The Empire Without a Center: Kunstalle Mainz

0023545 The Empire Without a Center: Kunstalle Mainz Verlag Für Moderne Kunst Vienna

Exhibition catalogue to accompany The Empire Without a Center at Kunstalle Mainz. The exhibition explores a range of sculptural work and commissions in the context of German national identity, from Germania, Johannes Schilling, 1883, situated near Mainz, to Moore's Large Two Forms 1969 (LH 556) located in Bonn, to Eduardo Chillida's Wind Combs 1999 in Berlin, through to the work of Thomas Scütte. Moore's Large Two Forms 1969 (LH 556), commissioned by the then Chancellor of Germany, Helmut Schmidt, is first presented on page 10, with reference to suitable post-war options to represent the Federal Republic. On page 15 Moore's and Chillida's abstract compositional response to government commissions is contrasted with Scütte's more representational work, Vater Statte. There are several images of Large Two Forms: in situ, in the making and in images of the exhibition that accompanied the unveiling of the piece in 1979, as well as images of other works by Moore: Figures with Smoke Background 1976 (CGM 429); Architectural Project 1969 (LH 602) and Large Two Forms in Landscape 1973-74 (HMF 73-74(37)) across pages 23, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 56 and 57. On page 47 there is reference to Moore's 'democratic' and 'horizontal' Large Two Forms set with no plinth, in contrast to the 'verticality' and the architecturally structured plinth of Schilling's Germania. On page 49 there is a quote from Chancellor Schroeder on his decision that Large Two Forms would stay in Bonn after the Chancellery moved to Berlin. On page 50 the text refers to the initial controversy of Schmidt's commission but how Large Two Forms eventually became an accepted monument to the Bonn republic. On page 51 there is a full page image of a letter from Moore to Schmidt. Page 56 makes reference to LTFs being caste at the Noack foundry in Berlin. Page 61 discusses how Moore made use of soft-looking surfaces, warm-coloured bronze in Bonn, and how Chillida used oxidised red cast iron for Berlin'. On page 57 there is a biography of Moore.