"Pieces of a world": New Art Exhibition at the Museum Gherdëina

European influences and local identity: selected works of art tell new stories

 
Time, world, and valley: Val Gardena sculptures not only reflect the era in which they were created but also reveal influences from artistic production across Europe and the valley’s own identity. How all these elements interact can now be explored in the newly redesigned sculpture exhibition at the Museum Gherdëina.
 
As part of the installation of the new interactive exhibition on Val Gardena wooden toys, the Museum Gherdëina in Ortisei has also redesigned its sculpture exhibition. Selected works are now presented under the theme “Pieces of a World – Val Gardena's figures between self-image and world-view”, highlighting what makes Val Gardena wood carvings so distinctive: the interplay between European influences and local identity.
 
The new exhibition features selected works from the extensive sculpture and painting collection of the Museum Gherdëina – from small sculptures by the first Baroque sculptors of Val Gardena to home-based carvings from 18th- and 19th-century, as well as Val Gardena dolls and animal figures. The carvings are complemented by genre paintings by the renowned local artist Josef Moroder Lusenberg.
 
The exhibition also presents a series of highlights, including the Baroque nativity scene from Saint Jacob’s church, Moroder Lusenberg’s oil painting of an organ grinder, examples of wooden dolls that made their way from Val Gardena to children’s rooms across Europe, as well as ladies’ heads and small figurative artworks from the 19th and early 20th centuries. A ceramic figure by Finy Martiner and an early painting by Markus Vallazza complete the exhibition.