In cooperation with the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Kandinsky Library located there, the Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig presents for the first time in Germany a retrospective of the photographers Harry Shunk (1924–2006) and János Kender (1937–2009). They have documented some of the most important artistic actions and projects of the sixties and early seventies, which are only remembered today thanks to their photographs. The photographers themselves, however, are still largely unknown to the general public.
Between 1958 and 1973 Shunk and Kender worked together on commissions from artists, galleries, publishers and museums, first in Paris and later in New York. Their photographs show dazzling personalities of the international art scene after 1945, including artists such as Jean Tinguely, Marta Minujín, Andy Warhol and Christo, the gallery owners Iris Clert, Ileana Sonnabend and Leo Castelli, as well as critic-curators such as Pierre Restany, Harald Szeemann and Pontus Hultén.
There are a number of artistic moments and projects that we only remember today through the photographs of Shunk-Kender. However the two photographers themselves have remained mostly unknown. The exhibition, with loans from the collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, presents the work of Shunk-Kender for the first time in Germany.
An exhibition designed and produced by the Centre Pompidou, Paris, in collaboration with the Stiftung Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig and the Museo d’arte della Svizzera Italiana Lugano.
With the kind support of the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung, Sparkasse Leipzig and the Free State of Saxony (SMWK).
Supported by: Institut Francais Leipzig and the Bureau des Art Plastiques Berlin
