Untitled
Sigmar Polke
German, 1941–2010

Details
Title
Untitled
Artist/Maker
Sigmar Polke (German, 1941–2010)
Date
1998
Medium
Synthetic lacquer and pigment on polyester fabric
Dimensions
51 1/4 x 59 inches
Credit
Purchase with funds from Alfred Austell Thornton in memory of Leila Austell Thornton and Albert Edward Thornton, Sr., and Sarah Miller Venable and William Hoyt Venable
Accession #
1999.38
On View
Currently not on view
A student of the Düsseldorf School, Sigmar Polke together with Gerhard Richter and Konrad Fischer established Capitalist Realism, a movement that often parodied mechanical reproduction in a freely rendered and self-mocking fashion. Untitled presents a face in a slightly askew frame. The face, slightly familiar but not quite recognizable, is composed of dots that replicate the Benday pattern of commercial printing processes. The off-kilter position of the frame and Benday pattern together suggest a mechanical printing error, resulting in an image that is simultaneously prosaic and mystic.
Image Copyright
© Estate of Sigmar Polke