Mourning for Harlequin II, 1980

About the Work

Tübke’s art thrives on metamorphoses. Here he transforms the iconography of the Lamentation of Christ into an enigmatic harlequinade. The gestures and facial expressions of this company of mourners mirror not so much sympathy as astonishment and scorn. Some of them point, seemingly spellbound, to the ancient ruins towering skyward. The composition does not tell a specific story. Rather, it is the outcome of a richly associative game of fantasy that in turn fires our own imaginations.