Große Stele

»Large Stele« is a late work by Gustav Seitz, an artist who made an intense study of the human body in his sculptural and graphic works. During the course of his creative development his nudes underwent continual change, with the full-figure statues of his early work, strongly oriented on a fidelity to natural models, making way in the 1960s for torso and body fragments. In turn, the torso became transformed into “Steles” and “Idols”. In these late works Seitz transfigures his representations of primarily female bodies, elevating them to the status of mythological forms. With their exaggerated sexual characteristics his sculptures are reminiscent of fertility idols. They also reflect the artist’s intense exploration of sculptural form, with Seitz displaying the closed materiality of his works, emphasizing their statuesque qualities, and giving tangible form to their mass. No less worthy of note, however, are his “Steles” and “Idols” with their sensuality, vitality, and eroticism. During the artist’s final years his representation of the female body assumed a timeless quality.