Original Swedish-language invitation for an exhibition of works by the German sculptor at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, boldly signed by Uecker in green ink "Grüsse [Greetings]  / Uecker" and two drawings of hearts.  The invitation is printed on verso in brown with parallel information for Joseph Beuys, this being his first exhibition ever abroad. The Uecker side is translated from the Swedish: "Günther Uecker / Light Space / Image Objects (1957-1970) / The exhibition opens on Saturday 16 January at 12 / The card is valid for the opening day / Moderna Museet Stockholm."   In fine condition.  5.75 x 4 inches (14.6 x 10.2 cm.). Originally from the collection of Pop artist Robert Indiana, the hearts drawings may be in playful reference to Indiana's most celebrated and iconic LOVE works.

"The sculptor, kinetic artist, and set designer Günther Uecker was born on March 13, 1930, in Wendorf, Germany.  Between the years 1949 and 1953, he studied painting at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee and then continued his artistic education under Otto Pangkok at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1955.  Throughout the 1950s, Uecker sought out philosophies that he felt preached simplicity and purity, such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam.  His fascination with purification rituals, such as the Gregorian chant, led him to engage in his own rituals of repetition, such as the hammering of nails for extended periods of time.  By 1957, he had begun to integrate nails, and around 1960, corks and cardboard tubes, into the surface of his canvases to create relief works.  These reliefs are more akin to sculpture than painting: their jutting nails and other objects create patterns of light and shadow upon the surfaces of the canvases.  Starting in 1960, Uecker shifted his methodology from utilizing a precise, mathematical order to one that was more organic and irregular, often integrating kinetic and electrical elements, such as rotating discs and lightboxes.