Hauser & Wirth to Represent Estate of Gustav Metzger

Hauser & Wirth has been chosen to represent the estate of Gustav Metzger, the German-born artist known for his Auto-Destructive Art movement. Metzger, who died in 2017 at age 90, fled Nazi Germany as a child but lost most of his family in the Holocaust. His 1959 manifesto called for art that would self-destruct using acid on nylon sheets as a protest against nuclear policies. He organized the Destruction in Art Symposium in London in 1966, where Yoko Ono first performed Cut Piece. Later he urged artists to stop producing work from 1977 to 1980 to collapse the commercial system. Hauser & Wirth president Iwan Wirth praised Metzger as a visionary activist. The gallery plans a major exhibition in 2021. Metzger's work is held in collections including Tate, Migros Museum, and MOMA Warsaw.