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“My objects are spatial realities, zones of light. I use mechanical means in order to overcome the subjective gesture, to objectify it, and to create the situation of freedom.”
—Günther UeckerGerman artist Günther Uecker is best known for non-traditional materials, such as nails, in his work. By hammering these man-made, industrial objects directly into the canvas, he radically broke with the confines of the two-dimensional picture plane, irreversibly merging the practices of painting and sculpture. To Uecker, who had grown up during the Great Depression, lived through World War II, and then found himself split by the unmovable concrete of the Berlin Wall, the nail offered a new means to explore identity and collective experience. As ‘the ideal object with which to model light and shadow’, it offered a poetic way to confront the dualities of creation and destruction, order and chaos, which characterised 20th century geopolitics.i
United by their shared experience of Germany during World War II, Uecker joined fellow countrymen Heinz Mack and Otto Piene in their recently established ZERO Group in 1961 – a movement championing new forms of art more closely aligned with the ethos of the modern age. Rejecting the more prevalent art informel style of the 1950s and 1960s, which the group believed to be corrupted by the very same culture that had led to war, ZERO sought a clean slate for visual art, and focused on light, technology, and a departure from the flat picture plan – all qualities inherent to Uecker’s practice.
Walter Mori, People at the German Pavilion of the 35th Venice Biennale, with sculpture by Günther Uecker and Heinz Mack, 1970. Image: Mondadori Portfolio / Bridgeman Images Created in 1989, Ohne Titel demonstrates the visual philosophy of the ZERO movement whilst showcasing core aspects of Uecker’s personal practice at the height of his career, notably the mediative practice of hammering in alignment with the philosophies of Buddhism and Taoism. Tightly arranged towards the top of the canvas and transitioning into a looser formation as the eye traverses the surface, the hammered nails create a dramatic interplay between blank canvas, object, and shadow. In contrast to his more clinical early works which were concerned with geometrical regimentation, the more organic arrangement seen here correlates to the introduction of more kinetic elements into Uecker’s practice during the 1960s at the height of his involvement with the ZERO group.
However, in the more gestural markings of white paint we can also track the more performative elements that would come to define his work after the movement’s dissolution in the mid-60s. More expressive, these marks highlight a reincorporation of painterly concerns into his more mechanically sculpted gesture. As the dense arrangement of nails becomes looser and more sparse, Uecker’s brushstrokes become thicker and more prevalent, culminating in a spectacular exchange between the free nature of human action and the rigidity of man-made technology.
Multilayered too in its meaning, the relief meditates between abstraction and figuration, offering multiple interpretations. Perhaps the close-up of a flower, grass blowing in the wind, or scattered debris from a recently dropped bomb, Ohne Titel is a prime example of Uecker’s phenomenological approach to art and how an art form can tap into the subconscious.
[Left] Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale #2, 1960, Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Image: Buffalo AKG Art Museum/Art Resource, NY/Scala, Florence, Artwork: © Lucio Fontana/SIAE/DACS, London 2023
[Right] Heinz Mack, Silver Dynamo, 1964, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: © The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence, Artwork: © DACS 2023Uecker’s work draws on an illuminating dialogue with other artists working in the ZERO movement. The use of metal to manipulate light alludes to the work of Heinz Mack, whilst Uecker’s breaching of the flat picture plane recalls Lucio Fontana’s lacerated canvases. There are more painterly art historical traditions evoked too, the contrast of light and dark recalling the chiaroscuro effects used to such dramatic effect in the work of Renaissance and Baroque artists. Deeply rooted in Christian iconography, Uecker’s incorporation of nails carries a weight of cultural and art historical significance, while also touching on the artist’s own childhood memories of nailing planks of wood, barricading the windows of his family home during the bombardments of World War II. Turning the flat surface of the canvas into a tactile, animated, and multidimensional surface, Uecker’s reliefs challenge our understanding of the limitations of perception, time, and space, blending art, philosophy, and history in these deeply human works.
Collector’s Digest
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The subject of major retrospectives at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1983; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, 1990; and the Staatliches Museum Schwerin; among others, Günther Uecker participated in Documenta in 1964, 1968, and 1977 and represented Germany at the 35th Bienalle di Venezia in 1970.
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Thanks to a recent revival of interest in the ZERO movement, Uecker’s work has also been included in major group retrospectives, most notably, ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-60s at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 2015 – a landmark show which marked the group’s first significant museum survey in the United States.
