Taking its name from Amie Siegel’s seminal film of the same title (2013), which focuses on the migration of mid-century modernist design by Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier for the buildings of Chandigarh, Provenance places works by Frank Auerbach, Lucie Rie, Le Corbusier and Jeanneret in dialogue and reflects on the movement of modernist works across continents and cultures.

At the heart of Provenance is Bijlani’s long-standing engagement with the modernist legacy of Chandigarh, India’s first planned city, conceived in 1951 by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. Situated at the foothills of the Himalayas, Chandigarh embodied the optimism of a newly independent nation, balancing monumental modernist ideals with its dramatic natural setting. Jeanneret’s furniture designs, represented here by rare early-production examples from Bijlani’s collection, were conceived with a deep sensitivity to climate, landscape, and local customs, utilising solid teak and Indian rosewood and crafted by hand in small workshops, whilst maintaining the structural rigour and style of the Swiss-French modernist aesthetic. Collected directly from Chandigarh and nearby homes and institutions in 2004, the provenance of these works was verified, in situ, with Michael Jefferson, a specialist in 20th-century art and design. Bijlani’s integration of these pieces into his curatorial projects reflects both his commitment to the preservation of design heritage and his personal connection to India. They are works that foreground provenance as lived experience: objects shaped by place, use, and time.

This concern with origin and formative moments extends to the exhibition’s works on paper and ceramics. An early charcoal drawing of a Seated Figure by Frank Auerbach, executed in 1951 while attending evening classes under David Bomberg, captures the emergence of a visual language that would later define one of the most significant artists of the post-war generation. Auerbach emigrated to Britain from Germany in 1939 as a refugee, without his parents, at just seven years old; he would go on to become one of the most significant artists of the post-war generation. Belonging to the London School, he is often stylistically grouped with the likes of his contemporaries, Kossoff, Freud and Bacon - to name but a notable few - whose expressive approach to figuration formed a psychological portrait of the climate of post-war London. Marked by rapid, expressive lines, the charcoal’s physicality speaks to Auerbach’s early development and the historical circumstances that shaped his practice.

Equally attentive to beginnings is a teacup and saucer by Lucie Rie, produced during her Vienna years prior to her migration to London in 1938. This early object bears the clarity and refinement of Viennese modernism and the ethos of the Gesamtkunstwerk, situating Rie’s later British work within a broader European lineage. Its provenance underscore’s themes of displacement and continuity that run throughout the exhibition. Despite being an urban potter, throughout her life, Rie enjoyed spending time away from the city. She had a keen passion for skiing, hiking and rock climbing and particularly favoured activities that brought her into close contact with nature’s elements. It is of little surprise that these influences found their way into her ceramics. Volcanic glazes recall the surfaces of rocks and subtle undulations of colour reveal themselves like the inside of a seashell. Not only defined by both Vienna and London, her works, as such, draw on a deep affinity with the natural world. They thus find a most appropriate home at the Almhof Schneider, Lech.

When Rajan first encountered the Almhof Schneider, its architectural coherence and focus on design immediately resonated with him. Gerold and Katia’s pursuit of form, function, and beauty recalls both Le Corbusier and Jeanneret’s holistic vision of Chandigarh and the modernist ideal of Gesamtkunstwerk. In this mountain setting, Provenance unfolds as a dialogue between objects and landscapes, linking the Himalayas to the Alps, Vienna to London, and the origins of modernism to its enduring afterlives.

The exhibition is open to the public and guests of Hotel Almhof Schneider from 19th December, 2025 - 6th April, 2026.