Same Canvas, Opposing Gazes: Birgitt Bolsmann and Kurt Haug at Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner

Challenging the dominance of abstraction and Informel art in the early 1960s to pursue objective reality, artist couple Birgitt Bolsmann (1944–2000) and Kurt Haug (*1941) use the same technical perfection to express two completely different mental worlds. Adopting layered Old Master techniques such as egg tempera and resinous oil paint since their student years in Hamburg, the couple brings their brushstrokes together on crystal-clear canvases. Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner’s new exhibition as part of Berlin Art Week focuses specifically on the duo’s shared period between 1970 and 1990 and their delicate grayscale pencil drawings, running from September 10 to October 28, 2026.

Despite their shared technique, the meaning the two artists assign to the canvas diverges radically. Birgitt Bolsmann turns her lens toward fashion photographs, advertising posters, and male-dominated myths of art history, questioning gender roles. In masterpieces such as Dernier Cri (1979) or In Leda’s Boudoir (1985), she passes female gender roles and ancient narratives through a critical filter. Pioneering the Frauen malen Frauen exhibition at the University of Hamburg in 1986, the canvas turns into a space for Bolsmann to shatter patriarchal molds.

Kurt Haug, on the other hand, consciously distances himself from his wife’s feminist and political stance, approaching objects with a highly analytical, detached, and purely formal eye. Highlighting everyday objects such as sewing threads through tactile sensitivity derived from his background in upholstery, Haug (Nähseiden, 1975) isolates objects within the frame, placing them parallel to the canvas plane. Rather than assigning symbolic or emotional meanings to objects, he chooses to freeze their material presence and formal qualities.

Juxtaposing two different understandings of realism, this exhibition demonstrates how the same technical competence can open into entirely opposing ideological and visual avenues in two distinct minds.

Exhibition Note from NO-26 Editor

Artists: Birgitt Bolsmann (1944–2000) & Kurt Haug (*1941)

Venue: Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner (Berlin, Germany)

Dates: September 10 – October 28, 2026 (Opening: Thursday, September 10, 18:00 – 22:00 / Special Visiting Hours: Friday, September 11, 10:00–18:00, Saturday, September 12, 11:00–18:00)