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In 2000, he designed the Reflection and Prayer Room for the Reichstag Building in Berlin.
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Comparative works to Ohne Titel can be found in permanent collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
i Günther Uecker, quoted in Alexander Tolnay, ed., Günther Uecker Twenty Chapters, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2006, p. 72.
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Provenance
Private Collection, Spain
Ketterer Kunst, Munich, 13 June 2015, lot 861
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Property of an Important Private Swiss Collection
19
Ohne Titel
signed and dated 'Uecker 89' lower right; signed, inscribed and dated 'Uecker 89 Gestiftet am 2.9.1989 für Aktion Kinderherzherzklinik' on the reverse
nails and oil on canvas laid on panel
92 x 61 x 7.3 cm (36 1/4 x 24 x 2 7/8 in.)
Executed in 1989.
Estimate
£180,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £241,300
Rosanna Widén
Senior Specialist, Head of Evening Sale
+44 20 7318 4060
rwiden@phillips.com
Olivia Thornton
Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Europe
+44 20 7318 4099
othornton@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
London Auction 13 October 2023
1
Mohammed Sami
Childhood
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £228,600
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2
Stefanie Heinze
Median (Fin Fatale)
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £165,100
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3
Emma Webster
Baptism
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £228,600
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4
Christopher Hartmann
Still Looking
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ‡♠
Sold for £38,100
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5
Marina Perez Simão
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 100,000 ‡
Sold for £95,250
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6
Francesca Mollett
Two Thistles
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ♠
Sold for £254,000
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7
Pam Evelyn
Night Fog
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ‡♠
Sold for £44,450
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8
Christina Quarles
Lil' Dapple Do Ya
Estimate £450,000 - 550,000 ‡
Sold for £508,000
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9
Michaela Yearwood-Dan
The Summit of Beauty and Love
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £228,600
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10
Jadé Fadojutimi
Beneath the Petticoat
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £177,800
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11
This lot is no longer available.
12
Luc Tuymans
Rome
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,500,000
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13
Beatriz Milhazes
Mares do Sul
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £698,500
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14
Josef Albers
Homage to the Square
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £609,600
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15
Alex Katz
Ariel
Estimate £650,000 - 850,000 ‡
Sold for £698,500
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16
This lot is no longer available.
17
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £825,500
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18
On Kawara
OCT.20,1992
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £342,900
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19
Günther Uecker
Ohne Titel
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £241,300
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20
Anselm Kiefer
Das einzige Licht
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £698,500
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21
Simon Hantaï
Tabula
Estimate £450,000 - 650,000 ‡♠
Sold for £508,000
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22
This lot is no longer available.
23
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24
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Colored Boy Piano Player)
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
Sold for £203,200
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25
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate £800,000 - 1,200,000 ‡
Sold for £914,400
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26
Henri Matisse
Grand Nu accroupi (Olga)
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £660,400
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27
Balthus
Étude pour ‘Le Peintre et son modèle’
Estimate £280,000 - 400,000 ‡♠
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28
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29
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30
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡
Sold for £190,500
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31
Rick Lowe
Black Wall Street Journey #11
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £114,300
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32
Banksy
Forgive Us Our Trespassing
Estimate £2,200,000 - 2,800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £2,710,000
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33
Daniel Richter
Schakal Reloaded
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £508,000
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34
Dana Schutz
Gravity Fanatic
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £495,300
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35
George Condo
Seated Harlequin
Estimate £750,000 - 950,000 ‡
Sold for £889,000
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36
Sarah Lucas
Jubilee
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡♠
Sold for £101,600
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37
Damien Hirst
Five Antique Torsos
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £317,500
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38
Caroline Walker
Fragranced
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡♠
Sold for £565,150
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39
Louise Giovanelli
An Ex
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £76,200
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40
Issy Wood
Cries Real Tears!
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡♠
Sold for £215,900
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41
Maria Lassnig
Competition III
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £482,600
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42
Alina Szapocznikow
Autoportret II
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
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43
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £550,000 - 750,000 ‡♠
Sold for £660,400
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44
John Chamberlain
Druid’s Cluster (Swish)
Estimate £350,000 - 450,000 ‡
Sold for £330,200
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45
Damien Hirst
Fear
Estimate £300,000 - 400,000 ‡♠
Sold for £349,250
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46
Raghav Babbar
The Bath in Holy River
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ♠
Sold for £457,200
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