From today in M

The varied collection is built up around two major groups of objects. One is a unique collection of late-gothic paintings and sculptures. The second consists of 19th-century paintings and sculptures by various Flemish masters including Constantin Meunier, Jef Lambeaux and Georges Minne, to name only the most prominent.

This dossier exhibition focuses on the ‘Master’s Exam’ in the M Collection. This stained-glass window dating from circa 1790 is ascribed to Jean-François Bosmans and depicts the escutcheon of the City of Leuven in the centre of a geometric pattern. The exhibition provides a deeper insight into guild life in the 18th century and particularly into the organisation of the Guild of Glaziers. It investigates the art of glass cutting from the perspective of the master. M presents the ‘Master’s Exam’ in conjunction with a design book from the Steinmetz Cabinet in Bruges.

From May 2011 until January 2013, the Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch is closing for an extensive expansion. The museum has offered M the opportunity to make a selection from its vast collections. For six months, M will host about 30 masterpieces from Den Bosch. Beautiful Late-Gothic woodcarvings, unique cityscapes dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and followers of Bosch, Rubens and Van Dijck seamlessly match twentieth-century works by artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and James Ensor.

To celebrate the gift of 'Doodarchief XII', 1981 toKU Leuven in 2009, M is presenting nine works by Denmark. The artworks critically represent the art press. Here too, an excess of information is threatening to result in blindness rather than to stimulate thought. There is a demand for liberation. Concrete archives of magazines, books or newspapers are the raw material Denmark uses to create his objects. By manipulating this resource in his very particular way, he explores the boundaries between information and knowledge, barbarism and civilisation and heteronomy and autonomy.

M displays its rich collection of porcelain in the last salon of the Vander Kelen House. In this new collection, we are casting the spotlight on German Meissen porcelain, of which M owns a magnificent ensemble. The pieces are characterised by colourful floral motifs and the small insects and animals that recur in the decorations.

The work of Ines Lechleitner (Vienna, 1978; lives in Berlin) comprises a wide range of mediums: photography, video, sound, drawing, sculpture, performance and artist books. In her work she analyzes the interaction between different means of communication and investigates how sound, images and text relate to each other. For the show at M selections from Sense Correspondence will be displayed and performed. A site specific installation will be exhibited in relation and in tribute to the Sol LeWitt show running in parallel at M.

The American artist Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) is one of the most influential artists of the Minimal Art and Conceptual Art movements. LeWitt is best known for his geometric, modular sculptures and his architectural wall drawings, but has also produced drawings, photos and graphic works. M presents a selective overview of his wall drawings through about 25 examples that span his entire oeuvre. This is the very first time Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings can be seen on a large scale in Belgium.

The work of Yael Davids (°1968, Jerusalem) makes use of performance and investigates the role of language, the voice and the body in relation to the space. Using her body, movement and language, she endeavours to articulate experiences and memories of reality and reflections on reality. Her work uses music scores as a way of documenting traces of the body in space. Yael Davids also refers to cinema, theatre, literature, etc. The exhibition at M brings together both sculptural and video work in a spatial installation.

In the 16th century, Leuven-based painters were introduced to new styles of painting via the great artistic centres of the Southern Low Countries, Antwerp and Brussels. This caused a break with the 15th century tradition Dieric Bouts had started. The painter hitherto known as Jan van Rillaer (1495-1568) played a pioneering role in this development. Recent scientific research into Jan van Rillaer has resulted in important new discoveries, both concerning his life and his works. The exhibition presents ten works from the M collection beside loaned pieces from at home and abroad; prints, paintings and stained-glass windows including works by Lucas Van Leyden and Albrecht Dürer.

De fotowerken van Geert Goiris (°1971) verwijzen naar een fundamentele spanning tussen de natuur en de mens. Zijn verzameling architecturale en utopische landschappen met sporen van menselijke aanwezigheid getuigen van een vervreemdende nabijheid. Regelmatig neemt Goiris het standpunt van de ‘buitenstaander’ in, waardoor er een tastbare afstand tussen de fotograaf en het onderwerp voelbaar wordt.