A Conversation with Alejandro Javaloyas
A Studio Visit During the La BIBI Residency
Georg Baselitz
b. 1938, German
- By Sylvia Walker
Biography
Georg Baselitz—born in 1938 in Kamenz-Deutschbaselitz, Germany, residing and working in Münich, Germany—is a contemporary painter and pioneer of German Neo-Expressionism who is best known for painting his subjects and figures upside down.
Baselitz is one of the most famous painters today, paving the way for New European Painting, reacting to the lingering effects and trauma of the Second World War, and creating a new identity for German art in the post-war era. Since the 1960s, Baselitz has been highly influential, resulting in an astonishing career encompassing over six decades of painting.
From 1969 up to this very day, Baselitz started to paint his pictures upside down. However, he never allowed his works to become confined, or become a one-trick pony with a single identifiable style. He has been continuously renewing his practice through formal developments and various art historical influences, yet remaining unique and individually recognizable.
Baselitz has always navigated between figuration and abstraction. By painting his subjects upside down, he aimed to empty the form of its content, revolutionizing a medium that was being regarded as conventional and destined for a silent death. Instead, Baselitz — among others, think of Anselm Kiefer or Gerhard Richter — reinvigorated painting and figurative painting. The tactility of his works, the sheer appetite for painting as an almost sensual substance, or the method of using his fingers in the 1970s empowered painting once more.[1]
Career Facts
Georg Baselitz is one of the most important modern & contemporary artists in the world. He is represented by industry-leading mega-galleries such as Thaddeus Ropac and White Cube.
Baselitz participated in major art events such as Documenta 5, 6 and 7 in Kassel, or the 1980 Venice Biennale. He has had comprehensive retrospectives at major institutions such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C.; the Nationalgalerie in Berlin; the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; or the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
As a result, Baselitz features in numerous major private and public collections, making him one of the most important artists of the second half of the 20th century, and of the first half of the 21st century.
Books on Georg Baselitz
For further reading on Georg Baselitz, we highly recommend the following monographic publications:
- Georg Baselitz. Thames & Hudson: 2021.
- Georg Baselitz: Collected Writings and Interviews. Riding House: 2022.
- Georg Baselitz. Hatje Cantz: 2018.
Artworks
Notes:
[1] Thaddaeus Ropac, Georg Baselitz at https://ropac.net/artists/28-georg-baselitz/ consulted 17/08/2022.
Last Updated on May 3, 2023
Sylvia Walker
Sylvia Walker (b. 1986, US) is an art historian, essayist, art critic, and curator. After contributing to numerous publications, and curating exhibitions in the United States of America and beyond, she currently works as the assistant director of Contemporary Art Issue (CAI).
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