Lausanne, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts

Exhibition organised by Tate Modern, London, in collaboration with the Fondation Toms Pauli at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne and Henie Onstad, Oslo.
Curated by: Magali Junet, Curator, Giselle Eberhard Cotton, Director, Fondation Toms Pauli; Ann Coxon, Curator International Art, Tate Modern, Mary Jane Jacob, Independent Curator.

The Magdalena Abakanowicz. Textile Territories exhibition traces the early stages of the international career of Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930 - 2017), a prominent textile and sculpture artist of the second half of the 20th century. From 1962 a major figure of the Lausanne International Tapestry Biennials, Abakanowicz shaped the landscape of the New Tapestry movement for twenty years, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with her very personal output that focused on the use of organic fibre, that is a living and malleable material.

Lausanne played a key role in the development of the Polish artist’s career and personal contacts thanks to the Tapestry Biennials, the exhibitions organised by Pierre and Alice Pauli, and local collectors.
The Tate curators’ selection of works for the exhibition Magdalena Abakanowicz: Every Tangle of Thread and Rope was reviewed for the Lausanne venue and has been augmented by twenty-five works from the Fondation Toms Pauli Collection and some lenders from the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
The foundation also pays tribute to the Swiss artist, Elsi Giauque (1900 - 1989), another leading player at the Lausanne Biennials, with a dedicated room displaying her light and colourful works.

Magdalena Abakanowicz. Territoires textiles.