Matschinsky-Denninghoff, Martin and Brigitte

Martin Matschinsky and Brigitte Matschinsky-Denninghoff, married since 1955, began signing their joint sculptures with “Matschinsky-Denninghoff” from 1970 onwards. The artist couple developed a proprietary technique for their sculptures, which involved placing steel tubes over a shaping framework and then welding them together to form large-format tubes. This enabled them to shape metal into dynamically curved structures and coils.

The monumental tubular bodies, crafted with extreme technical precision and made of stainless steel and chrome-nickel steel, have an organic appearance and are frequently placed in public spaces, even beyond Europe. The most famous work of the couple is the four-part, eight-meter-high sculpture “Berlin” on the median strip of Berlin’s Tauentzienstrasse, erected to mark Berlin’s 750th anniversary in 1987. Initially a key symbol of Berlin’s division, the sculpture became a symbol of reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the last years of their career, the metal sculptures became more delicate, fragile and small-scale.