Offset lithograph from a portfolio of ten offset lithographs, eight with ink additions
Not on view
Schütte produced the prints in United Enemies, A Play in Ten Scenes soon after he began the sculptures on which they are based, and they are a primary example of how the artist's printmaking and sculpture inform one another. Schütte formed the small-scale figures (titled United Enemies) from Fimo polymer modelling clay, dressed them in various fabrics, and bound pairs of them together with cord. He then photographed each pair spotlit against a black background, and cropped and enlarged the images to make the prints (in which he added a speck of white ink by hand to the iris of each eye). Described by the artist as a "definitive model for a permanent situation," the project suggests universal themes: the complexity of human relations and encounters between friends and foes.
New to the Print Collection: Matisse to Bourgeois, June 13, 2012–January 7, 2013.
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Thomas Schütte
German, born 1954 271 works onlineWhen Thomas Schütte made his first figurative sculpture, he discovered it couldn’t stand on its own. He might have built a simple base to anchor the feet and keep it upright, but instead Schütte melted wax in a plastic bucket and sunk the figurine up to its knees.
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