Neunzehnhundertsiebzig
Die Sammlung Toni Gerber
with Heinz Brand, Balthasar Burkhard, Michael Buthe, James Lee Byars, Franz Eggenschwiler, Sam Ehrenberg, Rupprecht Geiger, Urs Lüthi, Boris Nieslony, Markus Raetz, Dieter Roth, Claude Sandoz, Jean-Frédéric Schnyder, Leopold Schropp, Aldo Walker, Franz Wanner,a.o.
new works by Alois Mosbacher, Albrecht Schnider, Hans Stalder
After a minor reorganisation in May, this year’s collection theme Nineteen Seventy is being shown in a completely new form with works from the Toni Gerber collection. In 2004 the gift from the busy Berne gallery owner enriched the collection of the Kunstmuseum.
Life with art was an integral part of the life of Toni Gerber (1932–2010). Alongside his job as a secondary school teacher, in 1964 he opened a gallery in Bern’s Old Town. There Toni Gerber showed works by important Swiss artists who were then at the start of their careers, always buying works for his collection from his own exhibitions. As a gallery owner, he offered a platform for innovative young Swiss art, promoting, along with Harald Szeemann and Jean-Christophe Ammann, the lively Swiss art scene of the 1970s. But international names were also part of his programme. From 2004, Gerber’s donation enriched the collection of the Kunstmuseum Luzern with a large number of outstanding works. Some of them are now being shown here for the first time.
curated by Eveline Suter
Nineteen Seventy Guests
Key players, eye witnesses, researchers and artists complement the exhibition of the collection devoted to the art of the 1970s in an open series of talks, lectures and other contributions.