Lot 27 | Günther Uecker | "Spirale"

UECKER, GÜNTHER
1930 Wendorf - 2025 Düsseldorf

Title: "Spirale".
Date: 1980.
Technique: Hammered-in nails and paint on canvas. On wood.
Measurement: 120 x 120 x 16cm.
Notation: Titled, signed and dated at the bottom: Spirale Uecker 80. Again signed, dated and titled verso. Here additionally equipped with direction arrow and dimensions.

This work is registered in the Uecker Archive under the number GU.80.006 and will be noted for inclusion in the forthcoming Uecker catalogue raisonné.

Provenance:
- Private collection Lower Saxony

Exhibitions:
- Mönchehaus-Museum, Goslar 1983 (Exhibition on the occasion of the presentation of the Kaiserring award by the city of Goslar)

Literature:
- Honisch, Dieter: Uecker, New York 1986, cat. rais. no. 999

- By one of Germany's greatest internationally acclaimed post-war artists
- The virtuoso arrangement of nails magically draws the viewer's eye to the centre of the spiral
- These dense nail objects are among the artist's most sought-after works on the auction market
- Always privately owned and offered on the art market for the first time

ZERO
In the “zero hour” following the devastation of World War II, German art was left in ruins. It was in this atmosphere that Heinz Mack and Otto Piene founded the ZERO artist group in Düsseldorf in 1957 with the aim of making a radical new start. With a courageous spirit of experimentation and persistent innovative power, the young artists radically discarded traditional forms and old modes of expression. Instead, they placed light, movement, and space at the center of their work—elements that opened up undreamt-of dimensions for art and catapulted it into a new era. ZERO wanted nothing less than to redefine the visual arts from the ground up—with experimental impetus and free from the ballast of ideological or emotional meanings. From the outset, the movement had an international focus and early on networked with like-minded Dutch artists from the Nul group, the French Nouveaux Réalistes, and the Japanese avant-garde artists of the Gutai group. Günther Uecker joined the ZERO group in 1961 and had a decisive influence on it with his striking visual language. Born in Mecklenburg in 1930, he first studied at the Berlin-Weißensee Art Academy and then transferred to the Düsseldorf Art Academy, where he was a student and later worked as a professor himself. His sensational nail objects—excitingly arranged reliefs interspersed with nails that use light and shadow to create lively surfaces full of rhythm and tension—were his “trademark” and secured him a well-deserved place in the history of post-war German art.

Nail object with a magical aura
His “Spiral” from 1980 is a work of impressive presence and intensity. Countless nails are hammered into a rectangular wooden panel covered with light-colored canvas in perfect order—crowded together in the center and almost vertical, becoming more widely spaced and less steeply inclined toward the edges. This virtuoso composition creates a powerful movement that magically draws the eye into the heart of the spiral and captivates the viewer. The almost hypnotic pull of the relief is enhanced by fine white and gray traces of color that spread beneath the nails with sweeping gestures and pulsating vitality, further emphasizing the spiral's dynamism. They complement the warm tones of the chamois-colored canvas and rust-patinated nails with cool color effects that impressively enhance and intensify the fascinating play of light and shadow.

Experienced through light
Günther Uecker saw his works as open pieces whose reality can only be experienced through light. The incidence of light is an indispensable part of his art - a central element that activates his works and lends them a deep and touching sensuality. The visual effect of the spiral also changes with the incidence of light and the viewer's location. This interplay creates an invigorating energy that challenges active perception and lends the spiral a mysterious aura.
Doris Hansmann