Expressing the unfettered lifestyle

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Barbara Davatz, Souvenirs from Appenzell, 1968, silver gelatine print on baryte paper, handcoloured, 38.2 x 28.4 cm, loan from the artist @ Kunstmuseum Bern

Markus Müller, Lahco, 1970, oil on cotton, 150 x 165 cm, Aargau Art Gallery, Aarau Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau Foto: Brigitt Lattmann

Barbara Davatz, Souvenirs from Appenzell, 1968, silver gelatine print on baryte paper, handcoloured, 28.4 x 38.2 cm, loan from the artist Leihgabe der Künstlerin

Rainer Alfredauer, B.B. / Object, 1968, synthetic resin, 61 x 71 x 54 cm, loan by Christian and Beatrice Auer, photo: Primula Bosshard Aargauer Kunsthaus

Fernando Bordoni, Autostop 2, 1970, mixed technique on paper, 75 x 75 cm, private collection Aargauer Kunsthaus

Max Matter, Castle Chillon, 1968, spray on Kellco, 121.3 x 150 x 1.8 cm Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau / donation from the estate Robert Beeli Aargauer Kunsthaus

Peter Stämpfli, PUDDING, 1964, oil on canvas, 146 x 165 cm Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, purchase made possible by the UBS Cultural Foundation, Photo: Archiv P.S. Aargauer Kunsthaus

Ueli Berger, Softy, 1967, acrylic, 98 x 67 x 19 cm, loan from Sylvia and Kurt Aellen, photo: Brigitt Lattmann Aargauer Kunsthaus

Hugo Schuhmacher, Käseschachtel neutral Switzerland, 1969, graphite and spray paint on paper, 50.5 x 40.5 x 2.5 cm, private collection Zurich, Photo: Brigitt Lattmann Aargauer Kunsthaus

Franz Gertsch, Mireille, Colette, Anne, 1967, Dispersion on paper on Pavatex, 118 x 77 cm, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau

Marc Egger, Jaguar E type, 1965, acrylic on canvas, 79 x 59 cm Courtesy Gallery Bruno Bischofberger, Männedorf-Zurich Aargauer Kunsthaus

Max Matter, O you lovely evening sun, 1967, spray on unprimed canvas, 201.5 x 162 cm, Aargau Art Gallery, Aarau Photo: Jörg Müller Aargauer Kunsthaus

Markus Müller, Bolide, 1968, oil on canvas, 160 x 180 cm, Aargau art house, Aarau / donation from the estate of Robert Beeli Aargauer Kunsthaus

Trix and Robert Haussmann, Choco-Chair, 1967, home-style wooden chair, brown lacquered, 72 x 75 x 70 cm, Art Foundation Teo Jakob Aargauer Kunsthaus

Markus Müller, Fulvia, around 1968, oil on cotton, 150 x 200 cm Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, photo: Brigitt Lattmann Aargauer Kunsthaus

Max Matter, Hungerberg, 1968, Spray on Kellco, 100 x 120 cm, Aargau Art Gallery, Aarau Aargauer Kunsthaus

Samuel Buri, Psychedelic chalet, 1967, acrylic, synthetic resin spray and flock on cotton, 97 x 130 cm, Aargauer Art Gallery, Aarau, photo: Jörg Müller Aargauer Kunsthaus

Urs Lüthi, Hello Jack, 1967, acrylic on press plate, hinge, 150 x 200 cm Private collection, Zurich Aargauer Kunsthaus

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Psychedelic chalets and sexual liberation – these were some of the motifs of the Swiss pop art movement that a leading museum has resurrected.

An exhibition at the Aargauer Kunsthaus offers a comprehensive overview of Swiss pop art from 1962 to 1972, featuring around 270 paintings, sculptures, collages, photographs and objects by 51 artists from throughout the country.

New motifs and references accompanied the boom of pop art within the Swiss art scene in the early 1960s. The striking colours, simplicity of form and purity in style were decidedly different from the prevailing abstract art. Swiss pop art expressed the young pop artist’s unfettered lifestyle.

Pop art’s focus on mass culture, including fashion, pop music and current events, is a recurring theme in the exhibition. Another is the portrayal of women in advertising, ranging from miniskirts and bikinis to the women’s movement and sexual liberation.

A special aspect of Swiss pop art is the incorporation of folkloristic pictorial traditions, be it by drawing on typically Swiss imagery or by borrowing from local forms of folk art. Samuel Buri draws on the indigenous image of the Swiss chalet, which he represents in a grid and ecstatic colour combinations, as in “Chalet psychédélique” (1967). Barbara Davatz presents rural postcard images in excessive colours à la Warhol in her hand-coloured photo series “Souvenirs from Appenzell” (1968).

Other concerns aside from typical Swiss landscape motifs are advancing urbanisation, urban sprawl and the development of overbuilt nature, for example in the works of Max Matter and Jean-Claude Schauenberg.

“Swiss Pop ArtExternal link” runs until October 1 2017.