Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

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Ferdinand Hodler: Drawings—Selections from the Musée Jenisch Vevey

June 16 through October 1, 2023

A modern art pioneer, renowned Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) created works that range from vast symbolist compositions to intimate, realist portraits and nearly abstract landscape paintings. This exhibition of approximately sixty works, primarily on paper, will focus on the role of drawing in his practice, from quick compositional sketches to elaborate oil studies. Most of the drawings Hodler produced were preparatory studies for his large-scale figure compositions; these offer a fascinating account of his working process, which involved technical experiments with imprints, tracing, and collages. A few of his portrait drawings will also be featured, including a poignant series in which he recorded the illness and death of his lover Valentine Godé-Darel.

Nearly all the works will be borrowed from the Musée Jenisch in Vevey, Switzerland, a town on Lake Geneva that Hodler visited frequently. In 2014–15, the Musée Jenisch received, by donation and bequest, more than 700 works by Hodler—mostly drawings—gathered over fifty years by artist and collector Rudolf Schindler. These rarely seen drawings offer a compelling survey of Hodler’s singular contribution to early modernism.

Ferdinand Hodler: Drawings—Selections from the Musée Jenisch Vevey is organized by the Morgan Library & Museum in collaboration with the Musée Jenisch Vevey.

Musee Jenisch Vevey logo

This exhibition is made possible by Louisa Stude Sarofim, Beatrice Stern, and the Vasari Fund for Exhibitions, with support from the Wolfgang Ratjen Stiftung, Liechtenstein, and the Alex Gordon Fund for Exhibitions.

Study for "Joyful Woman," 1911 
Oil on canvas 
69 1/8 x 47 5/8 in. (175.6 x 121 cm)
Musée Jenisch Vevey, donation Rudolf Schindler, Inv. no. 2014‑704 
© Musée Jenisch Vevey, photo: Julien Gremaud

Publication

Selected Images

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Study for "Joyful Woman," ca. 1911. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey, photograph : Julien Gremaud.

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) The Wounded Flag Bearer Hans Baer: Study for “The Retreat from Marignano,” 1898–1900. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Compositional Study for “Departure of the German Students for the War of Liberation of 1813,” 1907–1908. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Study of Figures for "The Departure of German Students for the Napoleonic Wars, 1813," 1907-1908. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Figure Study for “Unanimity,” 1911. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Study of Figures for "Unanimity," 1911- 1913. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Study for “Female Eurhythmy” or “Emotion,” 1895–1896 or after 1902. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Figure Study for "Day," ca. 1898-1899. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Figure Study for “Day,” ca. 1898–1899. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Figure Study for “Day,” ca. 1899–1900. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Study for "Day" (fragment), 1899 Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey. Photography by Claude Bornand Lausanne

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Compositional Study for "View into Infinity," 1910-1913. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Rudolf Schindler bequest. © Musée Jenisch Vevey, Julien Gremaud

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Figure Study for "View into Infinity," 1913-1914. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Study of Head for "View into Infinity," 1913-1915. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Study of Hand for "View into Infinity," 1915-1916. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Portrait of Berthe Hodler-Jacques ca. 1898. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Portrait of Berthe Hodler-Jacques ca. 1917. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey.

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Self-Portrait, 1915-1916. Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Portrait of Valentine Godé-Darel, Left Profile, [November 1913], Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Unfinished Portrait of Valentine GodéDarel and her Daughter Paulette, 1914 Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) Portrait of Valentine Godé-Darel Dying, January 1915 Musée Jenisch Vevey, Donation Rudolf Schindler. © Musée Jenisch Vevey

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) The Eiger, the Mönch, and the Jungfrau above a Sea of Fog, 1908. Musée Jenisch Vevey, gift of the heirs of Prof. Arthur Stroll © Musée Jenisch Vevey.