Standarts
A.R. Penck (Ralf Winkler)
German, 1939–2017
1970
An artist's book in which A.R. Penck prints large, rough‑edged blue pictograms across pages to reduce social gestures and signs to a compact, language‑like set of symbols.
A single page meets the eye framed by a hand‑drawn blue border and dominated by three chunky, brushlike marks—a round dot, a bold diagonal check, and blocky right‑angle strokes—their printed edges ragged and immediate.
Part of Penck's mid‑20th‑century project to invent a primitive‑modern pictographic vocabulary, this work links neo‑expressionist painting, graffiti‑like signmaking, and the artist‑book format to rethink how images can function as shorthand social language.
Medium
Artist's book
Dimensions
Page: 11 7/16 x 7 11/16" (29 x 19.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
24.1982
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
