Sigmar Polke – A prominent artist outside the commercial sphere

Sigmar Polke is one of our most prominent artists – and yet his work has probably never been the subject of such a sustained media spectacle as that of many other celebrated artists. Polke thus serves as proof of how much there is to discover beyond the most commercially acclaimed art, for all those who can see for themselves and who would like to learn to see even more.

Polke was never one of those artists who constantly sought the limelight through public appearances or media attention, and yet more was written about him in the art world than about many of his more flamboyant colleagues. This is because he had a remarkable career and received significant awards.

At the beginning of his life, Polke, like many of his contemporaries, had to endure several war-related relocations. He was born in 1941 in Oels, Lower Silesia, from where the family fled to Thuringia after the war ended in 1945. However, the political landscape in East Germany displeased the Polkes from the outset, and in 1953 they fled East Germany for West Berlin, moving from there to Willich in North Rhine-Westphalia.

After finishing school, Polke apprenticed with a glass painter Upon completing his apprenticeship, he began his studies at the Düsseldorf Art AcademyHe studied under Gerhard Hoehme and Karl Otto Götz, two prominent figures in abstract painting and German Informel.

At the academy, Polke met Gerhard Richter and Konrad Lueg, with whom he "founded an art style" as early as 1963, as the friends called it. They named this art style "Capitalist Realism," an ironic allusion to the art movement of the GDR with its official designation "Socialist Realism.

The concept was quickly followed by its first realization: the action “Living with Pop – A Demonstration for Capitalist Realism.” The first public exhibition, in which Richter and Lueg, as well as Manfred Kuttner, participated, also took place in 1963 in a condemned building on Kaiserstrasse in Düsseldorf. With their Capitalist Realism, the artist friends not only wanted to distinguish themselves, but the term also represented their critical view of the emerging mass consumerism and the unquestioning belief in progress.

Furthermore, the artists wanted to present themselves as the German answer to American Pop Art True to the meaning of “popular art”, Polke also realized his works of the 1960s in this way. He exclusively used mass-produced everyday objects, whether chocolate, bathtubs or lovers.

He always combined them in a stylish way with suitable backgrounds, for example a well-known wallpaper or a widely sold fabric.

This witty concept, which clearly conveyed irony, was well received: in 1966, Polke received the Art Prize of German Youth in Baden-Baden. However, he never remained static in his style, but drew on contemporary advertising painting for his motifs, occasionally switched to the dot matrix technique, which he rendered with unusual coarseness, and very early on also used materials that remained vibrant even after painting, for example, materials that could change color.

Since receiving this art prize in 1966, Sigmar Polke has been a sought-after artist who held several solo exhibitions every year and actively participated in group exhibitions.

In 1967, Polke graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, in 1970 and 1971 he was appointed as a visiting professor at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts , and from 1977 to 1991 he held a permanent professorship there.

His art was three times at documenta (documenta 5 in 1972, documenta 6 in 1977 and documenta 7 in 1982), he received an award at the 13th São Paulo Biennial in 1975, and after several awards within Germany, he was awarded the Golden Lion at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1986.

Polke went on to win many art prizes; today his works can be viewed by the public at many national and international exhibitions, or one can admire the beautiful Sigmar Polke windows in the Grossmünster in Zurich, the five glass and seven agate windows which have been on display since 2009.

Sigmar Polke is one of those artists whose work offers a wealth of discoveries, making it a tremendous joy to continually uncover new things. Polke's inventive art is currently a highly recommended find for collectors; with a bit of luck, signed and numbered serigraphs by him can still be acquired for three-figure sums.