Ingeborg Lüscher

Critical text

Ingeborg Lüscher (b. 1936, Freiberg, as Ingeborg Löffler), originally an actress, turned to visual arts after personal encounters with dissidents in Prague just before the Prague Spring. Her work spans photography, painting, and sculpture, with one of her most coherent themes being the interplay of light and darkness as two interdependent forces. After discovering sulfur powder in 1984, Lüscher created her volcano paintings (1985–86) and began her series of small sulfur sculptures with strict geometric or natural forms (from 1987 onward). These delicate sculptures, coated with sulfur, appear as light bodies. They are made of wooden blocks, metal, or cardboard covered with plaster and wood flour, dusted with sulfur. The sulfur surface resembles freshly fallen snow, creating a microcosm of light and shadow. Her works, exuding a bright stillness, appear as living organisms rather than static sculptures. The sulfur yellow she uses can signify many things: sulfur as a non-metal stands for light and a stable immune system, but its bright color can also symbolize envy or poison. Lüscher is fascinated by this complexity, drawn to sulfur through her exploration of light, fire, and combustion processes.

Text by Heike Munder

The artist’s voice

The story of fire, told through its source, the sulphur, and its end, the ash, has always interested me. As the sulphurous surface illuminates the works, I'm interested in what lies behind that light.