KNOEBEL, IMI
1940 Dessau

Title: "Osterben".
Subtitle: 2-part.
Date: 1980/81.


Description: a) Acrylic on paper and masonite in an artist’s frame. 101.2 x 70.9 cm. Signed and dated on theupper frame rear panel: Imi 80.

b) Mixed media assemblage of metal, plywood, masonite, wire and paint. 202 x 119 cm. Signed, dated and titled on verso upper left: Imi Knoebel 81 OSTERBEN



Provenance:
- - Galerie near St. Stephan, Vienna

- Kunsthaus Lempertz, auction 21.11.1997, lot 304

- Christie’s London, auction 1.7.2010, lot 330

- Private collection Germany (acquired from the previous owner)




Exhibition:
- Saarlandmuseum, Saarbrücken (permanent loan 1983–1988)

- Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, 1987

- Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen, 1988

- Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp (permanent loan 1988–1993)

- Situation Kunst (for Max Imdahl), Bochum, 2011/12

- mpk Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, 2012

- Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 2012

- MiK Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg, 2012

- Kunsthalle Rostock, 2012/13

- Situation Kunst (for Max Imdahl), Bochum, 2019/20


Literature:
- Exhib. cat. Imi Knoebel, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen 1988, p. 13

- Exhib. cat. Aufbruch. Malerei und realer Raum. Situation Kunst (für Max Imdahl), Bochum / mpk Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern / Akademie der Künste, Berlin / MiK Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg / Kunsthalle Rostock, 2011–2013, pp. 129-131

- Exhib. cat. Farbanstöße. Farbe in der neueren Kunst, Museum unter Tage, Situation Kunst (für Max Imdahl), Bochum, 2019/20, p. 45



- From his central creative phase ca. 1980/81

- Relief-like combination of painting and object within space

- A collection of works of high art-historical significance



By placing colour, form and space into an open, experimental relationship, Imi Knoebel has pursued one of the most rigorous positions within abstract painting since the 1960s. As a student of Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts, and through engagement with the constructive tradition of Kazimir Malevich, he developed a radically reduced yet open visual language that systematically expands the boundaries of painting. His works are represented internationally in major collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London and Museum Ludwig in Cologne.

The two-part work Osterben combines painterly and object-like elements into a relief-like structure. The two panels, differing in size, exist in a carefully balanced relationship of tension. Constructed upon a metal substructure, the relief consists of mounted panels and colour fields forming its supporting base. Overlays, screw fixings and visible traces of handling are integral components of the work. A luminous red rectangular element introduces a striking vertical accent, while muted tones of grey and beige, together with selective interventions of colour, articulate and differentiate the surface.

Its effect unfolds through the interplay between strict order and procedural openness. The diptych format reinforces the dialogic quality of the composition, in which proportion, spacing and the placement of elements are precisely calibrated in relation to one another. The title Osterben alludes to a state of transition, formally suggested by the open, layered structure of the work. The piece belongs to a pivotal phase in which Knoebel consistently extended painting into space, dissolving the boundaries between image and object. Its institutional reception underscores the significance of this body of work.





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.




#Imi Knoebel #Minimalism #Photographs #Germany #Post-War Art #Painting #Shapes #1980s #Post War.







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.