Valerie Otte:
Sculpture "Loreley" (2023), bronze reduction
Valerie Otte:
Sculpture "Loreley" (2023), bronze reduction

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ars mundi Exclusive Edition | limited, 300 copies | numbered | signed | hallmarked | certificate | bronze | chased | polished | patinated | reduction | size approx. 47.5 x 16.5 x 13 cm (h/w/d) | weight approx. 8 kg

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Sculpture "Loreley" (2023), bronze reduction
Valerie Otte: Sculpture "Loreley" (2023), bronze reduction

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Sculpture "Loreley" (2023), bronze reduction

The story of the Loreley, combing her golden hair and luring ships to their doom, is one of the most well-known German myths. It gained worldwide fame, at the latest in the form of the song by Friedrich Silcher with lyrics by Heinrich Heine ("I don’t know what it could mean..."). However, the story is not a "fairy tale from ancient times", as Heine put it. In its known form, it sprang from the imagination of the Romantic poet Clemens Brentano and has since become deeply ingrained in the cultural memory of the Germans. Loreley has inspired numerous works in literature, music, and visual arts.

For St. Goarshausen, there are good reasons to erect monuments to Loreley: She has made the place world-famous and an attraction. One statue has been in place at the foot of the rock for a long time. Since spring 2023, there is a second one in a much more prominent location, on the Loreley plateau itself. The 2.20-meter-high sculpture is by Berlin sculptor Valerie Otte, whose design won a national competition with subsequent public participation, beating more than 50 other competitors.

Valerie Otte portrays the beautiful Loreley in a classic pose on a rock pedestal and equips her figure with several attributes from the Loreley story. Her flowing hair resembles a river. However, the artist in her version of Loreley emphasises less the terrifying danger she represents to sailors according to the legend. In her own words, she tries to show a "feminine view of Loreley" - as a woman who mourns her lover and is "deeply lost in her thoughts."

Original: 2023, bronze, height 220 cm, Loreley rock plateau on the Middle Rhine, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Sculpture in fine bronze, cast using the Lost-Wax-Process, chiselled by hand, polished and patinated. Moulded from the original and reduced in size (reduction). Limited edition of 300 copies, numbered, signed and hallmarked with the foundry and ars mundi stamp. With numbered certificate of authenticity and limitation. Size approx. 47.5 x 16.5 x 13 cm (h/w/d). Weight approx. 8 kg. ars mundi Exclusive Edition.

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Portrait of the artist Valerie Otte

About Valerie Otte

Insight into the human soul

Otte's art can be described as a play of the eyes at distance, which is a classical description for figurative sculpture. The rule: Close observation. In her works, the artist translates everything that she saw in the world as a quiet emotion, a small gesture or a moment of truthfulness. The viewer then "reads" these traces cast in bronze and soon no longer sees mere sculptures but personalities. It is a game that educates - not only for art but also for the world.

Valerie Otte (born in 1977) studied sculpture and art history in London and Berlin. She followed up with a diploma in product design in Potsdam – this path describes perfectly the approach and versatility of her work.

Otte's work as a sculptor in her Berlin studio is primarily figurative. Her bronze figures are rarely actually portraits (although she has made and continues to make some portraits from models). They are sensitive character studies of great emotional and psychological depth, which allow the viewer an insight into their inner lives without exaggerated "posing", simply through quiet suggestion and barely perceptible gesture. In the process, Otte's figures usually rest within themselves so that the viewer almost believes witnessing an intimate moment.

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