Georg Baselitz

Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne
Froehlich Collection, Stuttgart (acquired from the above in 1986)
Sale: Christie's, London, Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, 22 June 2006, Lot 61
Private Collection, Netherlands
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Karlsruhe, Städtische Galerie im Prinz-Max-Palais, Zurück zur Natur, aber wie? Kunst der letzten 20 Jahre, 1988
Zurich, Kunsthaus Zürich; Düsseldorf, Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Georg Baselitz, 1990, p. 147, illustrated in colour
London, Tate Gallery; Tübingen, Kunsthalle Tübingen; Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart; Hamburg, Deichtorhalle Hamburg; Vienna, Bank Austria Kunstforum, The Froehlich Foundation. German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, 1996-7, p. 240, illustrated in colour
Karlsruhe, Museum für Neue Kunst, 1999-2006 (long-term loan)
Karlsruhe, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe, Die Malerei ist tot - es lebe die Malerei, 2004, p. 155, illustrated
Karlsruhe, Museum für Neue Kunst, EXIT - Ausstieg aus dem Bild, 2005, p. 22

Edward Quinn, Baselitz. Eine fotografische Studie von Edward Quinn, Wabern-Bern 1993, p. 21, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the overall tonality in the original is deeper and richer and the illustration fails to convey the thickly painted areas of impasto. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals minor wear to the top left corner tip. There is light rubbing to the centre of the bottom edge and wear to the right edge towards the bottom corner. There are some very faint and minor networks of hairline cracking at intervals to the white area towards the bottom of the composition. Very close inspection reveals two small paint losses: one towards the centre of the composition between the two trees, and one to the bottom of the right tree. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet light.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Energetic brushstrokes compose Die Kirche, which is layered in thickly impastoed strata that reveal different pigment tonalities, blending and contrasting with one another at the same time. Typical to the artist’s practice since 1969, the motif of the painting - a church - has been depicted upside down. The inversion of the picture has become an iconic feature of Baselitz’s works, whose paintings are kept in the most important collections worldwide. It is the case of Die Kirche, for example, which was part of the Froehlich Collection from 1986 - the year it was painted - to 2006. As part of one of the finest collections of Post-War German and American art in the world, Die Kirche was shown in prestigious institutions such as the Tate Gallery in London in 1997 in the exhibition The Froehlich Collection. German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol and the Städische Galerie in Karlsruhe as part of the show Die Malerei ist tot – es lebe die Malerei (Painting is Dead – Long Live Painting) in 2004. Die Kirche also hung at the Museum für Neue Kunst in Karlsruhe from 1999 to 2006 as a loan from the Froehlich Collection.

Baselitz decided to invert his motifs in order to concentrate on the medium of painting itself. In this way, surface and form become the artist’s primary concern; the image is devoid of meaning for him. In the artist’s own words: “The object expresses nothing at all. Painting is not a means to an end. On the contrary, painting is autonomous. And I said to myself: if this is the case, then I must take everything which has been an object of painting - landscape, the portrait and the nude, for example - and paint it upside down. That is the best way to liberate representation from content” (the artist cited in: Angelika Muthesius, Georg Baselitz, Hohenzollernring 1990, p. 88). The subversive gesture was inspired by the artist's discovery of the Mannerist painters, in particular Guido Reni's Crucifixion of St Peter (1604-05), which struck him enormously. Die Kirche, however, is an unusual example within Baselitz’s oeuvre. There are rarely architectural motifs in his works and when they occur they represent strong personal references. This is the case of paintings such as Ententeich (German for duck-pond) from 1964, where the artist painted the pond in Deutschbaselitz; his hometown and also the place where he took his artistic surname from. In Die Kirche Baselitz painted the Apostle Church in Dresden-Trachau where his uncle Wilhelm - whom he regarded very highly - was pastor.

Born into a family of schoolteachers, Baselitz lived his childhood and early youth in a small village of East Germany, where little if no attention was paid to the artistic innovations and new currents that were taking place in the rest of Europe at the time. Baselitz’s artistic training didn’t start until he moved to East Berlin where he studied at the Hochschule für Bildende und Angewandte Künste. The teaching curriculum was extremely conservative, and he was expelled for socio-political immaturity. This event could be considered as a hint to what has later become the artist’s trademark: a provocative style that defies all artistic conventions.

Having moved from East to West Berlin in 1957 Baselitz’s first solo exhibition, which took place at Galerie Werner & Katz caused a public scandal. Two of the works exhibited in the show - Die Groβe Nacht im Eimer (The Big Night Down the Drain) and Nackter Mann (Naked Man) - were confiscated and both the artist and the organizers had to pay substantial 400 Deutsche Mark fines. Twenty years after his polemic start, the sculpture he presented as his contribution to the Venice Biennale in 1980, Modell für eine Skulptur (Model for a Sculpture) continued to spur controversy among critics, who saw in it similarities to Nazi iconography.

Painted at the height of Baselitz’s career Die Kirche is a very rare example of the artist’s two-sided relationship with painting. On the one hand, disregarding all known artistic conventions by literally turning the picture upside down. On the other, invoking different moments of Art History in his paintings such as the Romantic spirit in his ‘Hero’ series (Ludwig Richter on His Way to Work, for example) or Abstract Expressionism in the powerful accumulation of paint layers characteristic of his works. Georg Baselitz’s tug-of-war with painting is best described in Norman Rosenthal’s description of how he “has striven constantly to confront the realities of history and art history, to make them new and fresh in a manner that can only be described as heroic” (Norman Rosenthal, ‘Why the Painter Georg Baselitz is a Good Painter’ in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Baselitz, 2007, p.15). Indeed, Die Kirche can be regarded as part of Baselitz's heroic quest to reinvent Art History on a daily basis.