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#20

Lower Folding Zone of the Mast

Glöckner, Hermann (1889-1987) | Sculptor

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Dresden artist Hermann Glöckner studied technical drawing at vocational school. Even in those days, he was fascinated by the beauty of geometric forms, sensing something in the lines and surfaces going beyond sheer geometry. When he began working as a pattern designer, he quickly found he had other aspirations and dreamt of working freely as an artist. After several unsuccessful applications to the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden, Glöckner became largely self-taught. Until his death in 1987 aged 98, his creative output was informed by his abstract sculptural ideas. This small sculpture not only embodies the major design principle in his entire oeuvre – the art of folding – but also stands for the late appreciation of his work in the GDR.

For many years, Hermann Glöckner made his works in isolation. In the GDR, abstraction was long regarded as reactionary and individualist. In 1975, when Hermann Glöckner was 86 years old, he finally received a commission for a large outdoor sculpture. His 15-meter-high Folding Zone with Two Masts in front of the refectory at Dresden University of Technology is ranked as the first monumental Constructivist sculpture in public space in the GDR. Glöckner also produced this Lower Folding Zone of the Mast in a small format, painting it bright red. It is, without doubt, an independent work.

Incidentally, Glöckner’s ‘folding’ technique first appeared in his Tafelwerk, an experimental series from the late 1920s dividing surfaces into geometric forms. When he then began gluing on folded strips of silk paper, he took the first step towards three-dimensional works.

His sculptures follow the rules of geometry, precisely calculated and meticulously created. The Lower Folding Zone of the Mast is so intricately folded, it is almost impossible to imagine the source material it started from.

 

 

Material & Technique
Metal, painted red
Museum
Skulpturensammlung
Dating
1975
Inventory number
ZV 4149
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