Mixed media on slightly structured hard fibre board
Signed and dated lower left. 43 x 65,5 cm (16,9 x 25,7 in)

This early work by Luther is a prime document of the concept of abstract painting that prevailed in the postwar era. By means of abstraction form becomes emancipated and dissociated from meaning and content, at the same time color becomes autonomous, which is particularly true of Constructivism. The interplay between broad strokes of the brush and color surfaces creates an interesting formal tension. The dark strokes of the brush seem to form in front of the white background seem to be unordered lines which is effectively accentuated by the bundling of single lines. The blue surface does not make for spatial depth, it is integrated into the overall appearance. Luther was the first artist who walked this path and created this disengagement by means of light, thus attaining new formulations. From that point onward Luther was occupied with light as an independent means of illustration, without which visuality wouldn't even be possible (cf. John Matheson, Das plastische Licht, in: ex. cat. Adolf Luther. Das plastische Licht. Mondbilder, energetische Plastik und Spiegelobjekte 1955-1985, Kieler Spar- und Leihkasse 1985).
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