The Study / REsearch

Lothar Osterburg

The process of arriving at a final image is in itself a journey through time and space. First, Osterburg constructs and stages scale models from memory. Ranging from miniatures of no more than an inch across to dominating, the models are fashioned of readily available materials—vegetables, toothpicks, books—often rescued from dumpsters and piles of refuse on city streets. These are placed within an environment also of found materials. Seen through the photographic lens, the scene then appears life-size. The soft focus, infinite range of velvet blacks and rich grays, the scratches and traces from the printmaking process, and the use of rough, unfinished models all work together to suspend the final image somewhere between the real and the imaginary.

Specifications / Credits

Title: The Study
Artist: Lothar Osterburg
Year: 2021
Process: Hand-pulled photogravure
Photogravure: Lothar Osterburg
Edition: 2/9
Print Size: 14 3/4 x 17 1/4 in
Image Size: 9.75 x 13 in
Lothar Osterburg’s Collection

Lothar Osterburg (b. 1961, Germany) is an artist and master printer in etching and photogravure. Osterburg’s work uses scale models, and the traces of the photogravure process to create imagery suspended somewhere between the real and the imaginary. He has collaborated with artists such as Lee Friedlander, Sol Lewitt and Jim Dine among many others. He has exhibited work at the Lesley Heller Gallery, New York; Moeller Fine Art, New York and Berlin and the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, New York. His work is held in numerous collections, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Library of Congress and the Art Institute of Chicago. Osterburg previously taught printmaking at Pratt Institute, Columbia University, Cooper Union, and the Lacoste School of the Arts in France. He has been teaching at Bard College since 1999. For more information, visit lotharosterburgphotogravure.com