Some time ago, POLO+10 spoke with Wolfgang Weiss, founder of the Polo & Country Club Gut Seeburg, about his decades-long passion for polo and the history of the club’s origins. As a collector and preserver of German polo history, Weiss has spent decades gathering documents, posters and artefacts that now form the basis of an extraordinary gallery – a place where the history, culture and aesthetics of polo come together in a special way.
Gut Seeburg impressively demonstrates how differently artists interpret the dynamics and emotions of polo. Wolfgang Weiss has expanded his collection with new works, setting striking accents in the process. Three works by Robert Hettich document the energy and colourfulness of modern polo – faster, more intense and closer to the spectator than ever before. Hettich’s expressive painting style captures the moment between speed and emotion, when the game becomes a colourful experience.
In contrast to this are the works by Robert Barnete, created in England and dating back to the 1980s. Weiss acquired them in the early 1990s, accompanied by personal letters from the artist a fascinating historical document that preserves the spirit of an era in which polo was just beginning to enjoy a revival in Germany. Together with the more recent works by Hettich and Andreas Lemberg, this creates an impressive arc spanning almost five decades of artistic development.
Lemberg’s expressive oil-and-spatula painting of an ice polo tournament in St. Moritz in 2010, with its striking red ball on a white background, lends the exhibition a special touch. His unusual technique emphasises structure, movement and coldness at the same time – an almost tangible translation of polo on snow.
This juxtaposition not only shows different artistic styles, but also how much the perception of the sport has changed. Today, polo is faster, more aggressive, more colourful and, thanks to modern playing fields measuring between 90 × 180 and 250 × 280 metres or arena polo formats, it can also be experienced more directly and emotionally. The young works express exactly that: closeness, intensity and dynamism.
At the same time, the gallery shows how communication around the sport has changed from lovingly designed posters and brochures in the early years to digital advertising that brings tournaments and emotions directly to smartphones.
The gallery at Gut Seeburg thus becomes a lively meeting place – a space where the past, present and future of polo come together in an inspiring way and where art expresses the development of a sport over half a century.
Picture Gut Seeburg
Text POLO+10
