Thomas Demand (German, b. 1964) Detail XII 2012

Detail XII 2012

Artist: Thomas Demand
Title: Detail XII
Year: 2012
Medium: Chromogenic print mounted on aluminium
Image Size: 52.7 × 47.0 cm (20 3/4 × 18 1/2 in)
Sheet Size: 61.0 × 51.0 cm (24 × 20 1/8 in)
Edition: 36 — signed, dated and numbered
Signature: Signed, dated and numbered lower margin
Frame: Framed (silver aluminium frame, as shown)
Type: Limited edition chromogenic print

Description:

Detail XII (2012) is a work that encapsulates Thomas Demand's practice with characteristic precision and characteristic ambiguity. A fragment of what appears to be a control panel or industrial equipment fills the foreground in sharp focus — grey, matte, institutional — while the background dissolves into a soft blur of green walls, yellow surfaces, and unidentifiable coloured elements. The image has the quality of a found photograph, a documentary record of a specific space at a specific moment.

It is not. Nothing in a Thomas Demand photograph is what it appears to be.

Demand's entire practice is built on a radical deception: he constructs full-scale models of real spaces — factories, offices, government rooms, crime scenes, private interiors — from paper and cardboard, photographs them, then destroys the model. What remains is only the photograph. The spaces depicted are simultaneously real (based on documentary sources, often relating to historical events) and entirely fabricated (every surface is paper, every texture is constructed). The photograph records something that never existed, based on something that did.

Detail XII belongs to Demand's Detail series — works in which he photographs close-up fragments of his paper constructions, the cropping and focus deliberately obscuring the material nature of the model and maximising the ambiguity between the real and the constructed. The soft background blur, the sharp foreground, the institutional grey palette — all are choices made in the construction of the paper model as much as in the photography itself.

Demand's work is held in the permanent collections of MoMA, the Tate, the Pompidou, and the Guggenheim. His large-format chromogenic prints consistently achieve five and six-figure results at auction. This example — from an edition of 36, signed, dated and numbered — is presented in a silver aluminium frame and is in excellent condition.

Shipping & Delivery:
✔ Worldwide shipping from France
✔ Professional packaging with insurance
✔ Tracking number included for secure delivery

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FAQ 

Is this an original Thomas Demand photograph?
Yes — an original chromogenic print mounted on aluminium, signed, dated and numbered by the artist from an edition of 36.

What makes Thomas Demand's photographs distinctive?
Demand constructs full-scale models of real spaces from paper and cardboard, photographs them, then destroys the model. The photograph is the only remaining record of something that never existed, based on documentary sources relating to real events or spaces.

What is the Detail series?
The Detail series comprises close-up photographs of fragments of Demand's paper constructions — cropped and focused to maximise the ambiguity between the real and the constructed, the document and the fabrication.

What is the edition size?
36 impressions — a notably small edition for a work of this scale and significance.

Is the work framed?
Yes — framed in a silver aluminium frame, as shown.

Do you ship internationally?
Yes — worldwide, with museum-grade packaging for framed aluminium-mounted works, full insurance, and shipment tracking.

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