Sale: 358 / Post War/ Contemporary Art, Oct. 24. 2009 in Munich Lot 608

 
Gottfried Helnwein - Gleichgewicht des Schreckens


608
Gottfried Helnwein
Gleichgewicht des Schreckens, 1982.
Tempera
Estimate:
€ 5,000 / $ 5,400
Sold:
€ 7,076 / $ 7,642

(incl. surcharge)

Tempera, airbrush, color pen and scratching on cardboard
Signed lower right. 52,4 x 43,2 cm (20,6 x 17 in), the full sheet
Draft for a cover of "Stern" magazine.

PROVENANCE: Private collection South Germany.

EXHIBITION: Kunst muss sein wie Rockmusik, Helnwein, Stadtmuseum Munich, 10 March -9 May 1983

LITERATURE: Helnwein, "meine Bilder sind vordergründig, trivial und spekulativ", Frölich & Kaufmann, no placer, pp. 88f. (with illu.)

The work "Gleichgewicht des Schreckens" is a draft for a cover of the "Stern" magazine, a commissioned work which was made as a part of a series on the arms race in the early 1980s. Helnwein approaches the issue with his typical mixture of emotionality, cool objectivity and psychological considerations. He shows his skills in a manner that calls reminiscence of the old master's meticulousness. The message is haunting and drastic, and it seems to have been too direct for the "Stern" - in the end a picture of a mushroom cloud made it onto the cover. [JS].




608
Gottfried Helnwein
Gleichgewicht des Schreckens, 1982.
Tempera
Estimate:
€ 5,000 / $ 5,400
Sold:
€ 7,076 / $ 7,642

(incl. surcharge)