Markus Lüpertz, "Bozzetti for Hercules"

Bozzetti (from the Italian for "to sketch") refers to the models and studies used in the making of major sculptural projects. And there are few examples of the latter more major than the 2010 figure of Hercules—measuring 60 feet high and weighing 23 tons—that German Neo-Expressionist Markus Lüpertz created as a public artwork for the German city of Gelsenkirchen. The titular objects presented here provide a window into the realization of that monumental undertaking.