we first exhibited georges vantongerloo 35 years ago in a group exhibition 'the non objective world 1924-39' and subsequently in six more group shows. in 1996 we mounted the two-person exhibition 'max bill - georges vantongerloo - a working friendship'. it is 25 years since the georges vantongerloo major touring retrospective was held at the washington corcoran gallery of art; dallas museum of fine arts; los angeles county museum of art; musées royaux des beaux-arts de belgique, brussels and kunsthaus zürich. therefore, it is with great honour and pride that we are able to hold this wonderful retrospective exhibition spanning his life's work of 50 years from 1915-1965. more than eighty works, not only paintings and sculptures but watercolours, drawings, models and even furniture design are shown, some for the very first time.
this exhibition would truly not have been possible without the generous support and help of angela thomas schmid and her husband erich. we would also like to thank angela for her wonderful essay which gives a real insight into georges vantongerloo's philosophy. the making of this exhibition and catalogue was also only possible through the enormous help and dedication of our gallery colleagues especially laura henderson and nina fellmann.
finally our thanks go to georges vantongerloo, a major figure in the development of abstract art of the twentieth century. it is more than 40 years since his death and we hope through this exhibition he will again awaken people's thoughts and re-open their eyes.

annely and david juda