Sculpture "Upright Rat", bronze
Sculpture "Upright Rat", bronze
Quick info
limited, 36 copies | numbered | signed | bronze | height 22 cm
Detailed description
Sculpture "Upright Rat", bronze
The novel "The Rat" by Günter Grass features a narrator who dreams of a rat who wants to save humanity from impending disaster, however, it is not understood by humanity.
Bronze sculpture. Limited edition of 36 copies, numbered and signed. Height 22 cm.
Producer: ars mundi Edition Max Büchner GmbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hanover, Germany Email: info@arsmundi.de

About Günter Grass
1927-2015
Born in Gdansk in 1927, Günter Grass is regarded as an important representative of German literature. He also made a name for himself as a sculptor, painter and graphic artist. With a hint of irony, he said of himself: "As a visual artist I am a skilled artist, as a writer an unskilled artist."
After completing an apprenticeship as a stonemason, Grass studied sculpture at the Academy in Düsseldorf in 1948/49 and the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin in 1953. Grass became known as a writer in 1959 by publishing the first part of his best-known work called "Danzig Trilogy", "The Tin Drum". Since the early 1960s, Grass developed an increasingly strong political engagement, which is reflected in his books. In the 1980s, he produced numerous graphic works, which were published in the two-volume work "Zeichnen und Schreiben" (Drawing and Writing). Here, in particular, self-quotations stand out and underline his criticism of the times.
The painter painted just the way he was: lyrically poetic, idiosyncratically fair. All three fundamental types of poetry are combined into one in Grass's paintings: drama, epic poetry and lyric poetry.
Günter Grass received dozens of international awards, including the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature. His diverse oeuvre has been presented at numerous exhibitions in Germany as well as abroad.
"I hold the draughtsman, the graphic artist, the sculptor Günter Grass in extraordinarily high esteem. What he has produced for half a century delights me greatly and almost always." (Marcel Reich-Ranicki)
"Grass's secret lies in the precarious and unique balance, he has managed to strike between his anarchic imagination and his superior appreciation of art." (Hans Magnus Enzensberger)
An alloy of copper with other metals (especially with tin) used since ancient times. It is an ideal metal for high-quality artistic castings, capable of enduring for millennia.
When casting bronze, the artist usually applies the lost-wax technique which is dating back more than 5000 years. This is the best, but also the most complex method of producing sculptures.
First, the artist forms a model of their work. This model is embedded in a liquid silicone rubber mass. Once the material has solidified, the model is cut out, leaving a negative mould. Liquid wax is then poured into the negative mould. After cooling down, the wax cast is removed from the mould, provided with sprues and dipped into ceramic mass. The ceramic mass is hardened in a kiln, where the wax melts away (lost mould).
Finally, the negative mould is ready, into which the 1400° C hot molten bronze is poured. After the bronze had cooled down, the ceramic shell is broken apart, reavoling the sculpture.
Next, the sprues are removed, the surfaces are polished, patinated and numbered by the artist or by a specialist, following their instructions. Thus, each casting is an original work.
For lower-quality bronze castings, the sand casting method is often used, which, however, does not achieve the results of a more elaborate lost-wax technique in terms of surface characteristics and quality.
Term for an art object (sculpture, installation), which is produced in multiple copies in a limited and numbered edition according to the artist‘s will.
Artist's multiples have been called the most accessible and affordable art on the market.
A plastic work of sculptural art made of wood, stone, ivory, bronze or other metals.
While sculptures from wood, ivory or stone are made directly from the block of material, in bronze casting a working model is prepared at first. Usually, it is made of clay or other easily mouldable materials.
The prime time of sculpture after the Greek and Roman antiquity was the Renaissance. Impressionism gave a new impulse to the sculptural arts. Contemporary artists such as Jorg Immendorf, Andora, and Markus Lupertz also enriched sculptures with outstanding works.