Hommage an August Macke / Homage to August Macke

This sculpture is a contemporary monument to the expressionist painter August Macke, who lived in Bonn during his school days and again from 1910. Although it certainly follows traditional monument concepts with the larger-than-life bronze standing figure on a stepped base under a canopy, the focus here is not on the physical appearance of the honoured person but on the image the artist had formed of the world and conveyed in his paintings. In his timeless costume of white shirt and black trousers, the figure, placed by the sculptor on a three-tier base, resembles numerous other nameless figures created by Stephan Balkenhol. The painter is identifiable only by his moustache and a certain similarity with surviving portrait photos. By far the more important role is played by the pavilion roof, inlaid with glass in strong, clear colours, to which the figure has raised his eyes. He seems to perceive not the possibly grey reality around him but, through the filter of light, his own, intensely luminous world. The monument thus transcends the individual, since it is dedicated to the seeker, the visionary, to artistic thinking as such.
The homage to August Macke was realised by the private Bonn-based Foundation for Art and Culture as the fourth art project in public space of the City of Bonn.

www.stiftungkunst.de/kultur/projekt/stephan-balkenhol-hommage-an-august-macke