Back-to-front art; a concept too far?

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - A South African museum is to open an exhibition of 17th Century Dutch Master paintings all hung the wrong way around with the artwork facing the wall.


Curator Andrew Lamprecht said the "Flip" exhibition opening in Cape Town next month represents "a conceptual art intervention" on one of the country's premier art collections.


"They'll all be flipped, to completely take the space and turn it into something new and unexpected," Lamprecht told Reuters.


The Michaelis Collection at Cape Town's Old Town House includes works by Dutch and Flemish masters including Frans Hals, Jan Steen and Anthony van Dyck, and is seen as one of the best collections of its kind outside the Netherlands.


Lamprecht said the idea of turning the exhibition to face the wall was intended to force gallery goers to reconsider their preconceptions about the art and its legacy in South Africa.


"I'm asking questions about the history," Lamprecht said, adding the reverse of the paintings revealed a wealth of detail not normally on view to the public, ranging from old attempts to preserve the canvas to notes from various collectors.


"These are fascinating things to see from behind," he said.


Entrance will be free but Lamprecht said donations would be welcome