12 October 2016
PRE S S RE L E A S E
Mercenary, Iconoclast, Dancer of Death – Niklaus Manuel and the
Reformation Period
From 13 October 2016 to 17 April 2017 the temporary exhibition “Mercenary,
Iconoclast, Dancer of Death – Niklaus Manuel and the Reformation Period” will be on
display at the Bernisches Historisches Museum. Niklaus Manuel (1484–1530) is
known today chiefly as the creator of the Bernese Dance of Death, but he was much
more than a great painter: the exhibition traces his life from mercenary to influential
politician and diplomat, from artist to writer and iconoclast. It reveals a great artist
and a colourful personality, and through him the turbulent transition from the Middle
Ages to the modern period. Seen from today’s perspective, this age looks
astonishingly topical.
From 13 October 2016 to 17 April 2017 the Bernisches Historisches Museum will turn its
focus on Niklaus Manuel (1484–1530) and the dawn of a new age around 1500. Known
today primarily as the creator of the Bernese Dance of Death, Niklaus Manuel was a
painter, graphic artist, mercenary, writer, politician and diplomat all in one. All these facets
to his life make him one of Switzerland’s most striking figures in the transition from the
Middle Ages to the modern period in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. New media
(printing), new worlds (the discovery of America), new knowledge (the Renaissance) and a
new faith (the Reformation) shaped this time of upheaval in European history.
Existential Matters
The religious schism of the Reformation shattered the previously homogeneous Christian
concept of the meaning of life. Existential matters such as love, power and death gained
new urgency. In the Swiss Confederation of that time questions of “them” and “us”,
solidarity and exclusion, and the impact of foreign paymasters and foreign powers came to
the fore. Niklaus Manuel’s life and work reflect these issues in a variety of ways.
Objects and Design
The exhibition displays most of Manuel’s output as painter, graphic artist and writer. In
addition, it features works by his contemporaries, including Dürer, Baldung Grien and Urs
Graf, as well as books, weapons, clothes, tapestries, paintings on glass, sculptures and
objects from daily life. The items come from the collections of the Bernisches Historisches
Museum and more than thirty lenders in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe. The
spectacular exhibition designed like an urban space (exhibition design: szenographie
valentine koppenhöfer) follows the eventful life of Niklaus Manuel.
The Fifth Centenary of the Reformation
Five hundred years after the start of the Reformation, the focus is on the period in which
Manuel lived, and on the historic upheaval of which he was an eager supporter. The
exhibition forms part of the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the Reformation in 2017.
Helvetiaplatz 5, Postfach 149, CH-3000 Bern 6, Telefon +41 31 350 77 11, [email protected], www.bhm.ch
Catalogue raisonné of Niklaus Manuel
After more than ten years of scholarly research in conjunction with the Burgerbibliothek of
Bern, the Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA) is publishing a catalogue raisonné of
Niklaus Manuel in March 2017. The exhibition in the Bernisches Historisches Museum is
based on this research.
http://www.sik-isea.ch/en-us/Research-publications/Publications/Forthcomingpublications/Manuel-Catalogue-raisonné
Accompanying publication
The accompanying publication is available in German and French and contains background
essays as well as an extensive illustrated section.
160 pages, more than 100 colour illustrations
CHF 34 in the museum shop, CHF 39 in bookshops
ISBN 978-3-03810-183-3 (German)
Education and outreach
The Bernisches Historisches Museum has a broad outreach programme to accompany the
exhibition: free public guided tours for adults every Sunday at 1 pm, guided tours for
groups, and tours, workshops and educational material for schools.
Outreach programme: www.totentanz.be/en/
Panel discussions (in German)
Niklaus Manuel’s Dance of Death and the fifth centenary of the Reformation in 2017 are the
inspiration for a series of panel discussions (at 6 pm in the Bernisches Historisches
Museum):
How does Death dance today? Death in contemporary art, 9 November 2016
Death dances alone The repression of death in everyday life, 7 December 2016
Shocked by lethal violence The crisis experienced by the mercenary Niklaus Manuel and
ways out of crises today, 4 January 2017
Dying a good death What is the dance danced by palliative medicine? 8 February 2017
Detailed Programme: www.totentanz.be/en/
2016 Bernese Dance of Death
Inspired by Manuel’s example, the Bernese artists Jared Muralt and Balts Nill have created
a Dance of Death in a modern concertina-folded form. The background to this work will be
on display in a studio exhibition in the Bernisches Historisches Museum from 2 November
2016 to 17 April 2017.
Dance of Death – Bern lives!
Bern will be dominated by the Dance of Death in the late autumn of 2016. Various cultural
institutions have come together loosely to present a wide-ranging examination of the
transience of human existence and the presence of death in everyday life.
As part of its collection presentation “Bern’s Lost Altar”, the Museum of Fine Arts Bern is
showing how over the course of time the panels made by Niklaus Manuel for the altar of
Bern’s Dominican Church became museum pieces.
Contact Bernisches Historisches Museum
Severin Strasky, head of marketing & communication, phone +41 31 350 77 83,
[email protected]
Images
are available for download on the www.bhm.ch website in the media section:
www.bhm.ch/pictures-for-the-media
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