Lissitzky, Arp and the Isms of Art, 1925

In 1925, artists El Lissitzky (1890–1941) and Jean/Hans Arp (1886–1966) published Die Kunstismen, Les Ismes de l’art, The Isms of Art—a survey of the artistic avant-gardes from 1914 to 1924.

One hundred years after its publication—an ambitious attempt to historicise the major modern movements and their leading figures through a graphic style that remains remarkably contemporary—the Marguerite Arp Foundation presents an exhibition dedicated to The Isms of Art and to the Russian artist El Lissitzky’s time in Switzerland (in Locarno and Ambrì) during 1924–25.

The exhibition features paintings, reliefs, collages, drawings, and photographs by key figures of the historical avant-gardes discussed in Die Kunstismen. The selected ‘isms’—from Dadaism to Abstraction and Simultaneism—reflect the holdings of the Fondazione’s collection and the network of friendships shared by Jean, Sophie, and Marguerite Arp. The works on display are accompanied by avant-garde magazines, photographs, and partly unpublished documents.

Works by:

Jean Arp, El Lissitzky, Robert Delaunay, Theo van Doesburg, Viking Eggeling, Max Ernst, Hannah Höch, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Man Ray, Kurt Schwitters, Arthur Segal, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Georges Vantongerloo

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication El Lissitzky in Svizzera 1924-25 / Jean Arp / Gli ismi dell’arte and El Lissitzky in der Schweiz 1924-25 / Hans Arp / Die Kunstismen edited by Mario Lüscher and Simona Martinoli, (Locarno, Winterthur: Fondazione Marguerite Arp / Edition Tincatinca, 2025)

Collateral Programme

A series of lectures in collaboration with the Museo Villa dei Cedri in Bellinzona and the Cantonal Libraries of Locarno (23.09, 30.09) and Bellinzona (07.10, 14.10)