They are mainly drawings and visual documents that the artist had left there in storage. This exhibition gives an initial insight into these finds, now going on display for the first time.
Bill Bollinger (1939, Brooklyn–1988, Pine Plains, NY) was among the pioneering sculptors of his time. However, after the mid-1970s his oeuvre slipped into a long obscurity and was only rediscovered thanks to the retrospective staged at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein; ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe; the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; and the Sculpture Center, New York, in 2011–12.
During research for the retrospective it became known that Bollinger had stored some of his works in a warehouse. A viewing in summer 2017 brought a first astonishing discovery to light: an extensive collection of works on paper, particularly studies for his earliest works that were previously known only known from descriptions.
The newly unearthed paper works include a host of sketches for Bollinger's early paintings and afford a new understanding of his exploration of painting, in terms of both classical modernism (notably Piet Mondrian) and contemporary positions (notably hard-edge painting).
Another completely unexpected find was unearthed in 2019. Bollinger had stored boxes of his works on his parents-in-law's farm around 1972–73. These carefully stored boxes not only contained numerous sketchbooks but also an impressive collection of works on paper: sketches for various wooden sculptures previously hung on the wall of his studio, as evidenced by black-and-white photos; sprayed works, surprisingly in colour, some with two horizon lines; sketches testifying to his profound exploration of a subject, for example, achieving a universal expression for the line.
Thanks to these two finds, it is now possible to understand the breadth of his early drawings more extensively than ever thought possible.
A production of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll.