Paul Uwe Dreyer (1939-2008) - Klappschnitt

Paul Uwe Dreyer: Klappschnitt (published 1977), from La Lune en Rodage III

A signed graphic work by the German Concrete artist Paul Uwe Dreyer, created for the third volume of La Lune en Rodage, the editioned anthology of post-war and contemporary art assembled by Carl Laszlo and published by Edition Panderma in Basel.

The work belongs to Dreyer's constructive vocabulary of the 1970s. The title Klappschnitt — a "folded section" — points to the principle at work: geometric planes set against one another so that the flat sheet reads as folded, interpenetrating space. This concern with the diagonal, with spatial folding and the variation of a fixed ordering principle, runs through Dreyer's entire oeuvre and distinguishes it within the concrete-constructive tradition.

La Lune en Rodage appeared in three volumes (1960, 1965, 1977), gathering roughly 180 works that document the European avant-garde from the 1950s to the 1970s. Across its volumes Carl Laszlo brought together figures such as Lucio Fontana, Victor Vasarely, Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani; Dreyer's contribution belongs to the third and final volume.
In good condition, with some age-related spotting to the paper in the lower left area; otherwise sound. As one of the 65 hors-commerce copies, it was issued unnumbered.

Year: published 1977
Technique: Silkscreen and etching (mixed media) on card
Edition: Total edition of 230; 65 hors-commerce copies issued unnumbered. This is an unnumbered hors-commerce copy.
Signature: Hand-signed
Dimensions: 22 × 17 cm (work); 32 × 32 × 3 cm including beech-wood frame
Condition: Good; some age-related spotting lower left
Publisher: Edition Panderma (Carl Laszlo), Basel
Provenance: Edition Panderma (Carl Laszlo), Basel — Galerie von Bartha, Basel — Private collection, Basel

Paul Uwe Dreyer (1939 Osnabrück – 2008 Stuttgart) was a German painter, draughtsman and printmaker of Concrete Art. He studied at the Werkkunstschule Hannover and the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Berlin, and in 1970 received the Rome Prize with a residency at the Villa Massimo. For more than three decades he was Professor of Painting at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, serving twice as its Rector (1987–1991 and 1998–2004), and chaired the board of the Deutscher Künstlerbund from 1992 to 1997. His work is held in public collections including the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart and the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and is documented in a catalogue raisonné of his paintings, drawings and prints.