About the Exhibition
Long considered an insider’s tip despite her art historical significance, Soltau’s work is now regarded as one of the most important positions in feminist photography and body art. Over the course of more than five decades and in the face of much opposition, Soltau’s independent, radically feminist visual language has established her as an indispensable voice in contemporary art. The Städel Museum dedicated the first retrospective to her, developed in collaboration with the artist.
Central themes in Soltau’s work include feminism, body politics and the challenge of human and female identity. To this end, she has developed her own innovative techniques that transcend the boundaries of photography—photo-sewing, photo-restitching and photo-etching. In her self-portraits, Soltau questions female role models and sheds light on social norms by visualizing complex emotional worlds, inner conflicts and emotional states. Since the late 1970s, she has devoted herself to an artistic exploration of pregnancy and motherhood—themes that have been underrepresented in art for centuries and have only recently begun to receive increasing attention in both society and the art world. Her work is also a poignant expression of the ageing of the female body and questions of mortality. Soltau’s work has repeatedly been subject to public censorship; her depictions deviate from established aesthetic conventions and are perceived as provocative. The exhibition at the Städel Museum was an important corrective to this reception and a long overdue tribute to this great feminist and artist.
The exhibition presented important loans from renowned institutions such as the Sammlung Verbund in Vienna, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, the Lenbachhaus in Munich and the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe complete the exhibition.
Curator
Svenja Grosser, Head of Contemporary Art, Städel Museum
Project Manager
Maja Lisewski, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Städel Museum
Film
Sponsors & Patrons
Sponsored by
Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, Cultural Foundation of Hesse, Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, Städelscher Museums-Verein e. V.
With additional support from
Yoram Roth, Georg und Franziska Speyer’sche Hochschulstiftung
Media Partner
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Monopol – Magazin für Kunst und Leben, Arte
