Georg Baselitz

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1997

Stockholm, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Georg Baselitz + Carl Fredrik Hill, September 1995 - January 1996
Saltzburg, Die Salzburger Osterfestspiele und Thaddaeus Ropac und Zum Besuch der Ausstellung, Georg Baselitz: Torso Rosa, March - June 1997

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. All surface inconsistencies are inherent to the medium and the artist's working method. There are scattered surface accretions and scattered scuffs with minute areas of paint loss.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

"I'm not [the kind of artist] who goes with the flow, joins a group, follows the latest trend..." – Georg Baselitz, 2007

Since the late 1970s, Georg Baselitz has maintained a preoccupation with the sculpted figure. An early carved work, Model for a Sculpture (1979), brought the artist to international attention upon its display at the 1980 Venice Biennale, where the figure's raised right arm was misinterpreted as a fascist salute. Perhaps best known as a painter, the artist's recourse to sculpture followed a pursuit of a medium that was, in his words, 'more primitive and brutal'. Indeed, Baselitz achieves a formal impact in sculpture which is owed, in part, to his interest in African sculpture, his awareness of which is demonstrated by the vigorously carved surface and richly colored forms. The association with tribal art aligns Baselitz with Gauguin and Picasso, who drew inspiration from non-western sources, as well as a wider Modernist engagement with so-called 'Primitivism'.

The centre-piece of the 1997 exhibition in Salzburg, Torso Rosa forms part of a striking group of truncated torsos, executed in the early 1990s. Each work from the series is derived from a single trunk of a tree, into which Baselitz carves a human form, preserving the massy, volumetric qualities of the natural material. The energy of the artist's process is revealed by the pronounced incisions and aggressively hatched surface. A sense of violent passion is conveyed by the intense red pigment that covers parts of the anatomy. As such, Torso Rosa exemplifies how sculpture forms a crucial part of Baselitz's oeuvre, and has allowed him to explore and his interest in the figure, combined with painterly abstraction.