Book Release: ‘Maria Lassnig: The Biography’
Press Release
Hauser & Wirth Publishers presents the first full-length biography of Maria Lassnig in English, co-published with the Maria Lassnig Foundation and Petzel Gallery
Cindy Sherman says ‘The more I learn about Maria Lassing, the more I want to know and this book is a comprehensive road map of the fascinating life of a trailblazing painter who was astoundingly overlooked for most of her life. I’m ashamed I only heard of her within the past 10 years even though she lived in Soho around the same time I did. While I would’ve loved to have met her, I think she would have terrified me, she sounds so fierce.’
Natalie Lettner’s extensively researched and highly acclaimed biography ‘Maria Lassnig: The Biography’, now in print for the first time in English, chronicles Maria Lassnig’s journey and struggles in remaining true to her bold, singular artistic vision while fighting gender stereotypes and paving the way for future generations of artists.
This publication documents Maria Lassnig’s (1919 – 2014) boundary-breaking journey as an artist, spanning nine decades from her beginnings in Austria to her move to Paris during the 1960s, her time in New York from 1968 until 1980, her return to Austria later in life and her status as an internationally renowned artist.
The artist’s story is at once exemplary and extraordinary for a woman of her generation. Exemplary in terms of the hurdles and pitfalls that women in general, and female artists in particular, had to face in those years. She struggled with gender stereotypes about the perceived role of women all her life, such as the pressure to get married as a woman, having to put her own needs aside to nurture and care for a partner, as well as playing the ‘mother figure’. Despite it all, Lassnig was able to assert herself as an artist due to her outstanding talent, her persistence, and her single-mindedness – an extraordinary story that is an inspiration to this day.
Translated from Brandstätter’s German edition of Natalie Lettner’s publication, this expansive biography features more than two hundred images, 70 of which are exclusive to the English translation, that animate Lassnig’s remarkable story and lifelong artistic output.
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director Serpentine Galleries, London, says ‘Maria Lassnig is one of the most important artists of the second half of the 20th century. ‘Maria Lassnig: The Biography’ evinces Lassnig’s sensibility and attentiveness to her surroundings. ‘Without art one wilts, and me in particular’ – with these words Lassnig so eloquently and concisely described herself and the fundamental role art had in her life. Lassnig’s dedication, persistence, uncompromising honesty and powerful practice are unprecedented and this biography shows precisely that. Lassnig’s journey is a journey without compromise.’
James Quandt, author and journalist, says ‘A most important biography, prodigiously researched, fluently translated, exhibiting both profound insight into Lassnig’s art and life and an invigorating refusal of accepted opinion.’
Maria Lassnig and her ‘Selbstporträt mit Stab (Self- Portrait with Stick)’, 1971, Avenue B, East Village, New York, 1974. Image from the Archive of the Maria Lassnig Foundation. Photo: Maria Lassnig
‘Sprachgitter (Language Mesh)’, 1999 © Maria Lassnig Foundation. Courtesy Ursula Hauser Collection, SwitzerlandAbout Hauser & Wirth Publishers
Artists’ voices, exceptional art, scholarship, design and bookmaking are at the heart of Hauser & Wirth Publishers’ program, which has been helmed by Michaela Unterdörfer since 2005. Books are critical gateways to new ways of thinking and seeing; they provide vital, lasting records of artists’ works and ideas and the discourse they inspire. This is why publishing has been a cornerstone of the gallery’s activity since its founding and why Hauser & Wirth Publishers has grown to become a leading imprint for unique, object-like books that encourage an understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art. With the special access granted by artists to their writings and archives, Hauser & Wirth Publishers often brings new and overlooked aspects of an artist’s creative practice into focus. Our backlist offers a robust program that comprises artists’ books, artists’ writings, biographies, monographs, surveys, exhibition catalogs and collectors’ perspectives.
Hauser & Wirth’s publishing activity extends back to 1992, from where it steadily flourished through partnerships with reputable imprints such as Hatje Cantz, JRP|Ringier, Snoeck, Steidl, Thames & Hudson and Yale University Press, before publishing independently under its own imprint. Based in Zurich and New York City, Hauser & Wirth Publishers commissions titles that we believe are keystone resources and references related to the artists represented by the gallery and beyond. Our titles are distributed worldwide via Distributed Art Publishers and Buchhandlung Walther König.
‘Maria Lassnig: The Biography’
Release date: 13 October 2022
Written by Natalie Lettner, translated by Jeff Crowder
Book design by Capitale Wien
Published by Hauser & Wirth Publishers, Maria Lassnig Foundation, Petzel Gallery English, Flexicover with flaps
400 pages, 215 illustrations, 170 x 240 mm
978-3-906915-52-4
£26 / $35 / €28 / CHF30 / HKD280
Press Contact:
Anna-Maria Pfab, Hauser & Wirth Zurich annamariapfab@hauserwirth.com