Günther Uecker

Howard Wise Gallery, New York
Mr. and Mrs. John Murchison, Texas
Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2003

New York, Howard Wise Gallery, Heinz Mack, Günther Uecker and Otto Piene, 1964

Dieter Honisch, Uecker, Stuttgart 1983, p. 195, no. 355, illustrated
Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Sperone Westwater Gallery, 1957-1966, Zero, 2008, p. 103, illustrated

The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the illustration fails to convey fully the three-dimensionality of the projecting nails. This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals a very minor, minute media accretion towards the lower centre of the right edge and a very minor, minute rub mark towards the bottom left corner. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals five very minor spots of retouching to the bottom left quadrant, one towards the centre of the extreme overturn bottom edge, and three to the bottom right quadrant.
"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."

"When I use nails as elements of structure, I do not mean for them to be understood as nails. My aim is to establish a structured pattern of relationships with the aid of these elements in order to set vibrations in motion that disturb and irritate their geometric order. The white objects should be seen as states of extreme intensity kept in constant flux by the reflection of light. What is important to me is variability, which is capable of revealing the beauty of movement to us".

The artist in 1961, cited in: Exhibition Catalogue, Berlin, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Günther Uecker: Twenty Chapters, 2006, p. 34

Exhibited in the year of its execution at the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, Günther Uecker's inspirationalWhite Bird  ('Weiße Vogel') of 1964 is a work of startling freshness and vitality and historically marks the arrival of the influential Zero movement in America. An early exemplar of the artist's groundbreaking incorporation of nails - an aesthetic language subsequently developed over his entire distinguished career - this is one of the most significant works by Uecker to be offered at auction. The rhythmic repetition of its curving field of nails is held within an arcing silhouette, while adjustments in light and perspective afford a constant sense of movement. Indeed, this shifting outline precisely delivers the promise of the title: together the nails forge a spectacular effect of a white bird in majestic flight.

Working on his knees, Uecker hammered his nails spontaneously without premeditated design or preliminary sketch, moving rapidly outwards from the centre and spacing the nails at approximately the width of his finger. Dieter Honisch has described how the artist worked "at lightening speed in a single, uninterrupted action, the results of which he did not see as a whole until the action was completed or brought to an end by sheer exhaustion" (Exhibition Catalogue, Berlin, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Günther Uecker: Twenty Chapters, 2006, p. 60). Indeed, this sublime work testifies to an intense and immensely focused physical action, as well as preserving the serene purity of his inimitable monochrome aesthetic. With its evolving patterns of vertiginous movement governed by changes in light and viewpoint,White Bird  is a fundamentally kinetic and vibrant work. It emblematises the artist's departure from two-dimensions and surface, and the evolution of a new type of hanging sculpture in his oeuvre.

Uecker had moved from East to West Berlin in 1953 and started testing the creative possibilities of nails whilst a student at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. His professor there was Otto Pankok, who had founded theJunge Rheinland group in 1919 before being declared a degenerate by Hitler, and his vehemently anti-fascist views and beliefs in the potential for social purpose in art were particularly inspirational to his young student, then in his early twenties. In 1957 Uecker met Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Yves Klein, and created his first Nagelbild Informelle Struktur. He contributed to Zero's Seventh Evening Exhibition on 24^th April 1958 and was at the heart of the genesis of Zero, despite not officially joining the group until 1961. In 1960 he conducted a remarkable Arrow Shooting demonstration at the Festival d'art d'avantgarde in Paris, which further eliminated the involvement of the artist from artistic creation, and in 1961 he presented his first Abgesunkenen Strukturen (Sunken Structures) in which rows of nails became denser towards the base of the canvas. For ZERO – Edition, Exposition, Demonstration at the Galerie Schmela in July of that year, he performed the Weiße Zone action, painting the street in front of the gallery white to create an untouched Zero zone. Through its purity and absence of association, the colour white was imperative to the Zero mission to start art again from the beginning, and is perfectly delivered in the square monochrome of this work.

By 1964 the influence of Zero in Europe was well-established and Uecker's creative mode had reached inimitable maturity. Together with Mack and Piene, he travelled to New York for the exhibition at Howard Wise's gallery; America presenting an enthralling opportunity for a new 'Zero-zone'. After the exhibition in 1965 Uecker reported: "when we arrived in the United States...it was simply home for us. It was a world completely familiar to us" (the artist cited in "Der leere Mensch", 1965, cited in: Anna and Gerhard Lenz with Ulrike Bleicker-Honisch, The Zero Era. Sammlung Lenz Schönberg: Living in Art, Vol. II, Ostfildern 2009, p. 41). Central to that breakthrough exhibition and existing in an indefinable space between painting and sculpture, White Bird  is among the most appealing works by this key Zero protagonist. It brings together compelling composition and breathtaking form, and is a highly formative paragon of Uecker's legendary nail paintings.