Hebebuhne, 1980

with Pangolin Gallery, London

London, Pangolin London & Kings Place Gallery, Sculptors’ Drawings & Works On Paper, 31 August – 12 October 2012 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p. 200)

Michael Sandle is one of the most accomplished of British sculptors and draughtmen. His work is dark, tough, and based in conflict. Hebebuhne is a hoist or lift. Sandle’s drawing in brooding blacks and reds evokes mechanical precision, yet is also moody, threatening. His drawings are often but not exclusively, about sculptural form, and in this piece his use of strong line and perspective are convincing definitions of a three dimensional form. Sandle had seen an illustration of the device, which he titled Hebebuhne, in a magazine, which was in fact a flight simulator, not a lift. He liked the object, and thought it would make a good sculpture. The drawing was included in an exhibition at the Mannheimer Kunstvereinin 1983, and was illustrated in the catalogue that features an introduction by the eminent art historian, Professor Klaus Lankheit. Dr Manfred Fath, who was then Director of the Kunsthalle Mannheim, purchased the drawing. In 1980 when he made this drawing, Michael Sandle was Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie fur Bildenden Kunst, Karlsruhe, Germany.