Lot 91: Der Frage wo stehe ich nachgehend. Der Himmel als Spiegel der Revolution

Jörg Immendorff (b. 1945) Der Frage wo stehe ich nachgehend. Der Himmel als Spiegel der Revolution signed and dated '87 immendorf' (lower right); titled 'der himmel als spiegel der revolution' (lower left) oil on canvas 98 3/8 x 129 7/8in. (250 x 330cm.) Painted in 1987

Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

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Painted in 1987, this work encapsulates many of the central themes of Immendorff's art during the 1980s. It is both a reflection upon the apparent failure of his revolutionary aims of the 1970s and also upon the divided state of Germany as an outer mirror of his own divided psyche. A deliberately schizophrenic work, Der Frage wo stehe Ich nachgehend. Der Himmel als Spiegel der Revolution (Contemplating the Question - Where Do I stand. The Sky as mirror of the Revolution) is, as its title suggests a pictorial expression of these concerns.

Depicting a canvas split into two between a nocturnal interior stage with its audience and arena and an apparently open pit of hell-fire, chaos and destruction adorned with faces of the fallen, the prospect of a positive revolution in this work seems bleak. The madness and mayhem of Immendorff's tormented vision is evoked most clearly in this painting y the striking image of a bicycle frame being suspended upside down from a rope centre stage. Beneath this apparition, a group of destructive thugs march around blindly in a circle amidst the rubble of their actions. They are watched by a boisterous but largely disinterested crowd.

Like Immendorff's celebrated series entitled Cafi Deutschland this bizarre arena powerfully expresses the political climate of within Germany at this time. What Immendorff has said of these works could also apply here, for both are works that address 'the situation of a divided Germany, but they are...also about alienation. They represent my attempt to break through a wall - and not merely the one that separated the former East and West Germanies. How odd is that, despite the many ways we have of communicating with one another, we seem to be building up walls between ourselves rather than dismantling them. So the Cafi Deutschland paintings stand just as much for a then externally divided Germany as for the condition of an internally split man, who struggles to communicate not only with himself but also with his colleagues and lovers.' (Jorg Immendorff 'Interview with Pamela Kort', Artforum, October 2005.)