Georg Baselitz

Michael Werner, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen, Georg Baselitz: Das Motiv, Bilder und Zeichnungen, 1987-88
Miame, The Art Museum at Florida International University, American Art Today: Heads Only, 1994
Rorlyn Harbor, Nassau County Museum of Art, Feminine Image, 1997, p. 66, illustrated

Angelika Muthesius, Ed., Georg Baselitz, Cologne 1990, p. 122, no. 94, illustrated in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, Seoul, Deko Art Centre, A.R. Penck - Georg Baselitz: Moderne Deutsche Malerei, 1991, n.p., illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is richer in the original. Condition: This work is in overall very good condition. Extremely close inspection reveals some minute hairline cracks in the skin-toned areas of pigment. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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Standing as a powerful testament to Georg Baselitz’ iconic approach to painting, Malerkopf wie Blumenstrauß II is an outstanding work from the artist’s celebrated oeuvre. At once embodying his signature inversion of the picture plane and the skilful handling of the artist’s chosen medium, the work  offers an original insight into the German painter’s enduring practice.

Georg Baselitz’ long-standing commitment to figurative painting, which he explored throughout the 1960s and 1970s when minimal and conceptual art dominated the European and American avant-gardes, constitutes one of the most profound engagements with painting. At a time when formal explorations were almost per definition articulated as an abstract language, Georg Baselitz’ sheer insistence on the exploration of painting through figuration (without considering the subject of his paintings to be very relevant) offers an extremely original and unorthodox perspective on the medium. As the artist explained; “The problem is not the object in the picture, but the picture-as-object. And the question what the artist is playing with - a chair, a cube or a human face - is quite simply a non-issue” (Georg Baselitz quoted in: F. Dahlem, Georg Baselitz, Cologne 1990, p. 158).

Countering the declared death of the medium with a seemingly uncomplicated yet clever inversion of its basic figurative dimensions, Baselitz’ radical decision in 1969 to paint his subjects upside-down gave his inventive work renewed energy. Having to paint his straight subjects from a counter-intuitive orientation, the artist could now fully focus on his application of paint on canvas, whilst staying within the venerable tradition of figurative painting. This iconic approach is perfectly embodied in Malerkopf wie Blumenstrauß II, where the painter’s energetic brushstrokes and powerful composition underscore his physical interest in the medium. The subject of the painter as a bouquet of flowers is indeed only a secondary quality of the work, as the orientation of the portrait causes a loss of immediate recognition, instead drawing attention to its painterly qualities.

The tactile and painterly surface of Malerkopf wie Blumenstrauß II testifies to Georg Baselitz’ decades-long exploration of painting as a primarily physical and object-based practice. The confident, gestural handling of materials are the outcome of a long and distinguished career as one of Germany’s most illustrious post-war painters, and makes the work an outstanding and engaging example of Baselitz’ celebrated oeuvre.