Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915 - 2015

15 January - 6 April 2015
http://www.whitechapelgallery.org

Bringing together over 100 works by 80 modern masters and contemporary artists including Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Piet Mondrian, Gabriel Orozco and Aleksander Rodchenko, the exhibition will trace a century of Abstract art from 1915 to today, shedding new light on the evolution of geometric abstraction.

Beginning with Kazimir Malevich’s Black and White. Suprematist Composition (1915) the exhibition will explore how abstract art can both underpin socially transformative spaces and filter into all aspects of visual culture.

Exhibition highlights include an entire wall filled with photographs documenting the radio towers of Moscow and Berlin by Aleksandr Rodchenko and László Moholy-Nagy amongst others, blow-up archive photographs of iconic exhibitions running through the history of abstraction and a selection of magazines which convey revolutionary ideas in art and society through typography and graphic design.

Hannah Höch

15 January – 23 March 2014
www.whitechapelgallery.org

Acerbic, astute and funny, Hannah Höch was an important member of the Berlin Dada movement and a pioneer in collage

Splicing together images from popular magazines, illustrated journals and fashion publications, Höch's satirical collages chronicle the intense social change that characterised the early 1900s.

Among the most radical works of the time, Höch never shied away from controversy. For example, Hochfinanz (High Finance) sees notable figures collaged together with emblems of industry; a humorous critique of the relationship between financiers and the military at the height of the economic crisis in Europe.

While she earned the admiration of many of her contemporaries – such as George Grosz, Theo van Doesburg and Kurt Schwitters – she has often been overlooked in traditional art history.

This exhibition spans the full six decades of Höch's career, combing over 100 examples of collages, photomontages, watercolours and woodcuts drawn from prominent international collections.

As well as the iconic images she produced during the Dada period, the display includes early works inspired by her time working in the fashion industry and the vibrant cut-outs produced towards the end of her career, such as Um Einen Roten Mund (Around a Red Mouth) which incorporates colour-print red lips, petticoats and crystals.