Wolf Gerlach: Sculpture 'Mainzelmännchen Berti', cast stone version

World premiere: Mainzelmännchen - exclusive edition at ars mundi for the 50th stage anniversary in 2013The true television stars wear neither dinner jackets nor evening dresses - they wear pointed caps. And they can look back on a career spanning almost 50 years. Reason enough to erect a small monument to the Mainzelmännchen - in precious bronze and cast stone. The Mainzelmännchen are cult. They have been part of our everyday lives since 2 April 1963 and many of us have taken Anton, Berti, Conni, Det, Edi and Fritzchen to our hearts as children. After almost 50 years of television careers with over 40,000 of their short adverts, the 3 Mainzelmännchen are now available for the first time in bronze and cast stone - sculpted by their spiritual father, the graphic artist and set designer Wolf Gerlach himself, and released by him and ZDF in a strictly limited edition exclusively for ars mundi. Just as the little TV stars were created picture by picture with pencil drawings, their sculptural realisation was also to be of the highest level of craftsmanship. The art foundry we chose guarantees the utmost care in casting and post-processing, such as sanding and chiselling the raw casting by hand through to patination. The multi-coloured patination is a particular challenge. Because just as each of the Mainzelmännchen has its own name and character, it can also be recognised by its clothing. To dress Anton in a red shirt and blue trousers, for example, an extraordinarily complex patination process is required, in which the colours have to be applied in a precisely coordinated sequence and at different temperatures. This requires many years of manual experience and the patineur's dexterity. The results are small works of art, as befits the Mainzelmännchen. And Wolf Gerlach's signature confirms that they are in no way inferior to their famous drawn role models in artistic terms - each one bears his signature. Mainzelmännchen 'Berti', edition in cast stone: The limited edition of 1,499 pieces in high-quality, hand-painted cast stone with Gerlach's signature, individually numbered ars mundi exclusive edition. With hand-numbered certificate. Format approx. 13 x 15 x 11 cm (W/H/D). Weight approx. 1.4 kg.