Winfred Gaul
Winfred Gaul (1928-2003), born in Düsseldorf, lived and worked primarily in Düsseldorf, with periods in Paris, Rome, New York and Antwerp. A major figure of postwar German abstraction, he initially worked within the Informel before turning in the early 1960s towards geometric forms, colour and the visual language of traffic signs and signals. His work was characterized by a continual examination of the possibilities of painting, moving between gestural abstraction, hard-edge compositions, monochrome colour fields and later analytical approaches to form and perception. Although his Verkehrszeichen und Signale have often been associated with German Pop Art, Gaul understood them less as representations of reality than as an attempt to create a new, autonomous visual language.
Winfred Gaul Editions
Winfred Gaul
Untitled (blue)
1971
Colour silkscreen on canvas, 90 x 65 cm. Edition of 100 + X, signed and numbered verso.
This edition by Winfred Gaul is composed of a large blue field interrupted by a bold geometric sign-like form of red and yellow diagonal stripes. The sharply defined pattern, framed by a rounded blue border, recalls the visual language of traffic signals and urban signage while remaining entirely abstract. The strong contrast of colours and simplified geometry give the composition an immediate, almost emblematic quality. The work reflects Gaul’s sustained interest in signs, signals and the reduction of painting to a clear, autonomous visual language. By removing the sign from any functional context, he transforms it into a purely pictorial form, exploring the relationship between colour, geometry and perception.
EUR 2,500
Winfred Gaul
Untitled (gray)
1971
Colour silkscreen on canvas, 90 x 65 cm. Edition of 4, signed and numbered verso.
Winfred Gaul’s Untitled (1971) is dominated by a bold geometric sign-like form of red and yellow diagonal stripes, set against a restrained grey field. The sharply defined pattern and rounded blue border recall the visual language of traffic signals and urban signage, while its removal from any functional context turns the sign into a purely pictorial element.
The work belongs to Gaul’s sustained exploration of signs, signals and an autonomous visual language based on colour and geometry. By reducing the composition to a few highly contrasting forms, Gaul creates an image that is immediately recognizable in its visual effect while remaining entirely abstract. The particularly rare edition of only four further underscores the exceptional character of this work.
EUR 3,800
