Lot 12
  • 12

Christian Megert

Estimate
7,000 - 9,000 GBP
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Description

  • Christian Megert
  • Untitled (Spiegelobjekt, fragmentiert)
  • signed, stamped with the artist's fingerprint and dated 62 on the reverse
  • mirror on panel
  • 120 by 120 by 16.3cm.
  • 47 1/4 by 47 1/4 by 6 3/8 in.

Provenance

Galerie Bernard, Solothurn
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1970

Exhibited

Basel, Galerie Knöll, Christian Megert, 1963
Lausanne, Galerie Kasper, Christian Megert, 1963
Frankfurt am Main, Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, Das Städel zeigt: Beispiele aus der Sammlung Lenz, Kronberg,1974-75, n.p., no. 30, illustrated
Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Zero internationaal Antwerpen, 1979-80
Düsseldorf, Kunstverein, Megert, 1979
Salzburg, Museum Carolino Augusteum, Bilder und Objekte aus der Sammlung Lenz Schönberg. Eine europäische Bewegung, 1985
Munich, Dresdner Bank, Dresdner Bank, 1987
Moscow, Zentrales Künstlerhaus, Sammlung Lenz Schönberg. Eine europäische Bewegung in der bildenden Kunst von 1958 bis heute, 1989, p. 162, illustrated in colour
Warsaw, Galeria Zachęta, Sammlung Lenz Schönberg. Aus der Stille der Zeit - über die Grenzen von Raum, 1992, p. 136, illustrated
Zagreb, Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst, ZERO. Die europäische Vision - 1958 bis heute. Sammlung Lenz Schönberg, 2004, p. 94, illustrated

Literature

'Kolekcja Lenz Schönberg: Lenz Schönberg Collection; Art & Business visits Munich and Tirol', in: Art & Business, The International Magazine of the Art Market 1-2, 1992, pp. 4-11, illustrated
Anna and Gerhard Lenz with Ulrike Bleicker-Honisch, Epoche Zero. Sammlung Lenz Schönberg. Leben in Kunst, Vol. I, Ostfildern 2009, p. 120, no. ME-02, illustrated in colour

Condition

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the illustration fails to convey the reflective quality of the mirror elements and the three-dimensionality of the surface. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There are minute specks of oxidation to the extreme edges of several of the mirror elements, which are inherent to the medium.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Christian Megert's Untitled (Spiegelobjekt, Fragmentiert) of 1962 is a pivotal and exceptionally early work when this artist was heavily involved in the developments of Zero. Indeed, in the spring of the same year that he created this work he built an entire environment based around the reflection of light within contained space in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam for the exhibition Nul (meaning Zero in Dutch) which included Fontana, Manzoni, Castellani, Dorazio, Bury, Soto, Piene, Mack, Uecker, Herman de Vries, Goepfert, as well as others including Yayoi Kusama. In the present work, countless fragmentations of broken mirror throw out simultaneous cacophonies of light and shade towards the viewer, creating a zone of ethereal energy that is typical of Zero art. Belonging to the artist's most innovative period, Untitled (Spiegelobjekt, Fragmentiert) presents us with a constantly adjusting optical sensation that fluidly reflects light across its rhythmically facetted surfaces and never exists in a fixed state.

Megert was a key figure in the Zero movement and, although he spent considerable time in Berlin, Stockholm and Paris, he played a large part in the expansion of the movement in Switzerland, his home country. The formative stages of his career were characterised by geometric experimentation in diagrams, collages and monochrome paintings. In 1961 he had exhibited his first mirror-glass installations in the Galerie Køpcke in Copenhagen, which he described as the "northernmost point" of the Zero axis (the artist in conversation with Susanne Müller-Hanpft and Reiner Bentmann in Bern, 25 June 1972, cited in: Ulrike Schmitt, "The Zero Era", in: Anna and Gerhard Lenz with Ulrike Bleicker-Honisch, Epoche Zero. Sammlung Lenz Schönberg. Leben in Kunst, Vol. II, Ostfildern 2009, p. 34). This was accompanied by the manifesto Ein neuer Raum (A New Space) and subsequently his work was dominated by themes of reflection and distortion as he conceived environments created as "mirror-spaces, and light-box labyrinths" (Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Sperone Westwater, Zero in New York, 2008, p. 254). His fascination with light, space and reflection paralleled, evoked and inspired the work of other key figures in the Zero movement, notably Mack and Piene. The present work is an important precursor to the illustrious journey of his later career, which included being appointed Professor of Integrated Visual Arts and Architecture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf after he had moved there in 1972.