Hans Josephsohn's Sculptural Oeuvre in Focus at Lugano Exhibition

An exhibition at LAC Lugano presents 16 works by Hans Josephsohn (1920–2012), spanning 1950 to 2006. Though not a full retrospective, it effectively highlights the centrality of the human figure in his practice, featuring standing, seated, reclining figures, half-figures, and reliefs. Josephsohn worked from live models, primarily female, but his multi-perspective approach obscures frontality, inviting viewers to move around the sculptures. The human figure is treated as volume, resulting in powerful physicality. His style evolved from abstract and geometric in the 1950s to more pronounced representation, then from the 1980s toward an accumulation of matter creating increasingly massive forms. He used plaster for its malleability, allowing repeated adjustments; traces of tools and fingerprints remain visible even after bronze casting. Josephsohn, born in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) to a Jewish merchant family, fled the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in 1938 to escape racial laws, finding refuge in Switzerland. He first exhibited in a group show in Zurich in 1946 and continued working until age 92. Despite aligning with 20th-century sculptors like Wotruba, Giacometti, and Germaine Richier, he remained intentionally isolated. His late works can be interpreted as a relentless search for the intermediate state between matter and idea, echoing Hegel's aesthetics.