Previously published on ForYourArt.com

Entrance to the exhibition

By Emily Waldorf

On Wednesday night, February 11th, the second floor of BCAM was glowing with an after work crowd of culturally engaged bright young things, on hand for the President’s Circle Avant-Garde special tour of the groundbreaking new exhibition Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures with senior curator of modern art, Stephanie Barron. The fascinating and dense exhibition includes approximately 300 works in diverse mediums such as paintings, sculptures, photographs, multiples, videos, installations and books. 

Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures is divided into four chronological sections and is notably the first special exhibition to be installed in LACMA’s new Renzo Piano designed building. Over 150 artists are represented including Haacke, Mack, Polke, Rheinsberg, Richter, Roth, Autoperforationists, Baselitz, Chargesheimer, Glöckner, Heldt, Klapheck, Penck, Tûbke, and Vostell. 

Installation by Raffael Installation by Raffael Rheinsberg with works by Günther Förg and Anna and Bernhard Blume

Stephanie Barron explained how the show re-examines a historical period fraught with political and social tension and builds on LACMA’s encyclopedic range:

Our exhibition Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures looks at a fascinating time period of our recent history–providing insight into the art of East and West Germany through a political and historical lens. By looking at the paintings, sculptures, videos, photographs and artists books we can begin to understand the complex nature of this history as Germans tried to grapple with national identity after the War and also navigate an international art world. As an encyclopedic museum, LACMA offers art from a wide range of times periods and cultures–coming up this summer will be a show of contemporary artists from Korea!

Avant-Garde co-chairs Bettina Korek and Frazer Burkart thanked Stephanie Barron for her lively and informative walkthrough and invited members to join them for an elegant cocktail reception in the BP Grand Entrance, where four BMW Art Cars, by Warhol, Stella, Lichtenstein, and Rauschenberg were on display. This is the first stop on their North American tour which continues at New York’s Grand Central Terminal.

Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures is on view on the second floor of BCAM, through April 19, 2009. The BMW Art Car installation is on view at the BP Grand Entrance Pavilion at LACMA through February 24, 2009. 

Works by Georg Herold and Jürgen Klauke