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Gallery Text

One of the strongest responses to the expressive abstract painting of the 1950s known as informel came from the Düsseldorf artists’ group ZERO, which Uecker joined in 1961. Members of the first generation to come of age in postwar Germany, ZERO artists sought to revitalize art through radical simplification. Adopting a minimalist vocabulary, they explored unconventional materials and new forms, producing objects, environments, and actions. Their interest in the intersection between art and nature led many to experiment with light. The nail, which functioned as a light modulator when used as a relief element, became Uecker’s primary material. Like his other nail-studded mobiles, Gliding Glide incorporates gentle movement. The sphere’s ability to turn, and the viewer’s own orbital movements, activate a delicate interplay between light and shadow, while the sharp, fixed point of the nail below reasserts an element of aggression.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR67.21
People
Günther Uecker, German (Wendorf, Germany born 1930)
Title
Gliding Glide
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1959/1964
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/348955

Physical Descriptions

Dimensions
sphere: 15.6 cm (6 1/8 in.)
nail: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.)
base: 27.9 × 60 cm (11 × 23 5/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: in black ink on underside of base: G Uecker
  • inscription: underside of base, black ink, in artist's hand: Schwebend, Schweben
  • inscription: underside of base, black ink, in artist's hand: Kugel 1959 [64 inscribed above 59]

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Association Fund
Copyright
© Günther Uecker / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany
Accession Year
1967
Object Number
BR67.21
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Dieter Honisch, Uecker, Klett-Cotta (Stuttgart, Germany, 1983), no. 391
  • Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 51

Exhibition History

  • German Sculpture, 1500 - 1960: A New Installation, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 09/05/1984 - 12/31/1984
  • German Sculpture from the Permanent Collection, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 01/21/1986 - 03/10/1986
  • Basic Research: A Selection of Postwar German Painting and Sculpture, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 09/20/2003 - 04/09/2006
  • 32Q: 1100, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 04/07/2017

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu