Sigmar Polke

With Freundinnen (Girlfriends, 1965/66), Sigmar Polke took found imagery of two women and offered a compelling statement about the use, production and social function of pictures. Adopting the raster dots found in mass-media reproductions, Polke's Girlfriends foregrounds a prolific body of work crossing a broad range of media -- photography, painting, print-making, sculpture and film -- and sytles varying from Abstract Expressionism to Pop. In this book, Stefan Gronert approaches Girlfriends through its technical detail and historical context, analyising Polke's relationship to his tutors, peers and friends -- especially Gerhard Richter. Considering such topics as the use of photographed material, the raster technique and the feminist discourse of Polke's work, including some material that has not previously been translated into English.