Sale: 351 / Post War, June 20. 2009 in Munich Lot 184

 
A. R. Penck (d.i. Ralf Winkler) - Das gelbe Auge


184
A. R. Penck (d.i. Ralf Winkler)
Das gelbe Auge, 1985.
Relief
Estimate:
€ 28,000 / $ 30,240
Sold:
€ 34,160 / $ 36,892

(incl. surcharge)
Lot: 184
A. R. Penck (d. i. Ralf Winkler)
1939 Dresden - lebt und arbeitet in Irland
Das gelbe Auge. 1985.
Relief. Acrylic on plywood board.
Signed lower right. 125 x 250 cm (49,2 x 98,4 in).

This work's authenticity has been confirmed by the artist.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Amsterdam.

Although his real name is Ralf Winkler, the artist assumed a number of pseudonyms while he was working in the former GDR. The one that has lasted is “A.R. Penck”. This chameleon-like change of name is a sly response to the dogmatic GDR cultural policy; after all, art works could be smuggled to the West more easily if they went under different “camouflage signatures”. On the other hand, the pseudonym “Penck” is an allusion to the geomorphologist of that name whom the artist admires and with whom he associates his work. In 1956, A.R. Penck embarked on an apprenticeship as a commercial draughtsman with a Dresden agency and taught himself the basics of painting over the years. In the early 1960s he produced his first pictures, featuring figures in a style reminiscent of prehistoric signs that would be the hallmark of his style from then on. In the 1970s his pictorial spectrum was broadened by poster-like touches of color and large formats filled with complex content. Since 1977 Penck has translated his symbolic sign repertory to three dimensions in the form of sculptures in wood, which, since 1982, have also been cast in bronze.
Penck’s “stick men” have become a universally known diagnostic feature of his work, popular and readily accessible, subversive and playful. The interplay of form and material make the present work so particularly appealing. The signs have been cut into a thick piece of plywood, whose rough surface enters on an exciting dialogue with the figures that so resemble signs and runes.
In 1980 Penck was expelled from the GDR although it had long since recognised his status as one of the most important contemporaries. Since 1972, Penck has been represented at several documentas and also at the 1984 Venice Biennale. In 1988 the artist was appointed professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and still holds the chair. [KR]

In good condition.

EUR: 28.000 - 32.000REGEL(7%)
US$: 38.192 - 43.648




184
A. R. Penck (d.i. Ralf Winkler)
Das gelbe Auge, 1985.
Relief
Estimate:
€ 28,000 / $ 30,240
Sold:
€ 34,160 / $ 36,892

(incl. surcharge)