Hans Josephsohn
(1920 – 2012)
The Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn (1920-2012) was concerned with representing the human being as a figure in space throughout his life. Conveying the corporeality and weight of the human body in sculptural form, his works often project the sense of stillness and immutability. Modeled in plaster or clay and subsequently cast in brass or bronze, Josephsohn’s sculptures reveal a complex surface bearing traces of the movement of the artist’s hands. Portraying standing or reclining figures, heads or three-quarter busts, the sculptures are almost always executed from a model whom the artist knew well. Evading overtly realistic representation of individual features, the works present an almost abstract vision of the figure, whose unique surface nevertheless registers the specificity of the encounter and individuality of the sitter.
The stringent evolvement of his oeuvre starts with geometrically reduced sculptures, leading into a more figurative phase and culminating in his typical stylistic idiom, which is characterized by precisely shaped volumes with only coarsely worked surfaces. Josephsohn’s unique style is wholly committed to modernity, yet without renouncing tradition.
Having grown up in a Jewish family in Königsberg, which belonged to Germany at the time, Hans Josephsohn came to Zurich via Italy in 1939. There, he studied sculpture with Otto Müller and started working in his own atelier in 1943.
His work can be found in important public collections, including Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau; Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich; Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen; MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main; Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, Berlin; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and KOLUMBA Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Cologne. At the La Congiunta museum in Giornico, 33 of his sculptures have been on permanent display since 1992, while the Kesselhaus Josephsohn in St. Gallen shows a regularly changing selection of artworks from all phases of Josephsohn’s creative life.
Recent museum exhibitions include Hans Josephsohn, MASI Lugano, Lugano (2020-2021); Schauen ist das Wichtigste, Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen (2020); Hans Josephsohn, ICA Milano, Milan (2019); Existential Sculpture, Museum Folkwang, Essen (2018); Hans Josephsohn, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2013); Hans Josephsohn, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield (2013); Hans Josephsohn: Sculptor, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main (2008); and Hans Josephsohn: Sculptures, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2002).
Works by Josephsohn were included in numerous group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 2013. In 2021, Albert Oehlen included Josephsohn’s sculptures in his curated group exhibition at MASI Lugano titled big paintings by me with small paintings by others. Oehlen will be the curator of a large Josephsohn retrospective at the Musée d’Art modern de la ville de Paris in October 2024.
