Blanket (Decke) from .....Higher Beings Ordain (.....Höhere Wesen befehlen)
Sigmar Polke
German, 1941–2010
1967, published 1968
A photolithograph of a casually draped floral blanket in which the artist frames an ordinary domestic fabric as a photographic subject to suggest the haunting outline of a woman's body and to challenge simple storytelling.
You'd first notice the soft, life-sized folds and low-contrast gray tones that make the floral border read like a ghostly trace, while the printed German caption below adds a wry, suggestive comment.
Made during Polke's late-1960s experiments with photography and appropriation, the print questions photographic authority and everyday imagery, helping to steer conceptual practices in postwar German art.
Medium
One from a portfolio of 14 photolithographs
Dimensions
plate: 8 11/16 x 6 3/8" (22.1 x 16.2 cm); sheet: 11 7/16 x 8 1/4" (29 x 21 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the Associates of the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books
Accession
103.1998.9
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
