Negatives Leben
A.R. Penck (Ralf Winkler)
German, 1939–2017
1974
A small drawing in crayon and gouache in which A.R. Penck pares experience down to bold, primitive marks—attempting to make movement and tension legible as pictographic signs.
What hits you is the raw immediacy of thick red, black, and blue sweeps—the grainy crayon showing through opaque gouache—creating a heartlike central mass ringed by energetic, calligraphic strokes.
Penck’s stripped-down, sign-based vocabulary helped reintroduce figurative and symbolic language into postwar European art, paving the way for Neo‑Expressionist and later street- and symbol-oriented practices.
Medium
Crayon and gouache on paper
Dimensions
11 3/4 x 8 1/4" (29.8 x 21 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift
Accession
2677.2005
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
