in situ gallery photography Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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in situ gallery photography Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Gallery Text

The Düsseldorf artists’ group ZERO, which Uecker joined in 1961, offered one of the strongest re-sponses to the expressive abstract painting of the 1950s in Europe known as art informel. Members of the first generation to come of age in postwar Germany, ZERO artists sought to revitalize art through radical simplification. They adopted a minimalist vocabulary and explored unconventional materials and new forms—producing objects, environments, and actions. Their interest in the intersection between art and nature led many to experiment with light. Uecker turned his primary material—household nails—into light modulators. In Spiral White, the angled position of the painted nails follows the spherical shape of the relief, activating a delicate interplay between light and shadow.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1985.23
People
Günther Uecker, German (Wendorf, Germany 1930 - 2025 Düsseldorf, Germany)
Title
Spiral White
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Spirale Weiß
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1963
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/299980

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1100, Modern and Contemporary Art, The Sixties Experiment/Multiple Strategies
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Paint and nails on canvas mounted on wood
Dimensions
actual: 110.5 x 110.5 x 8 cm (43 1/2 x 43 1/2 x 3 1/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: on verso

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Collection of the artist (1963-1965), sold; to the Cultural Council in the Federation of German Industry, Berlin (1965-1985), gift; to the Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1985.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Cultural Council in the Federation of German Industry
Copyright
© Günther Uecker / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany
Accession Year
1985
Object Number
1985.23
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Dieter Honisch, Uecker, Klett-Cotta (Stuttgart, Germany, 1983), no. 312
  • Peter Nisbet and Emilie Norris, Busch-Reisinger Museum: History and Holdings, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1991), p. 99, ill.
  • James Cuno, Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Ivan Gaskell, and William W. Robinson, Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting, ed. James Cuno, Harvard University Art Museums and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, 1996), pp. 352-353, repr. color
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1100, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/07/2017 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu