Leda

The City of Monheim commissioned Markus Lüpertz, a “universal genius” working in many artistic fields, to reinterpret the city’s traditional emblem, the “Goose Lizzy.” The result is a monumental sculpture which, because of its prominent position directly on the Rhine, but also because of its history of creation and confident physical presence, delivers an unmissable statement on the role of art in the city’s public space. In lieu of the “Goose Lizzy,” Lüpertz presents the “Leda,” a reference to ancient mythology and at the same time to the tradition of the archaic fertility topos of the “woman with bird.” References to ancient art are also visible in the figure’s posture with an engaged and a free leg as well as the colouring of the sculpture. The contrapposto figure of a young woman in a short dress holds a goose on her left arm (not a swan!) to which she turns smilingly and playfully, while the bird, too, seems eager to communicate. The girl’s drooping right arm holds a small branch of the kind that was probably helpful when herding geese. This makes the figure oscillate between antiquity and folktale, tradition, and modern redefinition, between coarse and delicate moulding, expressiveness, and archaic topos, as the unmistakable work of an artist who needs no justifications.