gallereo.com
Artists and photographers 
have your own gallery
website, instantly
Sign up Now

Labels

(13) 1984 (1) 2014 (1) 2015 (1) 2016 (1) 3d (1) 3d printing (4) 4chan (1) abstract expressionism (1) accident (1) activism (2) aesthetics (2) ai weiwei (3) airbnb (1) alejandro jodorowsky (1) alex grey (1) alex timmermans (1) alfonso batalla (1) algorithm (1) alison jackson (1) amalia ulman (1) america (1) americana (1) ana prvacki (1) ancient art (1) andy warhol (2) anicka yi (1) animals (4) animated (1) animation (2) anish kapoor (2) ansel adams (1) antiques roadshow (1) app (1) appraisal (1) appropriation (1) apps (3) april (1) architecture (2) art (95) art basel (1) art buying (1) art classes (1) art collectives (1) art conservation (1) art donation (1) art fair (8) art fairs (6) art gallery (2) art history (4) art horde (1) art lovers (2) art market (1) art movement (1) art news (2) art online (1) art preservation (1) art prices (1) art projects (1) art restoration (1) art sale (1) art sales (6) art school (2) art show (2) art theft (5) art world (3) artificial intelligence (1) artist (2) artist call (1) artist opportunities (1) artist spotlight (55) artist statement (1) artists (9) arts (4) arts and culture (1) artwork (1) asia (1) aspen art museum (1) associated press (1) auction (9) auction house (2) auctions (7) augmented reality (1) authentication (1) autumn (2) avam (1) award (1) awards (2) backup (1) bad art (1) balance (1) banksy (7) basel (2) bbc (1) bees (1) benjamin von wong (1) berlin (1) bill cosby (1) billboards (1) black market (1) blind (1) blog (2) books (1) brain (1) brazil (1) bribery (1) british art (1) brooklyn (1) bureaucracy (1) business (1) buttress (1) buying art (1) cai guo-qiang (2) calais (1) camera (1) career (1) cartooning (1) catherine yass (1) cattelan (1) celebrity (2) censorship (1) cern (1) cezanne (1) change (1) charity (1) chemistry (1) chicago (1) children (1) china (8) choice (1) christo (1) christopher burdenb (1) cia (1) cities (5) cleaning (1) climate (1) cloud gate (1) cold war (1) collaboration (2) collage (1) collection (1) collectors (1) cologne (1) colorado (1) colour accuracy (1) colour management (1) colours (1) comedy (1) compact camera (1) competition (2) computer (1) computers (2) con (1) conceptual art (2) contemporary art (7) contest (2) controversy (2) cooking (1) copeland (1) copyright (4) cork street (1) cosby (1) coupland (1) covent garden (1) creation (1) creativity (2) criminals (1) criticism (1) critique (1) crowdfunding (5) cubism (1) cui ruzhuo (1) culture (3) da vinci (1) dali (1) david maisel (1) deep dream (1) deepdream (1) degas (1) design (7) destruction (1) detroit (2) detroit institute of arts (1) development (1) digital (4) digital art (7) digital artists (1) digital images (1) digital resources (1) digital storage (1) digitising (1) digtal (1) dismaland (2) disney (1) disruption (1) dna (2) documentaries (1) documentary (1) donald trump (2) douglas hoekzema (1) downloads (1) dragan ilic (1) drawing (2) dubai (1) duchamp (1) e-commerce (4) earth (1) east germany (1) egypt (1) email (1) email marketing (1) emilio cresciani (1) ephemera (1) equipment (1) ernie button (1) europe (1) evolution (1) excessivism (1) exhibit (3) exhibition (1) exhibitions (31) exhibits (2) exit throug the gift shop (1) facebook (1) factum (1) fake (1) fakes (1) fantasy (1) featured artist website (1) file formats (1) film (1) fireworks (1) florence (1) football (1) ford house (1) forensics (2) forgery (5) found art (1) framing (1) frank auerbach (1) fraud (4) free art books (1) free artist websites for students (1) freelancing (1) funding (3) fundraising (1) gallereo (7) gallereo exhibitions (1) gallereo sites (7) gallereo top tips (4) galleries (7) gallery (3) gardner museum (1) genetics (1) genre (1) genre spotlight (3) george bush (1) germany (2) gif (1) gifts (1) glass (1) glitch art (1) global (1) google (6) government (1) graffiti (7) grafitti (1) graphics (1) guerrilla art (1) guggenheim (1) guide (1) guided tours (1) gurlitt (1) happy new year (1) harmonograph (1) healing (1) health (1) heather barnett (1) heist (1) hidden painting (1) hitchiking (1) hive (1) hoax (2) holiday (1) hologram (1) homeland (1) homelessness (1) hospitals (1) how to (1) hoxxoh (1) ideas (2) illusion (1) illustration (6) image editors (1) images (1) imitation (1) impressionism (1) indiegogo (1) inspiration (16) instagram (4) installation (9) installation art (1) installations (3) instapainting (1) internet (2) investments (1) ip (1) iraq (1) irma stern (1) iss (1) italy (2) jackson pollock (2) jeff koons (2) jill pelto (1) job (1) jodorowsky (1) jokes (1) joshua miels (1) jr (1) juried shows (1) keane (1) kickstarter (1) kurt perschke (1) kwangho shin (1) labeouf (1) lego (2) lenka clayton (1) lenses (1) leonid afremov (1) licensing (1) life (3) local (1) london (3) lookalike (1) looting (3) lost art (2) louvre (1) mac (1) machine learning (2) machines (1) macro (1) madrid (1) mafia (1) magritte (1) makoto azuma (1) mallorca (1) mark flood (1) markets (1) may 1 reboot (1) media (3) media studies (1) medicine (1) memo akten (1) metropolitan museum of art (2) miami (2) microniches (1) miguel chevalier (1) mike tyka (1) millennial (1) minimalism (1) missing (1) mobile phone photography (1) mobile phones (1) modern (1) modern art (4) mona lisa (1) monitor (1) moscow (1) motels (1) motion photography (1) motivation (1) mural (1) museum (4) museums (8) mystery (1) nanotechnology (1) narration (1) nasa (1) nathan sawaya (1) native rights (1) nazi (1) nenous thabit (1) networking (1) neural networks (1) new media (1) new year (2) new york (3) news (4) north korea (1) norway (1) nudity (1) nypl (1) oculus rift (1) on kawara (1) online (2) open source (1) optical illusions (1) optimism (1) outdoor (1) outside (1) outsider art (1) painting (7) paintings (2) paris (1) participation (1) passport (1) paul wainwright (1) pc (1) perception (2) performance (1) performance art (4) perspective (1) peta (1) peter lik (3) petr avlensky (1) phantom (1) philadelphia (1) photogrammetry (1) photographer (1) photographs (1) photography (48) photojournalism (1) photoshop (1) physical art (1) picasso (7) pippin bar (1) plagiarism (1) polaroid (1) politics (1) pop art (1) popup exhibitions (1) portfolio (2) postmodernism (1) poverty (1) prank (1) pranks (1) preservation (1) presidents (1) prices (1) pricing (1) printing (1) printmaking (2) prints (2) prize (1) product (1) profiling (1) project inspiration (3) project spotlight (1) projects (1) propaganda (1) protection (1) protest (2) provenance (1) psart (1) public art (3) purchase (1) questions (1) rachel rossin (1) ranking (1) realism (1) record (1) records (3) redball (1) refugees (1) render (1) renwick gallery (1) replicas (1) replication (1) research (1) residency (1) resources (1) restitution (1) retrospective (4) richard prince (2) robot (1) robots (2) rodin (1) rosemarie fiore (1) russia (2) sale (3) sales (14) sales record (1) sales tips (1) salvador dali (1) salvage (1) samsara (1) sanctions (1) santa fe (1) saving (1) scanning (1) science (4) scott kelly (1) sculpture (13) sculptures (1) search (1) seasons (1) seattle (1) self-promotion (1) selfie stick (1) selfies (3) selling art (2) selling art online (3) selling photographs (1) seo (3) sfmoma (2) shanghai (1) shell (1) shia (1) shia labeouf (2) shipping (1) sketchbooks (1) skills (1) sky ladder (1) slime mold (1) smartphone (1) smithsonian (2) smuggling (1) snow (1) snowden (2) social experiment (1) software (2) sothebys (1) space (2) speculation (1) spencer tunick (1) spotlight (1) spring (3) stained glass (1) statue (2) statues (1) stock photogarphy (1) stock photography (2) stolen art (2) stories (3) strandbeest (1) street art (11) street photography (1) street view (1) studio (1) summer (2) sunshine (1) super bowl (1) surrealism (3) surreality (1) swan lake (1) tablets (2) tate modern (1) television (1) terence koh (1) the basics (1) theft (9) theo jansen (1) therapy (1) time magazine (1) tips (32) tommy ingberg (1) toronto (2) tour (1) tourism (1) traffic (2) travel (5) trends (1) troll (1) trump (2) tutorials (1) twitter (1) ukraine (1) update (1) vacation (2) value (1) van gogh (1) vancouver (1) vandal (1) vandalism (1) vantablack (1) venice (1) verona (1) video art (2) video games (3) vincent van gogh (1) virtual reality (2) visa (1) watermarking (1) website (2) wengshoel (1) whisky (1) winter (3) wireman (1) wolfgang (1) work (1) workflow (1) world cup (1) world press photo (3) writing (3) ww2 (1) wydr (1) yayoi kusama (2) year end (1) youtube (1)

