / Hans Josephsohn / Ellsworth Kelly / Käthe Kollwitz / Yayoi Kusama / Maria Lassnig / Sherrie Levine / Matthijs Maris / Marisa Merz / Amedeo Modigliani / Robert Morris / Juan Muñoz / Senga Nengudi / Carol Rama / Auguste Rodin / Richard Serra / Georges Seurat / Erin Shirreff / Edward Steichen / Alina Szapocznikow / Paul Thek / Rosemarie Trockel / Hannah Villiger / Andy Warhol / Rebecca Warren / James Welling / Francesca Woodman

The exhibition, which is being organized in close collaboration with the Medardo Rosso Estate, will subsequently travel to Kunstmuseum Basel, where it will be on view from March to August 2025.

 

Curated by Heike Eipeldauer

Exhibition design: Florian Pumhösl and Walter Kräutler

Download area

Medardo Rosso working on a bust in his studio.
01 Rosso
01 Rosso

Medardo Rosso in his studio in Boulevard des Batignolles, 1890
modern print from original glass negative
13 × 17,7 cm 
© Archivio Medardo Rosso

 

Medardo Rosso in his studio in Boulevard des Batignolles, 1890
modern print from original glass negative
13 × 17,7 cm 
© Archivio Medardo Rosso

 

02 Rosso
02 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Aetas aurea, 1886 
Wax over plaster 
50 x 48 x 35 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Courtesy of Amedeo Porro Fine Arts Lugano/London 

 

Medardo Rosso 
Aetas aurea, 1886 
Wax over plaster 
50 x 48 x 35 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Courtesy of Amedeo Porro Fine Arts Lugano/London 

 

03 Rosso
03 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Aetas aurea, (Detail), 1886 
Wax over plaster 
50 x 48 x 35 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Courtesy of Amedeo Porro Fine Arts Lugano/London

Medardo Rosso 
Aetas aurea, (Detail), 1886 
Wax over plaster 
50 x 48 x 35 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Courtesy of Amedeo Porro Fine Arts Lugano/London

04 Rosso
04 Rosso

Medardo Rosso   
Ecce Puer, 1960 (1906)
Posthumous bronze casting by Mario Vianello-Chiodo
45 x 33 x 29 cm 
mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, acquired in 1964

Medardo Rosso   
Ecce Puer, 1960 (1906)
Posthumous bronze casting by Mario Vianello-Chiodo
45 x 33 x 29 cm 
mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, acquired in 1964

05 Rosso
05 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Ecce Puer, post 1920 ca. (1906) 
Wax over plaster 
47 x 34 x 29 cm 
Photo: Galleria Russo, Rome
Courtesy: Federico Fabbri, London

Medardo Rosso 
Ecce Puer, post 1920 ca. (1906) 
Wax over plaster 
47 x 34 x 29 cm 
Photo: Galleria Russo, Rome
Courtesy: Federico Fabbri, London

06 Rosso
06 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Ecce Puer in his studio in Boulevard des Batignolles, 1906 
Modern print from original glass negative 
17.9 x 13 cm 
© Archivio Medardo Rosso 

Medardo Rosso 
Ecce Puer in his studio in Boulevard des Batignolles, 1906 
Modern print from original glass negative 
17.9 x 13 cm 
© Archivio Medardo Rosso 

07 Rosso
07 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Ecce Puer, n.d. 
b/w photograph 
17,5 x 8,9 cm 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

Medardo Rosso 
Ecce Puer, n.d. 
b/w photograph 
17,5 x 8,9 cm 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

08 Rosso
08 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Ecce Puer, n.d. 
b/w photograph 
14,3 x 8,8 cm 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

Medardo Rosso 
Ecce Puer, n.d. 
b/w photograph 
14,3 x 8,8 cm 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

09 Rosso
09 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Bookmaker, 1902–1903 
Bronze 
44 x 35 x 36,5 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Courtesy of Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Milano 

Medardo Rosso 
Bookmaker, 1902–1903 
Bronze 
44 x 35 x 36,5 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Courtesy of Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Milano 

10 Rosso
10 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Bookmaker, 1894 
Overpainted glass negative 
18,8 x 11,9 cm 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

Medardo Rosso 
Bookmaker, 1894 
Overpainted glass negative 
18,8 x 11,9 cm 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

11 Rosso
11 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Madame X, n.d. 
b/w photograph 
13,7 x 8,5 cm 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

Medardo Rosso 
Madame X, n.d. 
b/w photograph 
13,7 x 8,5 cm 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

12 Rosso
12 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Enfant au soleil "Meek", 1918 (1892) 
Wax over plaster 
37,5 x 26 x 24 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Courtesy of Amedeo Porro Fine Arts Lugano/London

Medardo Rosso 
Enfant au soleil "Meek", 1918 (1892) 
Wax over plaster 
37,5 x 26 x 24 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Courtesy of Amedeo Porro Fine Arts Lugano/London

13 Rosso
13 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Enfant au sein, 1910–14 
Bronze 
50 x 45 x 20 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

Medardo Rosso 
Enfant au sein, 1910–14 
Bronze 
50 x 45 x 20 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

14 Rosso
14 Rosso

Medardo Rosso 
Bambino malato, 1895 
Plaster 
17,5 x 20 x 19,3 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

Medardo Rosso 
Bambino malato, 1895 
Plaster 
17,5 x 20 x 19,3 cm 
Photo: mumok / Markus Wörgötter 
Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio

15 Warhol
15 Warhol

Andy Warhol
Optical Car Crash, 1962
Silkscreen ink on canvas
208 x 208,5 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel, Ankauf 1970
Photo: Kunstmuseum Basel
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Bildrecht, Vienna 2024

