7236 - Girke, Raimund

Girke, Raimund Untitled Gouache on black vellum. 1983. 24.3 x 15.8 cm. Signed “Girke” in pencil on the reverse and dated. Like plays of light, Girke uses a broad brush to rhythmically place traces of white paint—varying in transparency—in loose rows next to and on top of one another, allowing the black paper to show through to varying degrees and fading to transparency toward the bottom. Girke masterfully modulates the monochrome of his preferred white color, creating a sense of space and structure through his entirely unique, dynamic brushwork. “In my white paintings, I do not wish to fix the pictorial space, but rather to lead the image into a stage that, beyond movement within the surface, enables unlimited spatial movement. This is based on the subtly nuanced, ebbing and flowing white. … The white eludes any definition; it seems to constantly expand and change. It is both stillness and movement, is boundless, and strips the painting of its material state (...)” (Raimund Girke, 1963, in: Publication accompanying the exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zug, 1995, cited from museum-kueppersmuehle.de, accessed September 7, 2026). – Included: A signed color silkscreen by Girke, “Untitled,” 1970. Provenance: Private collection, Lower Saxony - Please request condition reports for the lots, as the condition is usually not listed in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.