Werner Tubke
German, 1929 - 2004Torso, 1977
Not on view
Etching on paper
Dimensions14 3/4 × 19 1/2 in. (37.5 × 49.5 cm)
Image: 7 × 9 in. (17.8 × 22.9 cm)
Gift of Mr. Jack B. Pierson in memory of Mr. Robert Martin Purcell, 1979.143
This work evidences Werner’s knowledge of classical art history and interest in rendering the human form, specifically the male torso. The figure, whose context—aside from a rounded Roman portico and the uppermost section of a pedestal—has been removed, bears no specific identity. Multiple sketches of the torso in various states of completion float freely in the void of an unestablished background. The lack of face, though typical of sculpture from antiquity, places great emphasis on the body’s musculature. Thus, physical fitness becomes the central theme of Werner’s etching, as it was likewise central to the works it was modeled after, such as the sculpted torsos of Roman gods.
A painter and graphic artist, Werner received an education in decorative painting at the Masterschool for German Handcraft in Madgeburg, and later studied graphic art, art education, and psychology. In 1956 he began working as a professor at HGB Leipzig—one of the oldest art schools in Germany—and by the 1970s was a well-known artist of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
