Lot Essay
China-Bild is a rare picture from Polke's early career and contains elements which may be seen to pre-figure his later work. The artist characteristically uses a mixture of diverse elements, both purpose-made and ready-made. This work reflects Polke's deep interest in the way in which non-Western cultures are represented by the West.
In China-Bild Polke paints his motifs directly onto a piece of exquisitely made traditional Chinese silk. This support brings to mind notions of luxury and finery, "chinoiserie" being a highly desirable design element, fashionable within seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe.
It was during this time that European merchants first started to import Chinese goods. Silks, furniture and porcelain were all sought after by the wealthy. However, there was a high price to pay for such exotic finery, and Europe soon started to copy Chinese designs onto porcelain and veneer them onto furniture, often modifying them to suit Western tastes.
The bright yellow which Polke uses here becomes almost luminous in comparison with the brown silk behind. This, together with the dabs of green paint around the edge of the chinoiserie heightens the effect, giving it an almost three-dimensional quality. The irregular form begins to take on a strange familiarity. On first sight it seems reminiscent of the shape of a continent or a country on a map - great yellow plains with touches of green foliage, set against the brown rugged earth. However, Polke has not related it to any specific country. It is an imaginary country created by a West that sees only a superficial view of China. Here Polke displays a complexity of ideas that only relatively recently have been formalised into the term "orientalism".
The yellow veneer can also be seen to metamorphose into a face, the boats in the distance creating two Asian eyes, a nose formed by the tower in between them, and a mouth in the form of a Chinese bridge. In this way Polke alludes to the way in which a country is literally stamped by the character of its people. Polke's familiar humour is made explicit in the slight grimace of the curved mouth, as though the Chinese face here is casting a very telling view of the situation.
In China-Bild Polke paints his motifs directly onto a piece of exquisitely made traditional Chinese silk. This support brings to mind notions of luxury and finery, "chinoiserie" being a highly desirable design element, fashionable within seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe.
It was during this time that European merchants first started to import Chinese goods. Silks, furniture and porcelain were all sought after by the wealthy. However, there was a high price to pay for such exotic finery, and Europe soon started to copy Chinese designs onto porcelain and veneer them onto furniture, often modifying them to suit Western tastes.
The bright yellow which Polke uses here becomes almost luminous in comparison with the brown silk behind. This, together with the dabs of green paint around the edge of the chinoiserie heightens the effect, giving it an almost three-dimensional quality. The irregular form begins to take on a strange familiarity. On first sight it seems reminiscent of the shape of a continent or a country on a map - great yellow plains with touches of green foliage, set against the brown rugged earth. However, Polke has not related it to any specific country. It is an imaginary country created by a West that sees only a superficial view of China. Here Polke displays a complexity of ideas that only relatively recently have been formalised into the term "orientalism".
The yellow veneer can also be seen to metamorphose into a face, the boats in the distance creating two Asian eyes, a nose formed by the tower in between them, and a mouth in the form of a Chinese bridge. In this way Polke alludes to the way in which a country is literally stamped by the character of its people. Polke's familiar humour is made explicit in the slight grimace of the curved mouth, as though the Chinese face here is casting a very telling view of the situation.