Berlin: s.p.; dpa-Fotoreport, 1986 (10), 20,2×25,2 cm. Sensationally titled original photograph on Agfa watermarked paper by Hoffmann showing DDR police officers taking polaroids and photos of Keith Haring’s mural on Berlin Wall, after coming over to drive away the painter, the audience and the press photographers as we read on the printed legend verso. The illegal mural, since the first six feet of land on the Western side belong to the East, the artist was not just defacing property of the East German Government -he was entering that country without a visa, was commissioned by the Checkpoint Charlie museum’s director. Dated verso 23-24.10.1986.
(…)One night museum assistants painted a hundred-metre stretch of the wall by Checkpoint Charlie yellow on his instruction, and the next day Haring painted a chain of interlinked figures on the wall. He used the colours of the East and West German flags (black, red and yellow), symbolising the bringing together of the two peoples. Only when the East German guards were satisfied that he was not defaming East Germany was he relatively safe to continue working, though he had technically crossed into East Germany without authorisation.
Haring completed the mural in somewhere between four and six hours and the Checkpoint Charlie Museum staff worked hard to publicise the mural, ensuring that Haring’s painting was not just a national but also an international news event across Europe (including East Germany) and America. Haring played a key role in promoting the work, giving interviews and holding a press conference during the day.(…) [Mundy 2014]
condition: Near Fine
