Georg Baselitz

Galerie Michael Werner, Berlin
Marisa del Re Gallery, New York

Baselitz’s inverted images from 1969 onwards heralded one of the most significant and radical departures from the conventions of painting, breaking from rules of representation and perspective that had governed the history of Western art since the Renaissance.  By doing this he not only encouraged the viewer to concentrate harder on the content of his works, but more importantly for Baselitz, on the painterly aspects of execution.

From the outset, Baselitz showed a flagrant disregard for artistic traditions, and we seldom find in his oeuvre a composition designed or executed in accordance with academic rules.  The “fracture” paintings he produced in the late 1960’s mark an important stage in the artist’s development, exploring the belief that the figure or motif might be placed anywhere on the canvas, with increased emphasis given to the formal and painterly aspects of his work.  Importantly, in 1969 he was to develop this idea further in what was the first of his revolutionary inverted canvases, Der Wald auf dem Kopf  (The Wood on its Head). Baselitz says the idea of the inverted image was derived from Indian philosophy, which believed that the roots of the world were in the heavens.  This inverted format was to become the hallmark of his mature style from this point onwards, subsequently bringing him widespread international recognition and influence.  Baselitz’s signature inversion of his subjects and motifs was not an impulsive decision, but instead resulted from a process of “self-imposed checks and interruptions in which the integrity of the figure, object or landscape came increasingly under attack.” (Richard Calvocoressi in Exhibition Catalogue, London, Waddington Galleries, Georg Baselitz, 1982, p. 1)

In committing himself to the inversion of his motifs, Baselitz dedicated himself to a more difficult method of representation: namely an inverted image of reality.  Jieve in Ihrer Höhle elegantly depicts an inverted image of a bird in a cave, and provides one of the strongest examples of his mature technique and style to date.  Like much of the artist’s most iconic work, Jieve In Ihrer Höhle is characterised by a powerful tension that exists between representation and abstraction.  Set within this deep-red canvas, lies an edgy yet beautifully constructed image of a bird, which subtly emerges from a masterful array of bold, energetic brushstrokes.  Baselitz’s vibrant, painterly strokes effectively provide the composition with a convincing vitality that is eminently suited to the delicate bird.  Importantly for Baselitz, it is the raw, abstract juxtaposition of red, white and dark blue and the tactile quality of the paint that demand our immediate attention here; the fusion of these elements into an image emerges later.  This lends the work spontaneity and naturalness - unique to Baselitz at this time – which aligns the subject matter to the substance of paint and to the physical process of painting.  However, this is deceptive for in practice his method of working was slow, deliberate and carefully orchestrated so as to avoid the risk of speculative or subjective interpretations.

The study of a bird (or birds) in a landscape had a long-standing tradition in art history, and was a motif Baselitz frequently turned to in the 1970’s.  Importantly, Jieve In Ihrer Höhle presages some principal canvases from the later 1970’s depicting birds - notably several pictures of the eagle - in which the bird forms become increasingly indistinguishable from their surroundings.  With Baselitz, convention makes way for invention: every piece is an original discovery in itself.  By refusing to follow stylistic trends and stubbornly defying fashion, Baselitz’s creations “attained a degree of authenticity that makes his work an exemplary contribution to contemporary art.”  (Andreas Franzke in  Georg Baselitz, Munich 1989, p.13)