Why can’t I stop smoking?
- Date
- 1964
- Material
- Emulsion with charcoal on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 66 15/16 x 47 7/16 in. (170 x 120.5 cm)
framed: 68 1/4 x 48 9/16 x 1 5/8 in. (173.4 x 123.3 x 4.1 cm) - Credit Line
- Funds given by Mr. and Mrs. Donald L. Bryant Jr., the Gary Wolff Family, Friends Endowment Fund, and Modern Art Purchase Fund; and gift of the Honorable and Mrs. Thomas F. Eagleton, by exchange
- Rights
- © 2013 The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Object Number
- 15:2003
NOTES
Thinly painted on unprimed canvas, this work was created in an offhand manner consistent with the deadpan tone of the question written in English at the top. Below, a male figure in a necktie is only partially completed, as if the artist lost interest. Here, Sigmar Polke insulted the tradition of painting by using inexpensive paints on a cheap support and borrowing imagery and text from popular culture. This intentionally sloppy translation of advertising imagery suggests a sarcastic critique of the addictive nature and easy comfort of consumer culture and middle-class norms.
Provenance
1964 -
Sigmar Polke (b.1941)
by 1980 - 2003
Michael Werner Gallery, Cologne, Germany; New York, NY, USA [1]
2003 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from the Michael Werner Gallery [2]
Notes:
Provenance based on Saint Louis Art Museum curator Cornelia Homburg's conversation with the artist (September 13, 2002) and a letter from the Michael Werner Gallery dated May 24, 2002 [SLAM document files].
[1] In 1980, the painting was included in an exhibition in Berlin; at that time the owner was listed as "Galerie Michael Werner, Köln" ["der gekrümmte Horizont: Kunst in Berlin 1945-1967." Berlin: H. Heenemann, 1980]. Although a 1988 publication gives the owner as a private collector, exhibition catalogues from 1995 and 1997 indicate that Michael Werner Gallery owned the work throughout the 1980s and 1990s [Schmidt, Katharina. "Sigmar Polke: Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Skizzenbücher, 1962-1988." Bonn: Kunstmuseum, 1988; "Revolution: Art of the Sixties from Warhol to Beuys." Tokyo: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1995; Hentschel, Martin et al. "Sigmar Polke: The Three Lies of Painting." Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz, 1997].
[2] Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 4, 2003; and the Minutes of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 10, 2003.
Sigmar Polke (b.1941)
by 1980 - 2003
Michael Werner Gallery, Cologne, Germany; New York, NY, USA [1]
2003 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from the Michael Werner Gallery [2]
Notes:
Provenance based on Saint Louis Art Museum curator Cornelia Homburg's conversation with the artist (September 13, 2002) and a letter from the Michael Werner Gallery dated May 24, 2002 [SLAM document files].
[1] In 1980, the painting was included in an exhibition in Berlin; at that time the owner was listed as "Galerie Michael Werner, Köln" ["der gekrümmte Horizont: Kunst in Berlin 1945-1967." Berlin: H. Heenemann, 1980]. Although a 1988 publication gives the owner as a private collector, exhibition catalogues from 1995 and 1997 indicate that Michael Werner Gallery owned the work throughout the 1980s and 1990s [Schmidt, Katharina. "Sigmar Polke: Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Skizzenbücher, 1962-1988." Bonn: Kunstmuseum, 1988; "Revolution: Art of the Sixties from Warhol to Beuys." Tokyo: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1995; Hentschel, Martin et al. "Sigmar Polke: The Three Lies of Painting." Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz, 1997].
[2] Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 4, 2003; and the Minutes of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 10, 2003.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.