Scream and bel canto.Konrad Klapheck, Gustave Moreau and the questions of the Sphinx

Abstract

Theses pages serve as a presentation of the German artist Konrad Klapheck, focusing on highlighting the most important aspects of his well-known series of «machines», particularly focusing on the imaginary,so close to Lautréamont, of «sewing machines». Klapheck, to whom André Breton dedicated in 1965 the last of the writings contained in Le surréalisme et la peinture, has developed since the sixties a work of difficult stylistic allegiance. In reference to the statements made by the artist in La machine et moi (1997), its relations with the motif of the Sphinx and explorations inquired by Gustave Moreau and the element of estrangeness cultivated in the reproduction of everyday objects from a strong sense of identification with the machines.