| Maker(s): | Penck, A.R. (Ralf Winkler)
| | Culture: | German (1939 - 2017 )
| | Title: | Untitled
| | Date Made: | 1980
| | Type: | Drawing
| | Materials: | Oil stick and graphite on moderately textured white paper
| | Place Made: | Germany
| | Measurements: | sheet: 18 3/4 in x 25 3/4 in; 47.6 cm x 65.4 cm
| | Accession Number: | SC 2012.1.14
| | Credit Line: | Gift of The Pokross Art Collection, donated in accordance with the wishes of Muriel Kohn Pokross, class of 1934 by her children, Joan Pokross Curhan, class of 1959, William R. Pokross and David R. Pokross Jr. in loving memory of their parents, Muriel Kohn Pokross, class of 1934 and David R. Pokross
| | Museum Collection: | Smith College Museum of Art
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Label Text:
A. R. Penck is one of the many pseudonyms used by the artist Ralf Winkler. Born and raised in Dresden, Penck was a pivotal figure in the regeneration of figurative painting in Germany during the latter part of the twentieth century. He was also one of the few prominent artists of his generation that spent a significant portion of his career living and working in East Germany.
Based in his personal study of regulatory systems, information theory, and philosophy, Penck developed a series of pictographic symbols through which he explored the effects of culture and society on the individual.
Winkler adopted the Penck moniker for his 1969 exhibition in Cologne in order to disguise his identity from East German authorities hostile to his work. He took the name from the geologist Albrecht R. Penck (1858–1945), who specialized in the study of the effects of the Ice Age, which the artist likened to the effects of the Cold War on German thought and culture.
This untitled drawing features a dense thatch of orange and grey hatch marks on the left half of the composition, flanked by two totemic figures at the center, and what is clearly recognizable as a human form at the far right. This work, created the year Penck immigrated to West Germany, also bears the ά ώ (alpha/omega) symbol with which he signed his work after leaving East Germany in 1980. Given what was happening in the artist’s life at the time, this drawing undoubtedly addresses his experience transitioning from living under a totalitarian society to life in a democratic state.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+2012.1.14 |
