The Heidi Horten Collection shows works from the spectacular art collection of patron and passionate collector Heidi Goëss-Horten, who died in June of this year at the age of 82 shortly after the museum opened.
The museum’s first thematic exhibition “Look” is dedicated to the image of women and the way women are viewed and is also intended as a homage to the founder. The interplay of perspectives is dedicated to the juxtaposition of art and fashion, image and images.
In thematically structured “chapters”, the exhibition shows this tension and uses a spectrum of the art shown that ranges from the 18th century to the present: “From glamorous divas, modern women of the avant-garde, contemplative portraits and psychological depictions of femininity to accessories with a fetish character and Nude portraits to feminist counter-positions,” is how the exhibition is described.
The works shown belonged to the collector’s direct living environment and show her very personal selection and thus reflect aspects of her strong and self-confident personality in a certain way. “Look” is not a “fashion exhibition”, but art and fashion enter into a new relationship – an intimate dialogue – also through the participation of the fashion designer Arthur Arbesser.”
“Looking at each other, inspiring, rejecting and adoring each other is part of the discourse around fashion and art. Images of women, how they show themselves, how they are seen, what one associates with them and which counter-images are created, also by female artists, reflect social ideas and norms. Fashion, on the other hand, offers an experimental field for breaking up or stabilizing roles. This can be seen in the exhibition in the couture dresses by Heidi Horten herself and in the works with which she surrounded herself, which belonged to her direct, very private world,” comments Christiane Kuhlmann, curator of the exhibition.
The first chapter is about celebrity and glamor in art and features portraits of icons such as Liz Tailor, Farah Diba, Jacky Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. Further chapters are dedicated to the dawn of modernity, the development of the portrait and the objectifying male gaze.
“The presented images of women, how they show themselves and how they are seen and which counter-images were created by artists, reflect social ideas and norms. Fashion, on the other hand, offers an experimental field for breaking up or stabilizing roles. Fashion has been understood as the paradigm of modern culture since the 19th century and is the dominant model for the here and now, for zeitgeist, society and its changes. Clothing is a textile medium of communication, it conceals and reveals in equal measure, serves to represent oneself as well as to protect and cover the body,” explains a text accompanying the exhibition.
This shows 22 haute couture dresses by Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Jean Patou and Jean-Louis Scherrer, which Heidi Horten had exclusively tailored. There are also original drawings with fabric samples of fashion designs that the patron had sent to her from the couturiers or her ateliers in Paris. Order forms and correspondence with the fashion designers show how Horten’s ideas were taken into account when making the clothes.
The video work projected onto the museum wall by designer Arthur Arbesser and video artist Rosa Lisa di Natale shows how Horten might have looked in her clothes, what charisma she had, or what posture one had to adopt in such clothes.
The exhibition is open from October 21, 2022 to April 16, 2023.
