Thomas Schütte

Private Collection, Germany/New York
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2010

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is brighter and more vibrant in the original. Condition: Unexamined out of its frames, this work is in very good and original condition. The sheets undulate slightly.There is some evidence of wear to the extreme outer edges of the frames, which is likely to be in keeping with the artist's choice of media.
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“Schütte’s drawing, whether rendered in ink or watercolours express an almost cartoon like humility and an economy of means that belie both their gravitas and their poetic invocation of the existential dilemmas of human being.”
Douglas Fogle
'What is to be done?', in: Exh. Cat., Stockholm, Jarla Partilager, Thomas Schütte, 2006, p. 6

A captivating example of Schütte’s celebrated series of watercolour works on paper, Darauf Einen Dujardin from 1987 is a diptych depicting an elegant couple adorned with embellished clothing. In these intimate portraits, Schütte conjures the interplay of words and image to create an intriguing observation of German culture.

The two figures in the present work are elegantly dressed with frontal pose towards the viewer. On top of each head is a drinking glass that refers to the title of the work: “Darauf Einen Dujardin” (Thereupon a Dujardin) was a famous German toast referencing the eponymous liquor company and became an integral part of German drinking culture to the extent that the toast became a universal exclamation of good wishes and good health. Dujardin became a hit sensation following an internationally successful advertising campaign in 1952, which was accompanied by humorous cartoons, some of which had a bottle of Dujardin liquor pouring on top of the figure’s head.

At the time the present work was executed, Dujardin featured several TV ads accompanied by the brand’s famous slogan. The ads were completely devoid of any human figures and only featured clinging glasses filled with Dujardin liquor. Evoking the flair of elegance, the aura created by these ads opened up the imagination about the potential consumers of the liquor. This imaginative ambivalence is further reflected in Schütte’s works, where the ephemeral nature of the figures is emphasised by the artist’s technique and medium.

Although best known as a sculptor, drawing is integral to Schütte’s heterogeneous practice. Preliminary in its fleeting urgency, the present work espouses an intriguing immediacy. The artist’s body, his movement and expressive hand are palpable in such application, situating Schütte at the centre of this examination of German culture. Referencing the advertising aesthetics of Dujardin from the birth of its famous slogan in the 1950s to the influential campaigns of the following decades, Darauf Einen Dujardin is a testament to the calibre of Schütte’s artistic production and his observational finesse.