Figure on Display

The acquaintance between Jeff Wall and Stephan Balkenhol goes back to 1988, when Wall wrote an essay on Balkenhol’s work, which he thought extraordinarily fascinating. Renate Goldmann, who directs the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum in Düren, Germany, brought the two together for an intense creative dialogue—Wall subsequently revised his art-historical reflections on Balkenhol—and a confrontation of their works in the exhibition “Figure on Display” as well as the present book. In addition to Wall’s essay on Balkenhol and a contribution by Felix Krämer (Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main), the volume includes a conversation between Jörg Johnen, whose galleries represents Wall and Balkenhol, and the two artists.