Untitled from United Enemies, A Play in Ten Scenes

Schütte produced the prints in United Enemies, A Play in Ten Scenes soon after he began the sculptures on which they are based, and they are a primary example of how the artist's printmaking and sculpture inform one another. Schütte formed the small-scale figures (titled United Enemies) from Fimo polymer modelling clay, dressed them in various fabrics, and bound pairs of them together with cord. He then photographed each pair spotlit against a black background, and cropped and enlarged the images to make the prints (in which he added a speck of white ink by hand to the iris of each eye). Described by the artist as a "definitive model for a permanent situation," the project suggests universal themes: the complexity of human relations and encounters between friends and foes.

Credit: Committee on Prints and Illustrated Books Fund