About the work
A stripe of yellow at the lower edge of the painting, a stripe of orange at the top edge, several shades of blue between them in a staggered arrangement from turquoise to dark blue. The pastel by Heinz Mack would be quickly and precisely described in this way, if there wasn't something else, more precisely, the essential aspect, which characterises the fascination of such a sheet – its magic, its aura, which captivates the viewer.
It is the wonderfully delicate weaves of the powdery pastels that Heinz Mack brings so ably to the sheet, the colours that interlock with one another in circumspect gradations, the brilliance of the pigments, which sometimes seem to float in front of the paper, the quiet shimmering of the shades and their animation, the liveliness and vitality of the painting that make this sheet a veritable immaterial manifestation, full of light.
In this work, the artist joins his colours with great painterly finesse to a harmonious accord and once more demonstrates his great mastery in dealing with the pastel medium.
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.
