Sigmar Polke - Freundinnen II - image-1

Lot 785 R

Sigmar Polke - Freundinnen II

Auction 1022 - overview Cologne
27.11.2013, 00:00 - Contemporary Art - November 27, 2013
Estimate: 80.000 €
Result: 115.900 € (incl. premium)

Sigmar Polke

Freundinnen II
1967

Offset, reworked with gouache, on card. 47.8 x 60.5 cm. Framed under glass. Signed and dated 'S. Polke 67' lower right. Edition Galerie h, Hannover. One of 25 unique works.

The two young ladies smile at the viewer. They are clothed lightly in dotted bikinis, and their postures bespeak confidence. Everything about them indicates that they have their place in the world of the 1960s. “Girlfriends II”, one of the earliest works by Sigmar Polke, printed in 1967, is a continuation of his panel painting “Girlfriends” of 1965 (Froehlich Collection, Stuttgart). Both in his painting and in this print Polke consciously plays with the aesthetic qualities of a newspaper as a printed mass medium, while at the same time satirising the stylistic mechanisms of American Pop Art. Both works were based on a small newspaper cutting. It's typical rastering, which is only visible upon very close inspection, was then taken to extremes, to the point where the raster dots became essential pictorial elements. Unlike Pop Artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, where rastering was due to the technical method of screen printing, Polke imitated this effect by painting each dot by hand. Similarly, in “Girlfriends II”, he experimented with the concept of originality, using his characteristic method of ambiguity. By limiting this edition to no more than 25 prints, he reduced the duplication potential of the printed medium; and by colouring each copy by hand, he eventually transformed each print into a unique item.

Catalogue Raisonné

Becker/von der Osten 4