Alice Bailly – Pioneer of Modernism

The Kunsthaus Zürich devotes two galleries to Genevan artist Alice Bailly (1872–1938). Her innovative wool pictures – balancing abstraction and figuration – are today recognised as key works of Swiss modernism.

Pioneer of Modernism

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Alice Bailly was among the first Swiss women artists to break with academic tradition. Between Paris, Geneva and Lausanne, she developed a distinctive visual language from 1906 onward, influenced by Fauvism, Cubism and Futurism. Her wool pictures, or tableaux-laine, lend painting a new tactile quality, uniting texture and vivid colour. Dismissed during her lifetime as mere handicraft, they are now seen as a visionary response to a male-dominated modernism.

Alice_Bailly_tireurs — Alice Bailly, Tireurs d‘arc, 1911, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Acquisition, 2002. Photo: Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne

Bailly-01 — Exhibition view, Kunsthaus Zürich, photo © Franca Candrian

Alice_Bailly_jeu-eventail — Alice Bailly, Jeu d‘éventail ou Femme à l‘éventail. Portrait de Louisa Bally, soeur de l‘artiste, 1913, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Acquisition, 1997. Photo: Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne

Alice_Bailly_lectrure-albert — Alice Bailly, Lecture dans le jardin. Portrait d‘Albert Rheinwald, 1915, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Acquisition, 2004. Photo: Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne

Bailly-02 — Exhibition view, Kunsthaus Zürich, photo © Franca Candrian

Alice_Bailly_femme-au-miroir — Alice Bailly, Femme au miroir ou Femme à la toilette (Ludmilla Botkine), 1918, Kunsthaus Zürich, Collection Dr. H. E. Mayenfisch, 1929

Alice_Bailly_pensees — Alice Bailly, Pensées intimes II (d‘après moi-même), 1919, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Acquisition, 2004. Photo: Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne

Alice_Bailly_printemps-rose — Alice Bailly, Printemps rose, 1917, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Acquisition, 2001. Photo: Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne

Bailly-03 — Exhibition view, Kunsthaus Zürich, photo © Franca Candrian

In Paris, Bailly was in dialogue with artists such as Sonia Delaunay, Raoul Dufy and Marie Laurencin. Returning to Switzerland during the First World War, she engaged with the Dada movement and found in the interplay of movement, light and textile a radical, personal form of expression.

« I paint with wool as others paint with colour. » — Alice Bailly

« With needle and wool, Alice Bailly broke the boundaries of painting. Her works are a (re)discovery. » — Maja Wismer, Head of Collection and Research

The Kunsthaus Zürich presents 22 works – oil paintings, works on paper and especially her wool pictures – in the context of the avant-garde. The exhibition offers a fresh view of an artist who claimed her place as a woman in modern art.
The exhibition is a cooperation with the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne (MCBA). Curated by Philippe Büttner and Maja Wismer.

Conversation about the artist

165 Min

Conversation about the artist Alice Bailly in french

Letters by Bailly in the Kunsthaus Archive

As a complement to the artworks on display, it is worth taking a look into our archive: the Kunsthaus Zürich holds dozens of letters written between 1913 and 1937 by the Swiss artist Alice Bailly. Part of this correspondence is available to view digitally.

The letters provide insight into Bailly’s early exhibitions at the Kunsthaus Zürich. In her correspondence with the director at the time, she reports, for instance, on missing transport crates, requests prompt payment, or asks for patience because the requested paintings are not yet finished.

The original documents can be viewed in the library upon prior appointment.