Stasi Stained Glass

Friday 25th November 2016

When one thinks of secret police, art is rarely the next subject to come to mind - unless it's in conjunction with the quality of censorship. Yet apparently, for the East German secret police post-World War II, it was quite a common thing to commission huge stained glass pieces commemorating particularly significant iconography - Lenin, naturally, as well as doves to symbolize the peace they believed they were protecting.

One particularly large piece commissioned in 1979 by Erich Mielke, the head of the Ministry of State Security, will be going on sale in conjunction with the Art Basel Miami Beach art fair that everyone is so particularly enamoured of. The price tag is a whopping $21.4 million dollars, although many appraisers scoff at such a ridiculously high price tag.

Sjeng Scheijen, an associate researcher at Leiden University who curated a recent exhibition at the Drents Museum “The quality of this piece is certainly not exceptional from an artistic point of view..If they will sell it for this price, you will see a storm of the same kind of art coming on the market, because many of these kinds of stained glass windows are very often in buildings from the ’70s and ’80s that aren’t used any more.”

The artist, Richard Otfried Wilhelm, is still alive today, but even he is not particularly convinced it's worth such a huge sum of money. There is a long and convoluted story about the provenance of the piece in an article by the New York Times

“It’s very colorful and beautiful, but what’s most important is that it shows that the artists in the G.D.R. were not free,” said Susanna Lillienthal, a conservator who helped track down the provenance of the piece. “They did what the dictators wanted. I grew up in the G.D.R. and I still have a hard time with it. But we need to save the dark parts of our history, too.”

An admirable sentiment, especially as it seems like the specter of facism is rising again in the modern world with the election of Donald Trump and the continued reign of Vladimir Putin. Remember: facism almost never makes worthwhile art, because, as Lillienthal said, you have to do what the dictators want - not what your artistic soul desires.  
 

Posted on November 25th 2016 on 02:16am
rss feed
START NOW WITH OUR NO-OBLIGATION 30 DAY FREE TRIAL!
Account Login:
Access your account area here.

login Forgotten Password?
Connect with us
Bookmark
© Copyright 2009-2024 Gallereo.com Legal Information l Company Information l Sitemap l Contact us