Lot number 357 - Auction 154
BEMALTE HOLZKISTE MIT VIER SZENEN AUS DEM ALTEN TESTAMENT (WOHL ENDE 1960ER JAHRE)

SIGMAR POLKE 1941 Oels (Lower Silesia) - 2010 Cologne PAINTED WOODEN BOX WITH FOUR SCENES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT (CA. LATE 1960S) Wood, nailed and painted with acrylic paint. 13,5 x 24,5 x 24 cm. Unsigned. Scenic depictions, some labelled: Adam and Eve; Simson and Delilah; Lot and his daughters; Judith and Holofernes. Age-appropriate condition. Expertise: With two confirmations from Karin Polke (each dated '28.12.2009'). Provenance: Formerly Eva Schreier Collection, Düsseldorf; most recently private collection Düsseldorf. An extraordinary early work by Sigmar Polke, created during his experimental phase after studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. This hand-painted wooden box depicts four biblical scenes - Adam and Eve, Samson and Delilah, Lot and his daughters, and Judith and Holofernes - and unfolds a fascinating iconographic programme revolving around the themes of seduction, power and moral testing. All of the depictions focus on the relationship between man and woman - a field of tension between desire and control, weakness and cunning. Here, Polke condenses the biblical narratives into a cycle about female power and male vulnerability: Eve seduces Adam into sin, Delilah betrays Samson, Lot's daughters act out of necessity and desire, and Judith ultimately kills Holofernes through deception. In each scene, the woman appears as an active, acting figure whose influence determines the fate of the man through love, cunning or courage. Polke's painterly execution is characterised by an impetuous, almost improvised energy - expressive, sensual and at the same time ironically detached. The box, an everyday object, thus becomes the vehicle for a complex, multi-layered pictorial programme that reflects the moral and symbolic ambivalences of these stories: sin and redemption, temptation and salvation, seduction and power. Two photographic expert reports by Karin Polke confirm the authenticity of the work.