Marianne Eigenheer: A Lifelong Search Along the Lines

The first ever major publication of Marianne Eigenheer’s work, published in partnership with the Marianne Eigenheer Estate and von Bartha, Basel, Switzerland. This book celebrates the diverse practice of the artist, which spanned over five decades.

A fascinating and long-overdue study of the artist’s work spanning five decades of her diverse practice, this comprehensive and thought-provoking book provides an overview of Marianne’s oeuvre. It also creates dialogues between different periods of her work by presenting them alongside one another – many shown this way for the first time in print. From her spontaneous, gesturally abstract drawings of the 1970s, to her bolder, more defined, large-scale drawings that gained public attention at the 1980 Venice Biennale, to her lesser-known sculptural and photographic works, to the wall painting created for Kunstmuseum Basel in 2018 – this book spans the artist’s creative scope.

The characteristic linear forms that underscore Marianne’s practice come from the meditative process of drawing she developed in her lifetime, whereby she externalised her personal experiences onto paper. Marianne Eigenheer documents beautifully how the artist created a highly distinctive and recognisable visual language by working in this way throughout her career. The book also features a selection of essays by a diverse group of writers that discuss and explore the different aspects of Marianne’s practice, shining a light on her work as artist, writer, curator and teacher.