 

 

Andy Warhol
Optical Car Crash, 1962
Silkscreen ink on canvas
208 x 208,5 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel, Ankauf 1970
Photo: Kunstmuseum Basel
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Bildrecht, Vienna 2024

 

 

16 Degas
16 Degas

Edgar Degas
Little dancer aged fourteen, 1880-81 (cast made c.1922)
Bronze, fibre
98 x 51 x 51 cm
Sainsbury Centre, UEA, UK
Photo: Pete Huggins


 

 

Edgar Degas
Little dancer aged fourteen, 1880-81 (cast made c.1922)
Bronze, fibre
98 x 51 x 51 cm
Sainsbury Centre, UEA, UK
Photo: Pete Huggins


 

 

17 Modigliani
17 Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani
Marie (Marie, fille du peuple), 1918 
Oil on canvas
61,2 x 49,8 cm
Courtesy of Kunstmuseum Basel
 

 

Amedeo Modigliani
Marie (Marie, fille du peuple), 1918 
Oil on canvas
61,2 x 49,8 cm
Courtesy of Kunstmuseum Basel
 

 

18 Szapocznikow
18 Szapocznikow

Alina Szapocznikow          
Fotorzeźby [Photosculptures], 1971/2007   
20 gelatin silver prints and collage with text on paper, (Edition 5/12 + 2 AP)
30 x 24 cm
© ADAGP, Paris. Courtesy The Estate of Alina Szapocznikow / Piotr Stanislawski / Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris / Hauser & Wirth



 

 

Alina Szapocznikow          
Fotorzeźby [Photosculptures], 1971/2007   
20 gelatin silver prints and collage with text on paper, (Edition 5/12 + 2 AP)
30 x 24 cm
© ADAGP, Paris. Courtesy The Estate of Alina Szapocznikow / Piotr Stanislawski / Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris / Hauser & Wirth



 

 

20 Exhibition view
20 Exhibition view

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
In the foreground: 
Medardo Rosso, Madame Noblet, after 1914 (1897), Plaster, Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio
Medardo Rosso, Madame Noblet, 1897–1898 (1897), Bronze, GAM – Galleria D’Arte Moderna di Milano
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
In the foreground: 
Medardo Rosso, Madame Noblet, after 1914 (1897), Plaster, Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio
Medardo Rosso, Madame Noblet, 1897–1898 (1897), Bronze, GAM – Galleria D’Arte Moderna di Milano
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

21 Exhibition view
21 Exhibition view

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
Louise Bourgeois, Child devoured by kisses, 1999, Private collection, Courtesy of Xavier Hufkens
Eugène Carrière, Elise riant, 1895, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff
Eugène Carrière, Le Sommeil (Jean-René Carrière), 1897, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff
Medardo Rosso, Aetas aurea, ca. 1886, Wax over plaster, Amedeo Porro Fine Arts Lugano/London
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
Louise Bourgeois, Child devoured by kisses, 1999, Private collection, Courtesy of Xavier Hufkens
Eugène Carrière, Elise riant, 1895, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff
Eugène Carrière, Le Sommeil (Jean-René Carrière), 1897, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff
Medardo Rosso, Aetas aurea, ca. 1886, Wax over plaster, Amedeo Porro Fine Arts Lugano/London
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

22 Exhibition view
22 Exhibition view

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
In the foreground:
Edgar Degas, Little dancer aged fourteen, ca. 1922 (1878–1881), Sainsbury Centre, UEA, UK
Vis-à-vis: 
Medardo Rosso, Grande Rieuse, 1892 (1891–1892), Plaster, dark painted, Private collection
Medardo Rosso, Grande Rieuse, 1903–1904 (1891–1892), Wax over plaster, GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano
Medardo Rosso, Rieuse, 1894 (1890), Bronze, PCC, Pieter Coray Collection
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
In the foreground:
Edgar Degas, Little dancer aged fourteen, ca. 1922 (1878–1881), Sainsbury Centre, UEA, UK
Vis-à-vis: 
Medardo Rosso, Grande Rieuse, 1892 (1891–1892), Plaster, dark painted, Private collection
Medardo Rosso, Grande Rieuse, 1903–1904 (1891–1892), Wax over plaster, GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano
Medardo Rosso, Rieuse, 1894 (1890), Bronze, PCC, Pieter Coray Collection
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

23 Exhibition view
23 Exhibition view

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

24 Exhibition view
24 Exhibition view

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
Hans Josephsohn, Ohne Titel, 1997, Kesselhaus Josephsohn, St. Gallen
Rosemarie Trockel, O-Sculpture 2, 2012, Private collection / Sprüth Magers, Berlin
Medardo Rosso, Madame Noblet, after 1914 (1897), Plaster, Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio
Medardo Rosso, Madame Noblet, 1897–1898 (1897), Bronze, GAM – Galleria D’Arte Moderna di Milano
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
Hans Josephsohn, Ohne Titel, 1997, Kesselhaus Josephsohn, St. Gallen
Rosemarie Trockel, O-Sculpture 2, 2012, Private collection / Sprüth Magers, Berlin
Medardo Rosso, Madame Noblet, after 1914 (1897), Plaster, Museo Medardo Rosso, Barzio
Medardo Rosso, Madame Noblet, 1897–1898 (1897), Bronze, GAM – Galleria D’Arte Moderna di Milano
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

25 Exhibition view
25 Exhibition view

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

Exhibition view: Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture, October 18, 2024 to February 23, 2025
Photo: Markus Wörgötter

 

Published on October 7, 2024