2865 - Adolf Luther (1912, Uerdingen – 1990, Krefeld)

Adolf Luther (1912, Uerdingen – 1990, Krefeld) Untitled (Large Hanging Lens) Lens consisting of two convex, semi-transparent, reflective acrylic glass elements in a black, ring-shaped hard plastic mount, 1982. Signature with the date “Luther (19)82” scratched into the plastic mount. Luther was a master of light, experimenting with its phenomena in both outdoor and indoor spaces, which he filled with various types of light. With his avant-garde mirror objects and oversized lenses, he became one of the most significant German representatives of conceptual light art, optical art, and kinetic art in the second half of the 20th century; As a result, Luther belonged to the inner circle of the “ZERO” group led by Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, and Günther Uecker, with whom he exhibited from 1963 to 1965. Outside the art scene, Luther became known to a wider public primarily through his concave mirror objects, which he closely integrated—as “integrations”—with the surrounding, mostly public spaces and architecture. After Luther had already created his first individual lens objects in 1969–70, the 1980s saw installations featuring rows of suspended lenses on Hoeschplatz in front of the Leopold Hoesch Museum in Düren (now in the museum’s atrium) and, in 1990, his “Linsenallee” (Avenue of Lenses), consisting of standing lenses on Ostwall in Krefeld. Through changes in the seasons and times of day, weather, the movement of the lenses, their location, and the viewer’s movement, these works—like his concave mirror “Integrations”—captivate with their shifting light effects. D. 85 cm. The work is listed and documented in the internal catalog raisonné of the Adolf Luther Foundation, Krefeld. Provenance: Private collection, Germany (purchased directly from the artist in 1976). Large hanging lens, 1982. Two semi-transparent, convexly curved mirrored acrylic glass elements, mounted in a hard plastic frame. Signed and dated “Luther (19)82.”