My Generation – The Jablonka Collection
Bastion Hall & Colonade Hall – The Albertina Museum Vienna
October 02, 2020 – April 05, 2021

With this exhibition, the Albertina Museum presents the most recent addition to its holdings: the collection of Rafael and Teresa Jablonka, which, comprising more than 400 works, ranks among the most distinguished collections of American and German art of the 1980s. Rafael Jablonka was born in Poland in 1952. After moving to Germany and taking the detour of working as an exhibition curator, he subsequently founded Galerie Jablonka with venues in Cologne, Berlin, and Zurich, eventually turning from a renowned art dealer into an important and passionate collector.

Featuring, among others, Francesco Clemente, Roni Horn, Mike Kelley, Sherrie Levine, and Andreas Slominski, the Jablonka Collection includes artists with whom Rafael Jablonka has worked over the years, whom he promoted, and some of whom he discovered. However, he also collected works by artists beyond the program of his gallery – artists he greatly admired and whose works he ultimately wished to conserve for posterity. Over decades it was his motto to always acquire several works from various artistic periods.

In 2017, Rafael Jablonka closed his gallery. Together with his wife Teresa, he established a foundation for his collection and in 2019 entrusted it to the Albertina Museum. Explaining his choice, he points out that Vienna has always been a major inspiration for Polish art and architecture and that the city has always been close to his heart. On the other hand, his interest had been aroused by the Albertina Museum’s repositioning, its new diversity in terms of epochs and media.

The collection is much more comprehensive than the selection on view here, ranging from Michael Heizer and Andy Warhol to Nobuyoshi Araki and Richard Avedon. In this exhibition, Rafael Jablonka concentrates on the artists of his own generation. With rooms devoted to individual artists, the show, installed on two exhibition levels, offers impressive insights into their respective oeuvres.

Artists: Miquel Barceló | Ross Bleckner | Francesco Clemente | Richard Deacon | Eric Fischl | Damien Hirst | Roni Horn | Mike Kelley | Sherrie Levine | Cady Noland | Thomas Schütte | Andreas Slominski | Philip Taaffe | Terry Winters

more. www.albertina.at