Glasfenster-Entwurf für die Fronleichnam Kirche in Homburg-Sonnenfeld. 1961.
Print, originally worked over in color.
Signed and dated (lower right). Inscribed by the artist in the lower margin (handwritten): “Draft: The idea of the central church suggests a particular focus on the altar and the service. That is why the color is reduced to the 2 x 12 apostles‘ windows in this draft. Otherwise, the light is articulated as ’colorless‘. This gives it a particularly pure effect. The entire church interior is relatively bright and ’light'.”. On light paper, laminated on backing cardboard. 83.3 x 86.4 cm (32.7 x 34 in), the full sheet.
The present design for a glass window was not realized. [MH].

• From the “Zero” heyday.
• Light, an important subject for Piene, plays a special role in this design for a church window.
• Piene's works can be found in many major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

We are grateful to Sprüth-Magers for the kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Hesse (directly from the artist).
Private collection, Bavaria (since 2015: Van Ham Kunstauktionen).

LITERATURE: Van Ham Kunstauktionen, Cologne, Auktion Zeitgenössische Kunst, June 3, 2015, lot 222 (illu.).

Expertly laminated onto backing paper for stabilization, only slightly loose in the margins. Overall with creases and some remnants of adhesive tape. A missing piece at the left sheet edge (1x1.5 cm) as well as some missing pieces and cracks that have been fixed by the backing paper. Soiled and rubbed, partly with color abrasions and studio marks. In the dark area partially with adhesions, probably paper fibers. Despite everything, Piene's handwritten comments make the work an important testimony to art history.