09.12.2025
Museo d'Arte, Piazzetta dei Serviti 1, 6850 Mendrisio
The exhibition, curated by Francesca Bernasconi, scientific collaborator of the Mendrisio Art Museum, and Rainer Michael Mason, author of the catalogue raisonné of Raetz's engraved works, presents
Raetz began experimenting with this technique in 1994 when he was invited to create a work for the Chalcographie du Louvre (the department of the famous museum dedicated to the conservation and production of engravings). This work was part of a series of contemporary commissions from living artists, intended to enrich the museum's collections and keep alive the tradition and knowledge of various chalcographic techniques.
The then fifty-three-year-old artist devoted himself to learning what was considered the oldest and noblest engraving technique. The more than eighty etchings on display are small and medium-sized, yet within them seemingly seamless worlds and visions unfold. These prints embody the motifs that have distinguished Raetz's work (from his exploration of the face to geometric forms, from studies of perspective to those on the contrast between relief and depression), as well as references to art history and tributes to the mastery of those who attempted the art of etching before him, primarily Albrecht Dürer, but also Claude Mellan (1598–1688), Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617), Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677), Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964), and the Japanese masters of ukiyo-e prints. The exhibition will include a carefully curated selection of three-dimensional works, underscoring the continuity of Raetz's artistic research across mediums.
Throughout his career, Markus Raetz has demonstrated a profound interest in the art of printmaking, extensively studying various intaglio techniques and experimenting with new ways of applying them. For Raetz, the field of graphic art has become a privileged space for reworking and expanding the research into the phenomenon of perception that has characterized his long career and led him to create surprising works, capable of transforming depending on the viewer's perspective.
The exhibition is organized in close collaboration with Monika Rätz and the Markus Raetz Estate, and is accompanied by a bilingual Italian-German catalog containing reproductions of all the exhibited works and texts by Francesca Bernasconi and Rainer Michael Mason.
The then fifty-three-year-old artist devoted himself to learning what was considered the oldest and noblest engraving technique. The more than eighty etchings on display are small and medium-sized, yet within them seemingly seamless worlds and visions unfold. These prints embody the motifs that have distinguished Raetz's work (from his exploration of the face to geometric forms, from studies of perspective to those on the contrast between relief and depression), as well as references to art history and tributes to the mastery of those who attempted the art of etching before him, primarily Albrecht Dürer, but also Claude Mellan (1598–1688), Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617), Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677), Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964), and the Japanese masters of ukiyo-e prints. The exhibition will include a carefully curated selection of three-dimensional works, underscoring the continuity of Raetz's artistic research across mediums.
Throughout his career, Markus Raetz has demonstrated a profound interest in the art of printmaking, extensively studying various intaglio techniques and experimenting with new ways of applying them. For Raetz, the field of graphic art has become a privileged space for reworking and expanding the research into the phenomenon of perception that has characterized his long career and led him to create surprising works, capable of transforming depending on the viewer's perspective.
The exhibition is organized in close collaboration with Monika Rätz and the Markus Raetz Estate, and is accompanied by a bilingual Italian-German catalog containing reproductions of all the exhibited works and texts by Francesca Bernasconi and Rainer Michael Mason.