Cardboardology (Pappologie)
Sigmar Polke
German, 1941–2010
1968–69
Polke turns ordinary cardboard, nails, and a doodled diagram on graph paper into a witty, quasi‑scientific “study,” using humble materials to mock and rethink systems of classification.
What strikes you is the measured row of brown cardboard swatches, pinned and shrinking across the wall beneath casually cut letters spelling “PAPPOLOGIE,” alongside a small, sketched chart—an effect that reads like a laboratory display made by a prankster.
By treating cheap, found materials as the subject of a playful taxonomy, this work undermines the authority of scientific systems and points toward late‑1960s art practices that foreground materiality, irony, and conceptual critique.
Medium
Cardboard, nails, ink, pencil, ballpoint pen, and felt-tip pen on graph paper
Dimensions
19 1/4 x 52 1/2" (48.9 x 133.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, Committee on Drawings Fund, gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (by exchange), Nina and Gordon Bunshaft Bequest (by exchange), gift of Dr. Kuo Yu-Shou (by exchange) and gift of Alexander Calder (by exchange)
Accession
770.2012.a-hh
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
