Freundinnen I / Girlfriends I
A playful yet psychologically charged composition, this offset lithograph by Sigmar Polke draws from the visual language of popular culture, comic strips, and mass media imagery to depict a scene of feminine companionship. Polke's characteristically irreverent hand transforms the mundane subject of female friendship into a sharp commentary on consumer society, gender roles, and postwar German culture. The work reflects his engagement with Capitalist Realism, employing bold, simplified lines and a printed aesthetic that blurs the boundaries between fine art and commercial reproduction.
- Medium
- Offset lithograph, on wove paper, with full margins,
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
Evening & Day Editions
April 28, 2014
Spotted works by Sigmar Polke
Artists in conversation
Roy Lichtenstein
American · b. 1923
Lichtenstein similarly appropriated the visual language of comic strips and mass media to create bold figurative works featuring women, using simplified lines and flat color fields that parallel Polke's approach in this lithograph.
Andy Warhol
American · b. 1928
Warhol shared Polke's fascination with consumer culture and popular imagery, producing colorful figurative prints that critique postwar society with the same irreverent and psychologically charged sensibility visible in this work.
Konrad Lueg
German · b. 1939
As a co founder of Capitalist Realism alongside Polke, Lueg created works with strikingly similar qualities including whimsical figurative imagery drawn from everyday consumer culture and a sharp satirical commentary on postwar German society.
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