A poem from Frankfurt

We visited the Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt (the National Museum of Art was closed for renovations) and came across this very unusual sculpture by Katharina Fritsch. It haunted me so much I had to write a poem about it. Though you might not be able to tell from the photo, it is huge. All the figures are life size. And if you have any idea about what it means, please post a comment.


http://www.mmk-frankfurt.de/

Katharina Fritsch's Tischgesellschaft (Table Society), 1988  

at the Frankfurt Museum of Modern Art

Sitting in Black and White

Katharina Fritsch sculpted thirty-two men

sitting at a long narrow table

covered with a red and white

print oil-cloth tablecloth

Half of the men sit on one side

half on the other,

each looking exactly alike

dressed in black

shirt, pants, shoes.

Each has black hair,

only their faces and hands

are chalk white.

They sit sort of hunched over

looking their opposite in the eye,

their hands on the table

with fingers turned inward

and slightly spread out.

And if you look

under the table

just beneath the edge of the tablecloth

you’ll see each has his knees together

his feet together

in straight, precise alignment

but not placed

quite close enough

to touch those

of his companion

on the other side.

But, no amount of looking

will tell you what

these men sitting precisely so

are doing there.