Cleaners in Cologne almost completely wipe away Harald Naegeli’s artwork
Published: Friday, Sep 13th 2024, 15:00
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Cleaners in Cologne have almost wiped away a well-known work of art by the "Sprayer of Zurich", Harald Naegeli. The work is not completely lost - the skull and hands are still intact.
According to the city of Cologne, the city's waste management services were supposed to remove an unwanted graffiti lettering, but also took the opportunity to remove most of a spray-painted bone man.
Naegeli had initially spray-painted the skeleton illegally on the bricked-up west portal of the Romanesque church of St. Cäcilien in 1980. The skeleton was later recognized as a work of art and placed under a preservation order.
According to the city, 84-year-old Naegeli is unable to restore or renew the figure himself for health reasons. However, he has given his consent to a restoration.
Originally, Cologne was home to numerous skeletons and skulls that he sprayed on walls at night, referring to dances of death from the late Middle Ages and early modern times. These works have almost all disappeared today, but are documented in photographs. They are now seen as a new kind of art in public space, where the artist expects from the outset that his works will not last.
Naegeli's Bone Man is not the first work of art to be removed by motivated cleaners. One of the most famous victims of such cleaning campaigns is Joseph Beuys, whose Fettecke ended up in a garbage can at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1986.
©Keystone/SDA
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