Karl Josef Dierkes (1924-2008), Reclining Female Nude, C. 1960

Karl Josef Dierkes (1924 Dalhausen - 2008 ibid.), Reclining Female Nude, circa 1960. Bronze 26.5 cm (length), x 11 cm (height) x 7 cm (depth), signed “K.[arl] J.[osef] Dierkes” on the side and marked with the foundry stamp “GUSS BARTH RINTELN”
- in very good condition    



- Original body landscape -


The reclining female nude is reminiscent of Henry Moore's nude sculptures. The raised head and elongated limbs give the figure the character of a monumental body landscape, with the orientation of the head and the implied direction of gaze drawing attention to the contours of the body. In contrast to Moore's sculptures, however, the figure does not have a smooth surface texture, but rather appears to be modeled out of the material. The emergence from the materiality while remaining connected to the material gives the work an archaic character.  



About the artist


Karl Josef Dierkes lost a leg on the Eastern Front during World War II. After studying sculpture under Hans Martin Ruwoldt in Hamburg and spending several years in the Darmstadt artists' colony, he returned to Dalhausen in 1960. There, he built a house with a studio at Hellweg 10 on his father's property.  In 1994, Wolfgang Brosche made a documentary film about the artist.  


"Paul Josef Dierks' work began with minimalist female nudes and torsos, which he developed into abstract, curvy, flowing forms by the end of the 1950s. In the 1960s, he expanded his increasingly monumental oeuvre to include stele-like sculptures and reliefs emphasizing the vertical, most of which feature softly modeled anthropomorphic or analytically cubic forms. Around 1970, he also created sharp-edged, geometric constructions."

Dankmar Trier