Two generations compare in Merano exhibition: Gina Klaber Thusek and Elisabeth Hölzl

From March 5 to June 5, 2022, Merano Arte, the space housed in the building of the Merano Savings Bank, will compare the works of Gina Klaber Thusek (1900-1983) and Elisabeth Hölzl (1962) as part of the exhibition Eliografie, incomplete, which relates their respective artistic practices. The two artists first met in 1973 in Merano: at that time Thusek was a mature artist who had overcome two world wars, experienced confinement in Merano and lived 16 years as a stateless person, while Hölzl was still a child curious to experiment and learn from her drawing teacher. Although the two artists belonged to different generations and were shaped by completely different life circumstances, the richness of connections between their works, which the exhibition aims to bring out, is surprising.

Their relationship between teacher and pupil becomes, almost fifty years later, a new opportunity for comparison: the legacy of Gina Thusek, preserved in the archives of Palais Mamming Museum in Merano, is thus transformed into an occasion of memory and inspiration for Elisabeth Hölzl. Hölzl’s multifaceted production, placed side by side with Thusek’s work, takes on a new dimension that fills the exhibition space. The exhibition thus transcends the scope of the double solo show to acquire a unity in the interweaving of the two artistic productions. Heliographies, incomplete recounts the many points of contact between the two artists on multiple levels. The title of the exhibition itself, taken from a note found in Thusek’s archives, refers to the concept of “lack,” which is characteristic of Hölzl’s artistic universe. Over the past few months, bringing Gina Thusek’s work back into the spotlight has also become a way for Elisabeth Hölzl to reinterpret her own work, reexamine her own early works, and initiate a dialogue between her most recent creations and the works of her teacher. The individual sections of the exhibition trace themes and life situations that play an important role in the work of both. Love, nostalgia, longing, photography as a narrative method and form of introspection, experiments in sculptural materials and a marked affinity in the use of textiles are just some of the points of contact highlighted by the exhibition.

In recent years, research in the field of art history and Ursula Schnitzer ’s archival work on Gina Thusek had already given rise to the idea for this project, but it was Elisabeth Hölzl’s subsequent intense confrontation with her teacher’s legacy that generated an even stronger interaction between the two artistic productions, visible in a number of site-specific installations that concretely unite their works in an unprecedented way. The initiative is accompanied by Diary, an artist’s edition by Elisabeth Hölzl, created from Gina Thusek’s private photos and diaries, which represent a central moment of the exhibition, between which images of the works in the exhibition are grafted: the many pages left blank, incomplete, invite readers and readers to enter the dialogue between two artists by adding drawings and personal annotations. A glossary by Berlin-based author and curator Anne Brannys focuses on some essential themes of the exhibition project, which she interprets as existential experiences. An illuminating example is the term Bequest: “How do we feel when we enter into a relationship with a legacy? This final farewell is much more than an ’adieu’. It is an ’à toi. ’ The invitation to confrontation of any kind (even not caring is a decision that costs energy), which at the same time shirks direct confrontation with the other, is a sign of trust, a gift but also a provocation” (Anne Brannys for Incomplete Heliographies, 2022, translated by Donatella Trevisan).

Gina Klaber Thusek was born in Moravia in 1900 (her name is Regina Klaber), where she spent her childhood in the town of RýmaÅ™ov and then moved to Vienna; there she attended the Wiener Graphische Lehranstalt institute, which gave her a solid artistic education. Her extraordinary talent is evident even then in numerous realistic-inspired drawings. In 1921 she married Oskar Thusek (1893-1973) and later moved with him to Teplitz-Schönau; in 1936 the artist moved to London to work in the fashion industry as a knitwear designer, while her husband found work in Italy. In 1939 the couple lost their Italian citizenship, which was the reason why the artist, who was half-Jewish, was confined to Merano until 1946, when the war ended; in 1955, after 16 years of being stateless, the couple finally received Italian citizenship. Gina Thusek deepened her studies in sculpture by enrolling first at the Academy in Florence and then at the Brera Academy in Milan, where she was particularly influenced by Marino Marini’s teaching. In a life characterized by great restlessness and countless travels, Merano would remain her residence until her death on April 11, 1983. Thusek entrusted the Palais Mamming Museum (the Merano Civic Museum) with his legacy, which, thanks to the great richness and variety of its contents, provides an extraordinarily detailed view of his life and work. His artistic production is characterized by the consistent development of a creativity, which originally felt the influence of Naturalism and then migrated toward increasing abstraction and finally landed in various forms of expression of the avant-garde. Until old age, he produced sculptures, drawings, assemblages and sketches for fashion and jewelry items. Her artistic signature is precisely a tension to unceasing evolution, which she maintains until the last years of her life, along with a careful observation of what is happening on the international art scene. To date, Gina Thusek has yet to receive adequate appreciation locally and internationally, a fate she shares with numerous artists of her generation.

Elisabeth Hölzl was born in Merano in 1962 and grew up in a culturally open and music-loving family. After graduating from classical high school, she studied art history in Innsbruck and then sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. He also took a training course in ceramics in Faenza. In the following years he lived near Milan before returning permanently to Merano in 1991, where he currently resides and works. In the 1990s, he presented minimalist sculptures and installations to the public; later, his works moved away from matter and turned to other media such as glass and light. In such production, the focus is no longer on volumes, but precisely on what makes them visible: light. In recent years, the favorite expressive medium becomes photography, which has accompanied his activity since its inception. His photographic projects, often elaborated over the long term, are mainly devoted to transitional situations that create architecturally and socially incomplete spaces. Thus, the photographic works Roma Camp Bozen (2004/05), Hotel Bristol (2008), Libera Viva (2012), Absolute Eye, (2016), Sommer im Winter (2019), some of which are documented through publications, have emerged in recent years. He has participated in numerous exhibitions in museums and institutions in Italy and abroad, including Museion - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bolzano, Mart - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Trento and Rovereto, Quadriennale in Rome, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce in Genoa, Italienisches Kulturinstitut in Hamburg. The exhibition Eliografie, incomplete is the first retrospective of the artist’s work that offers a broad overview of his work on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

For all information visit the Merano Arte website.

Pictured: Left, Elisabeth Hölzl, more (links), 2022. Right, Gina Thusek, Akt en plain air / Nude en plain air, circa 1940. Courtesy of Elisabeth Hölzl and Palais Mamming Museum.

Two generations compare in Merano exhibition: Gina Klaber Thusek and Elisabeth Hölzl

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