I lived in Hamburg from 1970 to 1981 with many hours spent in this museum. Today, the freshly renovated and now reopened Hamburger Kunsthalle continues its attempts to showcase women artists who have not (yet) gotten the recognition they deserve. At my last visit it was Louise Bourgeois whose sculptures were prominently placed in the courtyard of the museum (and served as convenient car ports for city tours….)

This spring it is a retrospective of Rumanian artist Geta Brãtescu to celebrate her 90th birthday http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/en/exhibitions/geta-brătescu (link in english.) The artist is a renaissance woman when it comes to her choice of and facility with different artistic mediums; she is thoroughly modern, however, in her integration of history, social commentary and, yes, whimsey, into her work. Here is a 3 minute clip that visits the artist in her studio where she refers to art as a serious game. http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/ausstellungen/geta-brătescu

I very much relate to her intense joy of travel and indiscriminately photographing whatever attracts the eye. And I cherish the opportunity to learn from female role models how to navigate an art world that has been not exactly welcoming. The pigeons, kept at bay by the wire netting at the museum exteriors walls, know of which I speak….