Concept (for Opitz) (Concept (bei Opitz))
A.R. Penck (Ralf Winkler)
German, 1939–2017
(1976)
A drypoint print in which A.R. Penck layers wiry, almost graffiti-like figures, faces, and a column of handwritten German words into a compact, ironic study of ideas and human drives.
What hits you first is the nervous economy of scratched line—overlapping, translucent bodies and a large, staring face at the right, balanced against a left-hand list (Glaube, Liebe, Wille, Instinkt, etc.) that reads like a rough manifesto pinned to the scene.
Penck transformed crude, sign-like marks and text into a personal visual language that critiqued modern psychology and society and helped propel the sign-driven energies of late 20th‑century neo‑expressionist and conceptual art.
Medium
Drypoint
Dimensions
plate: 9 9/16 x 13 7/8" (24.3 x 35.2 cm); sheet: 15 3/8 x 21" (39 x 53.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Richard A. Epstein Fund
Accession
159.1985
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
