This Woman is Playing on Luxus
- Artist: Martin Kippenberger
- Date: 1979
- Medium: Lithograph on paper
- Dimensions: image: 355 x 216 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “This Woman is Playing on Luxus” by Martin Kippenberger. It was printed in 1979 as a lithograph on paper to promote “Luxus”, the debut single of his punk band Grugas. The woman you see—Christine Hahn—was a fellow band member and the face of that early, rebellious collaboration.
Kippenberger was a true multi‑medium provocateur: painter, sculptor, musician, writer. Even though he’s best known for his canvases, his poster work—about 178 pieces in total—offers a raw, witty counter‑point to his more formal output. These prints were mass‑produced, like pop‑culture ads, yet they carried his sharp humor, social critique and a refusal to be boxed into a single genre.
The poster sits in the middle of his early career, before he grouped his work into dated folios. It exemplifies how he blurred the lines between art and everyday life, turning the billboard into a stage for his ideas.
See it in person
This Woman is Playing on Luxus is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
