Sigmar Polke

"While I have long worked with nineteenth-century photographs (see Lot 50), I have always been interested in the whole history of photography. I am particularly drawn to the photographic works of the 1960s, in part because so much of it critically engages with the medium and its history. Polke’s portfolio is a prime example of this. In one of his most humorous and critical uses of photography, Polke attaches a lofty title, which suggests an almost divine command to create, to a series of images that are downright ridiculous: pictures of various things that resemble palm trees, but are decidedly not. Presented in a form usually reserved for more serious and informative endeavors, Polke’s silly images form a kind of anti-typology, compiling a group of things that look vaguely similar formally, but tell us nothing about the subject they supposedly represent. The portfolio also mocks the post-war German taste for artificial palm trees, and palm print materials, suggesting that perhaps a glove standing upright on a table was as well suited to stand in for the real thing as something that looked more like it." - Michael Lee

The Lee Gallery was founded by Mack Lee in 1981 with the intention to build fine photography collections for museums and private collectors. The gallery has been a member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) since 1984. Michael Lee, the current director of Lee Gallery, serves on AIPAD’s board as Chair of the Membership Committee and First Vice President of the Executive Committee.