Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Sleeping Beauty, 2018. von Bartha, Copenhagen, 2023. Photo: Malle Madsen / von Bartha.

Press release, November 2023

For her solo exhibition, Rose Thorn, the Danish-German artist Ursula Reuter Christiansen creates new work, shown in dialog with recent and older drawings, ceramics, and paintings. The selection departs from the idea, that the gallery’s historical limestone building references a small princess castle, overgrown by thorns. The symbolism and the narratives of fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty often inspired Reuter Christiansen to speak about hurdles of life and feminist issues. Thus, for her new exhibition, from November 4 to December 22, 2023, she pulls from her repertoire of depictions of rose thorns, heroines, mythical creatures, and other whimsical characters.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen‘s work oscillates between symbolism and mythology, desire and hatred, beauty and abysses. Throughout her practice, she incorporates various media, from painting, filmmaking and performance to ceramics and sculpture. Having studied literature in Marburg, DE, she later graduated from the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts in 1969, where she studied under Professor Joseph Beuys and became active in the emerging women’s movement, which was to have a strong influence on her oeuvre. Following a great urge to leave her native Germany, together with her husband, the composer Henning Christiansen (1932- 2008) she settled in a farmhouse on the Danish island Møn.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Totentrompete, not dated (left), and Rose Thorn - Die Träne, 2023 (right). von Bartha, 2023. Photo: Malle Madsen / von Bartha.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Rose Thorn - Die Träne, 2023. von Bartha, Copenhagen, 2023. Photo: Davy Denke / von Bartha.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Rose Thorn (Outside view). von Bartha, Copenhagen, 2023. Photo: Davy Denke / von Bartha.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Die kleine Tänzerin, not dated. von Bartha, Copenhagen, 2023. Photo: Davy Denke / von Bartha.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Die kleine Tänzerin, not dated (left) and Rose Thorn - Der Tag Erwacht, 2023 (right). von Bartha, Copenhagen, 2023. Photo: Malle Madsen / von Bartha.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Red Riding Hood, not dated. von Bartha, Copenhagen, 2023. Photo: Davy Denke / von Bartha.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Rose Thorn, 2001 (detail). von Bartha, Copenhagen, 2023. Photo: Davy Denke / von Bartha.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Sie will mich zurückhalten, not dated. Photo: Davy Denke / von Bartha.

From 1992 to 1996, Reuter Christiansen worked as a professor at the University of Fine Arts
in Hamburg, DE, and as the first female professor of painting at the Royal Danish Academy
of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1997 to 2006. She is considered one of Denmark’s most influential artists in the post-war period, whose works are widely represented across Denmark – in art institutions, as well as public commissions, and is one of the founding members of Kunsthal 44Møn. Her work was included in exhibitions at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, DK; National Gallery of Denmark and Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen; Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig, DE; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA; PS.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island, New York, USA; Vancouver Art Gallery, CAN; Kunstverein Wolfsburg, DE. Furthermore, she represented Denmark at the 49th Venice Biennale, IT, in 2001 (with Henning Christiansen) and was awarded an Eckersberg Medal in 2011.

Ursula Reuter Christiansen in her exhibition Rose Thorn, at von Bartha, Copenhagen, 2023. Photo: Davy Denke / von Bartha.

Opening: Friday, November 3, 2023, 4-6 pm.
Exhibition period: November 4 - December 22, 2023.
More info: www.vonbartha.com