Mixed media on canvas Oil and dispersion paint on jute. Signed and dated. 200 x 300 cm. [AR]. - Large-format, unmistakably powerful Pour Painting with the painter's shirt. - Religious references are characteristic of Nitsch's work, as is the case here with the use of the liturgical colors blue and green. - The painting shirt refers to the physical process of artistic production and evokes associations with depictions of the crucifixion. - Nitsch is regarded the main representative of Viennese Actionism and his oeuvre as a groundbreaking contribution to the art of the 20th century.
Fetische des Blicks. Mode und Verführung, Foundation Ahlers Pro Arte, Herford, September 11, 2021 - January 16, 2022, pp. 18/19
Galerie Steinek, Vienna. Corporate Collection Ahlers AG, Herford (acquired from the above in 2006)
Starting in the mid-1950s, the Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch sought to create a new form of art that would combine music, literature, and visual arts in the sense of Gesamtkunstwerk, a synthesis of arts that appealed to all the senses. As a sub-discipline of his “Orgien Mysterien Theater” (Theater of Orgies and Mysteries), painting served not only as impetus but also as the outcome of numerous actions and is firmly anchored in the artist's oeuvre. In 1989, the first multi-colored “Schüttbilder” (Poured Paintings) were created. Composed of different layers, they repeatedly incorporate the liturgical colors green, red, violet, white, and black. An exhibition at the Albertina in Vienna in 2019 impressively demonstrated the wide range of Nitsch's artwork. In an essay accompanying the exhibition, Hermann Nitsch described color as “a powerful phenomenon.” His action painting expresses this lifelong enthusiasm for the material, and the works are lasting testimonies to his legendary and widely documented painting actions. Apart from the color, the painter's shirt also plays a special role. In 1991, Hermann Nitsch wrote: “[.] the shirt often adorns a painting as the highest kind of decoration and trophy to enrich its color structure; there are paintings that do not need a shirt, others demand it” (Hermann Nitsch, Das Malhemd, 1991, quoted from: Dietmar Haubenhofer, Hermann Nitsch. Das Konzept des Orgien Mysterien Theaters. Malaktionen, Prinzendorf 2013, p. 122). The shirt attached to the center of the present work shows clear traces of the very physical, sensual process of its creation, inevitably evoking associations with depictions of the crucifixion. References to religious and philosophical worldviews, as well as ancient mystical cults, are characteristic of Hermann Nitsch's Gesamtkunstwerk; they appear time and again in various actions, relics, and layers of associations. Nitsch's concept of art was not always met with public approval, especially in the early days. Until his death in 2022, however, the general view of his work has steadily changed. His early works, in particular, are now recognized as a pioneering contribution to 20th-century art and, in their entirety, continue to fascinate his audience. [AR]
In good condition. Canvas underneath the shirt slightly wavy. The ends of the wooden latch to which the shirt is attached are taped to the image carrier with transparent tape. Canvas not fully flush with the stretcher along the long sides, part of the work's nature, as the paint was also applied to the stretcher.
Lot Details
Mixed media on canvas Oil and dispersion paint on jute. Signed and dated. 200 x 300 cm. [AR]. - Large-format, unmistakably powerful Pour Painting with the painter's shirt. - Religious references are characteristic of Nitsch's work, as is the case here with the use of the liturgical colors blue and green. - The painting shirt refers to the physical process of artistic production and evokes associations with depictions of the crucifixion. - Nitsch is regarded the main representative of Viennese Actionism and his oeuvre as a groundbreaking contribution to the art of the 20th century.
Fetische des Blicks. Mode und Verführung, Foundation Ahlers Pro Arte, Herford, September 11, 2021 - January 16, 2022, pp. 18/19
Galerie Steinek, Vienna. Corporate Collection Ahlers AG, Herford (acquired from the above in 2006)
Starting in the mid-1950s, the Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch sought to create a new form of art that would combine music, literature, and visual arts in the sense of Gesamtkunstwerk, a synthesis of arts that appealed to all the senses. As a sub-discipline of his “Orgien Mysterien Theater” (Theater of Orgies and Mysteries), painting served not only as impetus but also as the outcome of numerous actions and is firmly anchored in the artist's oeuvre. In 1989, the first multi-colored “Schüttbilder” (Poured Paintings) were created. Composed of different layers, they repeatedly incorporate the liturgical colors green, red, violet, white, and black. An exhibition at the Albertina in Vienna in 2019 impressively demonstrated the wide range of Nitsch's artwork. In an essay accompanying the exhibition, Hermann Nitsch described color as “a powerful phenomenon.” His action painting expresses this lifelong enthusiasm for the material, and the works are lasting testimonies to his legendary and widely documented painting actions. Apart from the color, the painter's shirt also plays a special role. In 1991, Hermann Nitsch wrote: “[.] the shirt often adorns a painting as the highest kind of decoration and trophy to enrich its color structure; there are paintings that do not need a shirt, others demand it” (Hermann Nitsch, Das Malhemd, 1991, quoted from: Dietmar Haubenhofer, Hermann Nitsch. Das Konzept des Orgien Mysterien Theaters. Malaktionen, Prinzendorf 2013, p. 122). The shirt attached to the center of the present work shows clear traces of the very physical, sensual process of its creation, inevitably evoking associations with depictions of the crucifixion. References to religious and philosophical worldviews, as well as ancient mystical cults, are characteristic of Hermann Nitsch's Gesamtkunstwerk; they appear time and again in various actions, relics, and layers of associations. Nitsch's concept of art was not always met with public approval, especially in the early days. Until his death in 2022, however, the general view of his work has steadily changed. His early works, in particular, are now recognized as a pioneering contribution to 20th-century art and, in their entirety, continue to fascinate his audience. [AR]
In good condition. Canvas underneath the shirt slightly wavy. The ends of the wooden latch to which the shirt is attached are taped to the image carrier with transparent tape. Canvas not fully flush with the stretcher along the long sides, part of the work's nature, as the paint was also applied to the stretcher.
Hermann Nitsch 
