Small Composition, 1964
MediumSteel, chrome
(H x W x D)45 × 25,3 × 43,5 cm
Status
on display, room Das fünfte Element. Werke aus der Sammlung Kemp About the workA non-functional tank or a part of armour? Detlef Birgfeld's sculpture oscillates between attack and defence. Assembled from chrome-plated parts, the block-like figure resembles an archaeological find from the future: technical, physically present and mysterious. Born in Rostock, Birgfeld created the work as a preliminary piece for the "Large Composition (Surrender)" of 1964/65, which belongs to the collection of the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) in Berlin. Both the draft and the final version illustrate the admission of defeat and address the relationship between man and machine.
AccessionKemp Collection Foundation
Provenance[...]; August 1966 Willi Kemp (Köln 1927 - 2020 Düsseldorf) erworben von der Galerie Springer, Berlin; 2011 Stiftung Sammlung Kemp im Kunstpalast erworben durch Schenkung Willi Kemp
Inventory number0.mkp.2011.Kemp005