(Uerdingen 1912–1990 Krefeld)
Spherical mirror object, 1990, on the reverse signed, dated Luther 90, 81 concave and convex mirrors, wood, plexiglass, aluminium, 202 x 203 cm, aluminium frame with plexiglass

The work has been registered by the Adolf-Luther-Foundation Krefeld with the catalogue raisonné no. HSP 90 003.

Provenance:
Studio of the artist
Adolf-Luther-Foundation, Krefeld
Private Collection, USA

Exhibited:
Museum Herakleion, Athens 2007, Adolf Luther, The Fascination of Light
Osthaus Museum, Hagen 2009/2010, Optical shift, Group exhibition with works by Thomas Demand, Imi Knoebel, Adolf Luther, Matt Mullican, Bridget Riley, Thomas Ruff etc. Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld 2010, Adolf Luther-Kunst, Wissenschaft, Technik

Literature:
See: D. Bluemler, L. Romain (Ed), Künstler, Kritisches Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst, Ed. 24, Munich 1993, (ill. of the convex work)

“The objects, described by Adolf Luther himself as concave mirror objects […] are equally objects and instruments […]. For every concave mirror object is first and foremost an instrument. It faces the room in front of it, which it both reflects and optically dynamises. The function of the many identical concave mirrors is indeed twofold. On the one hand, they optically multiply a given reality into a multitude of distorted and abstract ornamental appearances, likely to irritate the viewer. On the other, they create a kind of pure phenomenality within the space, thereby transforming the space itself into an otherwise invisible, light-flooded realm of energy. […]. This is because all the concave mirrors throw back everything they reflect into the real space at the level of their focal point: anyone standing fairly close to Luther’s concave mirror object experiences the brightly immaterial, unphotographable concreteness of this ‘fore image’ rather like a resistance. Luther’s aim is to reveal the light in the room as energy by means of instruments invented by the artist himself.” […] In addition, Luther’s concave mirror objects reflect not only the space before them, but also any movements. “What is decisive is the observers’ own movements and the changing points of view they determine, leading to flowing changes in the manifold reflected images.”
Max Imdahl, in: Erläuterungen zur Modernen Kunst, ed. by Norbert Kunisch, Bochum 1990, p. 156f

Adolf Luther created the concept with the round mirrors in the 60s. This work was made in the last year of his life. Because of the measurement and of the placement of the mirrors with the combination of convex and concave mirrors the offered work is very rare and important in the oeuvre of the artist.