{"id":54673,"date":"2022-12-20T05:33:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T04:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=54673"},"modified":"2025-03-03T17:27:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T16:27:41","slug":"ruth-baumgarte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/ruth-baumgarte\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruth Baumgarte and Athi-Patra Ruga"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/baumgartesmall1.jpg\" alt=\"Exhibition poster\" class=\"wp-image-54700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/baumgartesmall1.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/baumgartesmall1-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The Ruth Baumgarte exhibition at the Albertina showcases her outstanding oil paintings and other works arising from her many trips to Africa: vibrant and expressive art flowing with human empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Features over three dozen exhibits<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Includes works by Athi-Patra Ruga<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Runs Dec 8, 2022 &#8211; Mar 5, 2023<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Current <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/albertina\/\">Albertina overview &amp; info<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/events\/exhibitions\/\">Art exhibitions<\/a> in Vienna<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Visions of Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"302\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/ruthbaumgarte.jpg\" alt=\"Ruth Baumgarte painting\" class=\"wp-image-54697\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/ruthbaumgarte.jpg 302w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/ruthbaumgarte-201x300.jpg 201w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 302px) 100vw, 302px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Ruth Baumgarte, Stream of Time&#8230;from the same-named triptych layered with meaning, 1995-1997, oil on canvas \u00a9 Kunststiftung Ruth Baumgarte)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>European representation of African peoples and cultures has rarely reflected well on the Europeans, to put it mildly. Too much interest in pursuing a desired narrative to justify or excuse immoral politics and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ruth Baumgarte (1923-2013) offers an exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The German painter&#8217;s figures and landscapes from the African continent come from a place of empathy. Not the kind of voyeuristic empathy that also distorts the portrayal of the human experience, but empathy in a deeper form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What that means can be seen in the <em>Ruth Baumgarte. Africa: Visions of Light and Colour<\/em> exhibition, which features 38 or so oil paintings, drawings and watercolours by Baumgarte drawn from her many travels through Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The oil paintings, in particular, blaze with colour and fluidity: vivid reds, yellows, greens and oranges. Borders and distinctions between skies, landscapes and people shimmer and fade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the works feature men or women going about their lives, but sometimes with an underlying tension hinting at the challenges of the socioeconomic environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The vibrancy, even if underpinned by that tension, certainly offers an antidote to the grey skies of a wintry Vienna. You can almost feel your vitamin D levels rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll also find two tapestries and an oil stick \/pastel work by Athi-Patra Ruga on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The artist from South Africa is the recipient of the 8th Ruth Baumgarte Art Award; the Ruth Baumgarte Art Foundation (brought to life by the artist herself) presents the prize annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(The award ceremony actually took place at the opening of the Albertina exhibition.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ruga is one of those multi-talents able to create powerful works in different media, exploring the gaps between utopia and reality, transcending artificial cultural barriers, and tackling such ever-relevant themes as sexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost as if reflecting a dissolution of barriers between cultures, you can see parallels to Baumgarte&#8217;s oil paintings in the tapestries on display, even if just in the colours of the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tickets\">Dates, tickets &amp; tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy visions of light and colour from December 8th, 2022 to March 5th, 2023. Any ticket for the Albertina includes the exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If issues around art, colonialism, and similar are of interest, can I recommend the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/khm\/weltmuseum\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"9264\">Weltmuseum<\/a>? Vienna&#8217;s ethnographic museum deals with these subjects on a daily basis given the nature of the institution and often has thoughtful exhibitions and displays around related themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You find the Weltmuseum inside the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/winter-palace\/neue-burg\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1493\">Neue Burg<\/a> on the other side of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/winter-palace\/burggarten\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2746\">Burggarten park<\/a> to the Albertina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Staying inside the Albertina, though, be sure to check out the other special exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/alt-exhibition\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"52806\">Alt exhibition<\/a>, for example, involves a dramatic change of pace from the above, but the detailed watercolours of historical Vienna cityscapes have a special resonance when you&#8217;re in the same city 150 to 200 years later. The dates coincide with the early part of the Baumgarte exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get to the Albertina<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Simply follow the travel tips at the bottom of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/albertina\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2995\">main museum page<\/a>. The Albertina dominates the southern entry to the old town and is at the start of my recommended <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/transport\/walking-tour\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"50322\">self-guided walk through Vienna<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once inside, simply head up the corridor after the ticket check to find the Baumgarte exhibition on your left in the Pfeilerhalle rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1zfWanf5rPBbnTLLDuah2uixe-Nw\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ruth Baumgarte exhibition at the Albertina showcases her outstanding oil paintings and other works arising from her many trips to Africa: vibrant and expressive art flowing with human empathy. Visions of Africa (Ruth Baumgarte, Stream of Time&#8230;from the same-named triptych layered with meaning, 1995-1997, oil on canvas \u00a9 Kunststiftung Ruth Baumgarte) European representation of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-54673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-museums","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54673"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80904,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54673\/revisions\/80904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}