Winner Jörg Immendorff

• Jörg Immendorff is one of the most important politically minded and socially reflective German artists of the 20th century • The powerful figure, cast in roughly modelled bronze, harmonises archaic forms with the Christian pictorial tradition • In 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell, Immendorff created a sculpture that questions both the political upheaval and his own steadfastness With arms raised high and hands clenched into mighty fists, Immendorff’s ‘Victor’ stands on a monumental plinth. The oversized hands, which almost resemble boxing gloves, lend the slender figure a combative air. But who is this victor, and what battle has he won? A clue is provided by the sculpture’s original wooden version, entitled ‘The Victor – The Temptation of Saint Anthony’. The Christian hermit who resists the temptations and trials of the Devil is a motif that has recurred throughout art history for centuries. Immendorff takes up this idea and translates it into his own powerful visual language. His victor is less a triumphant figure than an overcomer who stands his ground against internal and external resistance. For the politically engaged artist, who grappled throughout his life with German history and the social conditions of his time, this figure takes on a further significance. The struggle becomes a symbol of an attitude that does not give up, but rather accepts and overcomes resistance. S | 1945 Bleckede bei Lüneburg - Düsseldorf 2007 | Zeitgenössische Kunst | Skulptur/Objekt/Multiple | Nummer: 26x2035 | Provenance: Galerie Rackey, Bad Honnef; Privatsammlung, Rheinland; Ketterer Kunst, München 10.12.2011, Los 318; Privatsammlung, Süddeutschland, bei Vorgenannter erworben.

Estimate:£27,552.59

View all items fromKarl und FaberorArts & Graphics