In 1955, Konrad Klapheck painted his first typewriter — a true portrait of the device. Clearly a strange object when viewed in isolation and in detail, as Klapheck, a student of Goller, does. Monumental, cool and sublime in appearance, he has since given human life to many trivial everyday utensils, including bicycle bells, telephones, irons, shoe trees and, as here, taps and shower heads, which reveal their hidden, magical power. It is as if the objects, which suddenly gaze at us from the pictures with an uncanny and mysterious self-assurance, are literally demanding their right to a life of their own. At the same time, they symbolise different types of people and their character traits. The irony or even humour that Klapheck provokes with his pictures distracts us from the true tragedy of life that is being depicted.
Klapheck's explanation of the Wuppertal painting is correspondingly simple: 'The tall, light-skinned figure... the sex bomb with the beautiful breasts and the shower with the dark handle, her little companion with the thick wallet.' Klapheck's objects from the 1960s may have the charm of the old-fashioned in their simplicity, but the associations they trigger when viewed are all the clearer.
- Location & Dating
- 1963
- Material & Technique
- Öl auf Leinwand
- Dimensions
- 89 x 69,5cm
- Museum
- Von der Heydt Museum
- Inventory number
- G 1163