White Scream

The artist Günther Uecker (born 1930) who comes from Mecklenburg is known especially for his relief-like nail pictures. He studied painting from 1951 to 1953 in Wismar and at the Art Academy in Berlin Weißensee. In 1953, he left East Germany and completed his studied at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf, where he still lives today. After his studies, he became involved in the Zero group of artists for a number of years.

In 1956-57, he created the first of what would become his typical nail pictures: Three dimensional reliefs of nails painted white, which gain their own dynamism through the direction of the nails and the interplay of light and shadow.
Likewise in White Scream from 1991, the nails generate structures, swirls and movements, with the scream becoming visible through acoustic waves. At the same time, the structure is reminiscent of billowing corn fields or the movement of the waves on the ocean. The origins of many of his works can be found in the Mecklenburg countryside and scenery.

In 2011, the Staatliches Museum Schwerin acquired a private collection of Uecker’s works. It includes objects from the late 1960s through to the early 1980s and is unique in northern Germany.