Multiple, mixed media (pastels and relics) on canvas
Austria, 2006
Hermann Nitsch (born 1938) - Austrian painter and performance artist
Signed and dated in pencil with ‘Hermann Nitsch 06’ lower right (barely legible)
Numbered in pencil with ‘41/50’ lower left (barely legible)
Dimensions: 50 x 50 cm
Very good condition
Hermann Nitsch is considered the Enfant Terrible of the Vienna Activism ; the current highest auction record for a relic painting by Hermann Nitsch is €47,000
Object is regular taxed. 19% VAT is added to the purchase price for deliveries within the EU.

The present relic painting by Hermann Nitsch shows two patches and a sanitary napkin on a painted canvas with traces of animal blood. Nitsch's actions were conceived as synthesis of the arts, accompanied by music and shouting chorus .These 'orgiastic performances' aimed to create an aesthetic ecstasy for the viewer. With his relic paintings, the artist also wanted to provoke disgust, in order to bring the viewer to reflect on displaced symbolic topics as blood or death. ??

The work is signed and dated in pencil ‘Hermann Nitsch 06’ lower right and numbered ‘41/50’ lower left (barely legible). It is in very good condition, showing minor wear. The dimensions are 50 x 50 cm.

Hermann Nitsch (b. 1938)

Hermann Nitsch was born in Vienna in 1938. He studied at the Austrian Federal Education and Research Institute for Graphics in Vienna and then worked as a commercial artist at the Museum of Technology. In the late 1950s, he created his first painting actions and conceived the concept of the ‘Orgien Mysterien Theater’. His public actions caused repeated confrontations with the Viennese authorities, and Nitsch moved to Germany in 1968. In the following years, Nitsch performed his actions in many European and North American cities, enjoying great success. Since the early 1970s, Nitsch held his regular ‘Orgien-Mysterien-Spiele’ on the grounds of the castle Prinzendorf. In 1972, the artist participated in the documenta 5 in Kassel, curated by Harald Szeemann, and has since then been honored with numerous awards. Works by Hermann Nitsch are on display in the collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the MoMA in New York, the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne and others.

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