Georg Baselitz

Intro Bio Exhibitions

Background Information about Georg Baselitz

Introduction

For more than six decades, Georg Baselitz has shaped the international art scene, and remains one of the most important artists of the present. He is, alongside Gerhard Richter, one of the most famous German artists and painters of our time. Characteristic of his style are his expressive, large-format works – in which the painter produces pieces that are both figurative and abstract with an impressive painting technique.

In 1957, Baselitz left the Berlin Weissensee School of Art in East Berlin and moved to the West. At the time, the content of his images was viewed as obscene. Having fallen out of favor in the DDR, he went on to cause a stir in West Berlin. Baselitz achieved worldwide recognition in the mid-1970s with his “upside down” series of paintings. These works subverted visual conventions, bringing the tension between representation and abstraction into full bloom.

The influences of Georg Baselitz are diverse. His artistic role models include figures such as Picasso, Willem de Kooning, Giacometti, and the expressionists from the group of artists known as Die Brücke (The Bridge). The aesthetic of outsider art – as a student Baselitz followed Jean Dubuffet closely – is also unmistakable in his work. The painter often uses Christian iconography, and deals with religious themes.

His upbringing in post-World War II Germany is intrinsic to his artistic vision. In an interview granted to the American magazine Artforum, Baselitz referred to the Germany of his youth in the following terms: “I was born into a destroyed order, a destroyed landscape, a destroyed society. And I didn’t want to reestablish an order.” In its stead he would elaborate a distinctive artistic vision and pictorial style.

Over the course of his artistic career, Baselitz has continued to develop his oeuvre, and in doing so often includes references to his earlier pieces. In the series Remix, he re-interprets his own paintings – an act of artistic self-assertion and, at the same time, a reconsideration of perspective after the passing of time. His 2008 work “Geteilter Held (Remix)” is named after his oil painting from 1966 – yet he has taken a completely new approach to the subject. The limited edition on Washi paper is remarkable in its unique execution: Every page is hand colored, and the colors vary throughout the edition. Each print could almost be considered a one-off.

Daniela Kummle

Bio

23 January 1938	Born Hans-Georg Kern in Deutschbaselitz, Germany
1956-1957	Studied Painting at Berlin-Weissensee Arts Academy, East Berlin, Germany
1957-1963	Studied at the Berlin Arts Academy, Berlin, Germany
1977-1983	Professor at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, Karlsruhe, Germany
1983-1988	Professor at the Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, Germany
1992-2003	Professor at the Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, Germany
	Lives and works in Salzburg, Austria

Awards

2009	Cologne Fine Art Award from the Federal Association of German Galleries and Editions
2009	Member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
2008	B.Z. Culture Award, Berlin
2005	Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
2004	Honorary Professor at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts, Florence, Italy
2004	Praemium Imperiale, Tokyo
2003	Lower Saxony State Award, Hanover, Germany
2002	Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France
1999	Honorary Professorship at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
1992	Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France
1987	Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France
1986	Goslarer Kaiserring
1964	Villa Romana Award

Collections

	MoMA, New York City, USA
	Ludwig Forum for International Art, Aachen, Germany
	Frieder Burda Collection, Baden-Baden, Germany
	Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
	German National Collection of Contemporary Art, Bonn, Germany
	Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
	Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
	Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
	Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
	Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2014	Georg Baselitz – Damals, Dazwischen und Heute, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
	Georg Baselitz – Farewell Bill, Gagosian Gallery, London, UK
2013	Georg Baselitz – Remix, Albertina, Vienna, Austria
2012	Georg Baselitz, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2011	Baselitz as Sculptor, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
2009	Baselitz – 50 Jahre Malerei, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
	Dr. Freud und Andere Musik, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
	Georg Baselitz: 1960-2008, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic
	Georg Baselitz – Mrs Lenin and the Nightingale, White Cube – Hoxton Square, London, UK
2007	Georg Baselitz – Die Russenbilder, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
	Georg Baselitz, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
2006	Baselitz – Painter, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
2004	Georg Baselitz – Bilder, die den Kopf verdrehen, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
1999	Georg Baselitz – Nostalgie in Istanbul, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany
1996	Georg Baselitz, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
1995	Georg Baselitz, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, USA
1991	Georg Baselitz: Malelade, MoMA, New York City, USA
1983	Georg Baselitz, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK

Group Exhibitions

2014	How Soon Was Now – A Brief History of CFA, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
2013	Give Me Five, Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
2012	Exquisite Corpses: Drawing and Transfiguration, MoMA, New York City, USA
2009	Kunst und Kalter Krieg – Deutsche Positionen 1945-1989, German Historical Museum, Berlin, Germany
	Die Kunst ist Super! Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
2008	UBS Openings: Paintings from the 1980s, Tate Modern, London, UK
	Blood on Paper – The Art of the Book, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
2007	Die aufregende Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
	What is Painting? Contemporary Art from the Collection, MoMA, New York City, USA
	La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
2006	Homage to Chillida, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
2003	Berlin-Moskau Moskau-Berlin 1950-2000, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
	Obsessive Malerei – Ein Rückblick auf die Neuen Wilden, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
	La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
2001	Von Rodin bis Baselitz – Der Torso in der Skulptur der Moderne, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
2000	Zeitwenden, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Germany
1997	Deutschlandbilder, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
1995	La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
1987	Berlinart 1961-1987, MoMA, New York City, USA
1982	documenta 7, Kassel, Germany
1980	La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
1977	documenta 6, Kassel, Germany
1972	documenta 5, Kassel, Germany