SIGMAR POLKE (B. 1941)
SIGMAR POLKE (B. 1941)

Totenkopf

Details
SIGMAR POLKE (B. 1941)
Totenkopf
signed and dated 'S. Polke, '75' (on the reverse)
dispersion and spray enamel on photosensitised canvas
15¾ x 19¾in. (40 x 50.2cm.)

Lot Essay

For Sigmar Polke, painting, art and creativity in general are somehow cosmically related to alchemy, magic, the occult and parapsychology. Since the late 1960s, a number of works have addressed this theme, including "Telepathische Sitzung" (Telepathic Seance), "Weisser Obelisk" (White Obelisk), "Höhere Wesen befehlen..." (Higher Powers Command...) and "Totenkopf (Quecksilberkosmetik)" (Skull, Quicksilver Cosmetics). In the present work, the image of the skull is combined with the symbol of the spade, a reference to playing cards and their use in spiritualist seances, during which the spirits of the dead are conjured up to communicate with and advise the living. A dark image of death, the black spade in Polke's enegmatic painting sprouts wings like an angel of death. The murky colouration and texture of the foreboding background recalls Polke's fascination with the medieval pseudo-science of alchemy and its associations with the occult. This, combined with the symbolic imagery of the spade and skull make "Totenkopf" a doubly ominous painting of menacing omnipotence of the "higher powers".

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