The Roundhouse of International Spirits Jan-Mar 2009

Arp, Benazzi, Bissier, Nicholson, Richter, Tobey, Valenti in the Ticino

Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge,17 January – 15 March

Following its showing in Cambridge – the only showing in the UK – this exhibition travelled to Switzerland where it was displayed in an expanded form at two joint venues from 3 April to 5 July: the Museo Comunale d’Arte Moderna in Ascona and the Pinacoteca Comunale Casa Rusca in Locarno.
'The landscape ... is entirely magical and with the kind of visual poetry which I would like to find in my painting.' Ben Nicholson
The natural beauty of the Ticino around the famous tourist spots on the Lakes Maggiore and Lugano has long attracted artists and intellectuals. Writing to a friend in 1962, German painter Julius Bissier described the area of Ascona and Locarno, where he was then living, as 'the roundhouse of international spirits'.
By the early 1960s a remarkable group of artists had settled in the area. Hans Arp and Hans Richter returned, having first visited in the 1910s. Julius Bissier, Italo Valenti, Ben Nicholson and Felicitas Vogler arrived in search of better living conditions and new inspiration. The American painter Mark Tobey, based in Basel and a friend of many of these artists, regularly visited. The Locarnese, as it is known locally, became a thriving intellectual hotspot, with a strong sense of community - so much so that Arp liked to refer to it as 'el kibbutz'.
The Fund was particularily interested in collaborating with Kettle’s Yard on this exhibition as it showcased artists who shared ideas and swapped works in a period which produced rich results. The exhibition, including Bissier's delicately balanced watercolours, striking reliefs and collages by Arp and Valenti, painted reliefs by Ben Nicholson, paintings by Tobey and Richter and sculptures by Arp and Raffael Benazzi, was a wonderful representation of the impact of these artists on a younger Swiss generation.