MACK, HEINZ
1931 Lollar

Title: Großer Lichtschleier.
Date: 1969.
Technique: Aluminum between plexiglass panes.
Measurement: 265 x 200 x 3 cm.



Provenance:
- - Private collection, Cologne (purchased directly from the artist in 1970)



- An elaborately constructed relief made of stainless steel and Plexiglas, which impressively documents Heinz Mack’s experimental material aesthetics

- A compelling synthesis of technical precision and poetic, lyrical imagery

- A characteristic work that exemplarily unites the central principles of light, structure and vibration

- In the family’s possession since 1970



A New Beginning in Postwar Germany

Hardly any artist shaped the development of European postwar art as profoundly as Heinz Mack—painter, sculptor, creator of objects, photographer, designer of environments, and architect of urban spaces.

As a co-founder of the ZERO movement, Heinz Mack belonged to the generation that, after the Second World War, dared a radical aesthetic new beginning, resolutely abandoning the traditional categories of the visual arts. Through light reliefs, kinetic objects, and monumental installations, Mack developed a unique visual language that combines technical precision with poetic and lyrical effect, consistently devoted to the phenomenon of light.



Life and Work

Heinz Mack was born in 1931 in Lollar near Giessen. After studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1950 to 1953, he expanded his interests to philosophical questions and continued his education for a further three years at the University of Cologne.

At an early stage, Mack developed a strong interest in international artistic developments and established connections with artists and galleries abroad. The founding of the ZERO group in Düsseldorf in 1957/58 marked the beginning of an intensely experimental phase that quickly brought him international recognition.

In the decades that followed, Mack realised major exhibitions and projects worldwide, including contributions to the documenta in Kassel and the Venice Biennale. Today, his work is represented in numerous major museums and collections.



Large Veil of Light

Created in 1969, three years after the dissolution of the ZERO group, the work bearing the poetic title Large Veil of Light (Großer Lichtschleier) was constructed from stainless-steel honeycomb structures and bolted Plexiglas sheets, while remaining unmistakably imbued with the experimental spirit of the ZERO period.

Like a silvery shimmering membrane, the work unfolds within space. Light is dispersed in multiple directions by the finely articulated structure of the surface, transforming the density of solid material into a flickering, almost dematerialised image.

The transparent honeycomb structure of the stainless steel is not uniform but modulated through local compressions, condensations, and subtle distortions of the material, producing an irregularly animated relief surface. These delicate deformations differentiate the incoming light into vibrating zones of reflection and intensify the impression of a shimmering veil in perpetual internal motion.



Light as a Central Creative Force

Here, as so often throughout Heinz Mack’s oeuvre, light assumes a central role—not as a means of illumination, but as a formative force that renders vibration and rhythm visible and transforms material surfaces into dynamic fields of constantly shifting appearances.

“It is true,” the artist observed, “that throughout my entire artistic work, light has been of eminent significance [...]. And it is rightly often said that it has always been my intention to create objects that appear immaterial—through light, through structure, and through movement.”

(Heinz Mack, quoted in Yvonne Schwarzer, Entering Paradise on Earth During One’s Lifetime: A Conversation with the Painter and Sculptor Heinz Mack, Witten, 2005, p. 20)

Doris Hansmann



Estimated shipping costs for this lot:
The lot is unsuitable for parcel shipping. Transport only by shipping company after consultation following the auction.

additional shipping insurance


Shipping insurance

up to total invoice amount of 25,000 Euros: max. 41.65 Euro

over a total invoice amount of 25,000 Euros: 1.8 o/oo


USA by individual arrangement after the auction.




#Heinz Mack #ZERO #Germany #Post-War Art #1960s #Light #Sculpture #Sculpture.







In accordance with §26 UrhG (German Copyright Act), VAN HAM is obliged to pay a statutory resale royalty on the sale proceeds of all original works of fine art and photography whose authors have not been deceased for 70 years prior to the end of the calendar year of the sale. The buyer shall contribute 1.5% of the hammer price to this fee.