Artwork of the month August

Anne Marie Jehle, erfolgreich, n.d.

Anne Marie Jehle

* 1937 in Feldkirch, † 2000 in Vaduz

erfolgreich, n.d.

Ensemble: wool, wire, weaving shuttle, shopping list, collage, showcase with bread rolls, couch 
180 x 220 cm (variable dimensions)

The arrangement of the erfolgreich ensemble calls to mind a private living room situation. However, Anne Marie Jehle foils this "idyllic" composition with her provocatively disconcert- ing interventions. With the aid of a "Strickliesel" (knitting spool, literally knitting Liesel) – an object whose very name evokes female connotations – the artist creates a red and orange cord that spells out the titular adjective "erfolgreich" (successful) when formally applied to the wall. A word that is more commonly used in public working life rather than in a private context and which was thus still attributed above all to the male at the time when the piece was made1. Who is successful here? How is success de ned and what does it take to be successful as a woman in the art system of the 1970s, for example? Can traditional genderspecific narratives be transformed and what role do language, visual worlds, and social norms play in this context?

Similar to an exclamation mark, a weaving shuttle is mounted alongside the red "knitting piece", decorated ribbon-like with a hand-written shopping list. The glass showcase mounted on the wall is lled one third with white bread rolls that, on closer inspection, are phallic in form. To the right hangs a collage. It depicts a picture-postcard view of Jehle's home town Feldkirch, that the artist has manipulated with scissors, acrylic paint, and a newspaper clipping of the Statue of Liberty. AM Jehle2 has completely sheathed the couch in the foreground in patchwork crocheted wool. Shrouding and concealing, decorating and hiding are key elements in Jehle's work in her aim to lend metaphoric expression to the repressed and unspoken.

In her work, Jehle questions the traditional role models of her day, particularly in the context of the "protected" private sphere. She investigates gender-speci c repressions inherent in power, not shying away from spotlighting social taboos and examining (female) identity in what is a humorous but urgent, almost existential way.

Denise Rigaud

<b>Anne Marie Jehle, erfolgreich, n.d. </b>
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein highlights a work from the permanent collection each month throughout the year. Works from the collection of the Hilti Art Foundation are also included in this series on a regular basis.