We are pleased to dedicate Galerie Le Pont’s first exhibition of contemporary art to the internationally acclaimed artist Thilo Westermann. He is known for his reverse glass paintings, prints, photomontages, and colored pencil drawings. In the exhibition Hinter Glas und auf Papier (Reverse Glass and On Paper), we present new works situated in the tension between historical references and contemporary perspectives.
Drawing on his research into silk production in eighteenth-century Prussia under Frederick the Great—a venture that was economically unprofitable yet prestigious—Westermann created the drawing Leizu Observes the Unspinning of a Silk Cocoon. Executed in white colored pencil on black paper, the work depicts the wife of the Yellow Emperor, who, according to a Chinese legend, is said to have discovered the silk thread and the art of silk weaving. In Westermann’s image, she sits beneath a tree holding a teacup. A cocoon of a silk moth has just fallen into it and begins to unravel. Leizu is shown at the moment of realization, as she discovers the silk thread.
Westermann’s highly reflective reverse glass paintings and prints combine technical virtuosity with art-historical reflection, as well. The Parrots’ Peonies refers to a bronze vase produced at the imperial court during the Kangxi period (1654–1722) and painted with enamel colors. It is now in the collection of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, where Westermann studied it. The manner of painting and the color palette used for the two parrots, rocks, and peonies on the vase reveal Western influences. The parrot motif stands for imitation and is therefore often understood as a symbol of artists who imitate nature.
Westermann, in turn, takes up the vase’s entire motif: he copies the parrots and, with the help of the peonies depicted on the vase itself, creates a new Western still life. The result is a new chinoiserie work imbued with an awareness of transcultural shifts in perspective. The smooth surfaces and deep-black backgrounds reflect the viewer, thus doubling these shifts in perspective in the adaptation of East Asian motifs.
A delicate yet distinctly majestic iris in classic black and white reverse glass finds its counterpart in a light-filled colored pencil drawing on white paper. Its delicate petals can only be glimpsed in backlight, recalling the subtleties of Japanese blind printing. This time-honored technique was used to bring out forms and structures with subtlety; artists such as Kitagawa Utamaro (ca. 1754–1806) employed it to depict textile patterns as well as plants, feathers, and fur. Related processes such as nunomezuri and kimedashi created embossed woven textures or softly raised forms, while sprinkled pigments and metallic powders further enriched the interplay of light and shimmer. Because these embellishments were applied as the final stage of the process, their delicate relief-like effects were especially well preserved.
Through his works, Thilo Westermann opens a multilayered dialogue between East and West, past and present, original and appropriation. His works invite viewers to look anew at familiar motifs and to trace the paths of cultural exchange. We warmly invite you to discover these fascinating visual worlds and to celebrate Galerie Le Pont’s first exhibition of contemporary art with us.
(Text: Galerie Le Pont)
February 13 – April 25, 2026
Galerie Le Pont
Fasanenstrasse 61
10719 Berlin
