My first time ... in the Zurich Graphic Arts Collection

I have a hard time finding my way in foreign cities. But recently I got lost in Zurich. I was wandering not through streets but through an ETH building. I had still found my destination without any problems: The Graphische Sammlung, located in the building at Rämistrasse 101, not far from the main entrance.

The ETH Graphische Sammlung consists of the works of over 8500 artists. Guided tours, lectures and exhibitions are organised regularly. For example, the Graphische Sammlung is showing the work of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis until 18 June 2023. The Austrian was "a modernist artist", as the poster says.

For the first time ever, the Austrian's diverse works are now being exhibited in Switzerland. They include handbags, designs for stage sets, plans for interiors, paintings and collages. Dicker-Brandeis is described as an artistic multi-talent who, among other things, laid the foundations of art therapy. She was also highly active politically, which is why she had to leave Vienna in 1934. Eight years later she was deported to Terezín (Theresienstadt). in 1944 Friedl Dicker-Brandeis was murdered in Auschwitz.

Her exhibited works of art in the Graphische Sammlung had a lasting effect. They were complex, sometimes surprising. At home, I googled Friedl Dicker-Brandeis. Her eventful life story occupied me.

Less impressive were the rooms of the graphic collection. Some pieces of the exhibition were presented in a large room, others in the corridor. It's not a museum, it's a university, and so I stumbled past lecture halls and students on my way back. I must have taken a wrong turn, I couldn't find the exit. On my way back, I discovered the new permanent exhibition "Thomas Mann and his study", with the author's desk in the centre. Just as surprisingly, I suddenly found myself back in the great hall. Bhu!