About the work
A sheet of exquisite colourfulness, bound in a simple but also thrilling repertoire of form. The decision as to whether these are stacked “corner brackets” or squares superimposed on one another is left to the viewer. Decisive in any case are not the formal regularities, but in fact the opposite: the contingencies, inaccuracies and unexpected deviations from the rule. It is the slight difference in the sizes of the individual forms, the varying density in the application of the pastel chalk, the fraying and superimposition of the colours at the edges, the white of the ground, which shimmers through here and there, the incorporation of the rough handmade paper texture and finally, at the bottom edge, suddenly a dark green field amidst the lighter green, which, more than all other shades, makes it possible to sense the quality and properties of the paper almost haptically.
All this defines the artistic quality, the sophistication of this sheet, and once again demonstrates Heinz Mack’s infallible sense for the sensual emanation of the unbound pigments, for the full liveliness of the colours, for the beauty intrinsic to pastel painting.
Text authored and provided by Dr. Doris Hansmann, Art historian
Studies of art history, theater, film and television, English and Romance Languages at the University of Cologne, doctorated in 1994. Research assistant at the Art Museum Düsseldorf. Lecturer and project manager at Wienand Verlag, Cologne. Freelance work as an author, editor and book producer for publishers and museums in Germany and abroad. From 2011 chief editor at Wienand Verlag, from 2019 to 2021 senior editor at DCV, Dr. Cantz’sche Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin. Numerous publications on the art of the 20th and 21st centuries.
