Heinz Mack ”schwarzer Engel”. 1964

Aluminium honeycomb on a sprayed stainless steel plate on wood, in an artist’s frame made of acrylic glass and aluminium. 142 × 102,5 × 8 cm (55 ⅞ × 40 ⅜ × 3 ⅛ in.). Signed and dated in the lower centre: Mack 64. Titled, signed, dated and inscribed on the reverse in black felt-tip pen: „schwarzer Engel“ Mack 64 2001 neuer Rahmen. [3021], Aluminium honeycomb on a sprayed stainless steel plate on wood, in an artist’s frame made of acrylic glass and aluminium. 142 × 102,5 × 8 cm (55 ⅞ × 40 ⅜ × 3 ⅛ in.). Signed and dated in the lower centre: Mack 64. Titled, signed, dated and inscribed on the reverse in black felt-tip pen: „schwarzer Engel“ Mack 64 2001 neuer Rahmen. [3021], Private Collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired from Galerie Schoeller, Düsseldorf), Private Collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired from Galerie Schoeller, Düsseldorf), Mack. Licht im Schwarz. Düsseldorf, Galerie Schoeller, 2001, ill. p. 49, ZERO Gravity: Heinz Mack’s "schwarzer Engel" Heinz Mack’s work with the enigmatic title „schwarzer Engel“ (black Angel) is an exceptionally rare and extraordinary relief. Set against a nocturnal firmament, its three wings made of honeycomb, an aluminium grid originally developed for the aircraft industry, bring together several of the artist’s signature elements. Over a career spanning more than seventy years, Mack has continually developed his practice across a wide range of media, materials and forms of expression. He is known both as a co-founder of the ZERO group, the first internationally active avant-garde movement to emerge after the Second World War, and as the artist who introduced light as a central element of art. Also noteworthy is his groundbreaking Sahara Project, which he developed over many years from the late 1950s onwards, realising his vision of an artificial garden of light-reflecting stelae in the African desert. Mack sought to extend art into natural environments untouched by human presence and to set light vibrating to such an extent that it would transcend conventional experiences of space, opening onto the vast and the metaphysical. The ideas behind this project accompanied him throughout the ZERO period, which lasted until 1966, and continue to shape his entire oeuvre to this day. The relief, as an intermediate form between two- and three-dimensional art, played a central role in Mack’s practice from an early stage. In her essay on its significance, Ulrike Schmitt describes the relief as the bearer of the “pure expression of the beauty of light” (Ulrike Schmitt, “Die Bedeutung der Reliefform im Werk von Heinz Mack”, in: Robert Fleck, Heinz Mack. Reliefs, 2015, pp. 11–15). Mack subsequently expanded his repertoire to include stelae and cubes, followed later by motorised rotors. Initially, he experimented with impressions on aluminium plates, which he further developed into frottage techniques. New materials were gradually introduced, including Fresnel lenses, acrylic glass and mirrors. During his stay in New York in 1961, Mack discovered what is known as honeycomb, a resilient aluminium material that can be compressed and stretched like a net. It is at once opaque, delicate and cellular, creating an effect of “shimmering flow”. At the same time, it exemplifies Mack’s strong affinity for technology and his spirit of experimentation. The interplay between nature and technology is a central theme throughout his oeuvre. Having studied philosophy alongside art, Mack regards angels not as embodied beings, but as “fields of spiritual energy”. “The medium that makes possible an appearance of what Mack, in our context, identifies as an angel is light” (Wieland Schmied, “Arbeit am Projekt der Moderne”, in: Utopie und Wirklichkeit im Werk von Heinz Mack, ed. Wieland Schmied, 1998, p. 12). His aim is not to depict the angel itself, but rather to capture and reflect its forces. „schwarzer Engel“ is both a painterly and sculptural emblem of avant-garde art of the 1960s, distinguished by its shifting, sensuous qualities. A comparable work from 1965 is held in the collection of Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Even at the age of 95, Mack’s creative drive remains undiminished, as reflected in numerous solo exhibitions in recent years, including presentations at Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden in Wuppertal and Kunstpalast Düsseldorf (both 2021), Museo Correr in Venice (2022), ZKM in Karlsruhe (2023), the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris (2025) and, most recently, Matthäuskirche in Berlin (2026). Antonia Lehmann-Tolkmitt

Estimate:£50,157

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