Leningrad, 1967
Screen printing and blurring on photographic canvas
(H x W)120 × 180 cm
About the workThe German Wehrmacht blockaded Leningrad for 872 days. Between 1941 and 1944, millions of people starved to death in the Russian city now known as Saint Petersburg. Wolf Vostell used sometimes drastic means to take a stance against war and against forgetting the past. In 1961, the Leverkusen-born artist began developing his blurring technique: a process in which solvents are applied to enlarged photos from newspapers and magazines, thus rendering them unrecognisable. As demonstrated by this work, the resulting blank spaces arouse the viewers’ curiosity and activate their cognitive processes.
AccessionKemp Collection Foundation
ProvenanceJuli 1972 Willi Kemp erworben vom Künstler; 2011 Stiftung Sammlung Kemp im Kunstpalast erworben durch Schenkung Willi Kemp
Inventory number0.mkp.2011.Kemp183
