50 years of painting and 30 years of sculpture, major Baselitz retrospective at the Museum Frieder Burda and the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden. A comprehensive survey of the German artist featuring approximately 140 works from nine different periods. Sculptures with direct correlation to particular paintings are displayed in juxtaposition to them. Much as the painter Baselitz prefers a liberated way of painting with regard to content and brushwork, the sculptor Baselitz employs an elemental and unpolished technique for his carvings, utilizing chainsaw, axe and chisel.
From November 21, 2009, to March 14, 2010, the Museum Frieder Burda
and the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden will be exhibiting a comprehensive survey of the
German artist Georg Baselitz, featuring approximately 140 works. The exhibition will be
presented at the two neighbouring museums, with the Museum Frieder Burda displaying
50 years of painting, the Staatliche Kunsthalle 30 years of sculpture. The show is to be
curated by Götz Adriani (Museum Frieder Burda) and Karola Kraus (Staatliche Kunsthalle
Baden-Baden). Georg Baselitz is one of the world’s most famous and sought after
contemporary artists. It is not lastly thanks to him, that German Painting has developed its
current, unprecedented reputation. His works have long since gained entry into the most
important museums and collections, and his exhibition successes range from New York’s
Guggenheim Museum in 1995 to the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2007. In fifty years
Baselitz has produced a comprehensive and multifaceted oeuvre in which he treads new
paths and sets artistic standards.
30 years of sculpture at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
The exhibition at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden entitled 30 years of sculpture
focuses on the artist’s sculptural work. In each of the nine sky-lighted exhibition halls, works
from nine different periods are presented, starting with 1979’s Modell für eine Skulptur -
Baselitz’s first sculpture - and continuing through to his sculpture Folk Thing Zero (2009).
Sculptures with direct correlation to particular paintings are displayed in juxtaposition to
them. Much as the painter Baselitz prefers a liberated way of painting with regard to content
and brushwork, the sculptor Baselitz employs an elemental and unpolished technique for his
carvings, utilizing chainsaw, axe and chisel. His sculptures, as his paintings, reject all forms
of harmony and symmetry. The jagged lines express a rigorous wilfulness which is
intentionally manifested in a rude display of force. Each figure is a product of this raw
forcefulness and derives its unmistakeable appearance from it. Baselitz began sculpting in
1979, when he came to the conviction that sculpture could translate the power of
representation in a more direct way than painting, and that its language was easier to
decode.
His early sculptures, though invoking the human form, do not recall specific people but are
carriers of artistic concepts. Being aggressively hewn from maple, lime, red beech or cedar
tree trunks without any technical elegance, Baselitz’s sculptures often give the viewer the
impression of looking at ‘wounded figures’.
A Catalogué Raisonné of Georg Baselitz’s sculptures and an original print by the artist is
being published at the occasion of the exhibition.
Karola Kraus, Hg.: Georg Baselitz. Skulpturen, Distanz Verlag Berlin 2009, essays by Karola
Kraus, Georg Baselitz and Eric Darragon, german / engl., 240 p., size 21.5 x 27 cm,
Hardcover, € 29.90, booktrade 49.90 ISBN 978-3-89955-400-7
50 years of painting at the Museum Frieder Burda
The Museum Frieder Burda continues a series of exhibitions based on loans from important
private collections that began with the Sigmar Polke show in 2007, and continued with the
Gerhard Richter exhibition in 2008. The retrospective of Georg Baselitz’s work is
predominantly displaying loans from the internationally renowned private collections of Josef
Froehlich, Sylvia and Ulrich Ströher, Friedrich Christian Flick, Uli Knecht and Frieder Burda.
Featuring around 80 paintings and 40 works on paper, from early figurative to recent works,
the exhibition will provide a unique opportunity to consider Georg Baselitz’s achievements
over five decades.
During his 50 years of activity, Georg Baselitz has produced a large and varied body of work,
opening up new paths and establishing new artistic standards. The ‘Hero’ paintings of the
mid-1960s consist of confusing figures portrayed in a monumental, heroic style, challenging
the classical portrait painting. A total of nine examples of this famous series will be on display
at the Museum Frieder Burda. The dissolution of forms in 1966 leads up to Baselitz’s
‘Fracture’ paintings, in which the motifs are taken apart and then re-composed. This
liberation from the depiction of content and meaning climaxes in 1969 with the so-called
‘upside down’ paintings. Figures, portraits, still life paintings, landscapes, animal
representations – all are painted on their head, thus proving Baselitz’s delight in
experimentation and establishing his worldwide reputation.
A catalogue released by Götz Adriani and an original print by the artist is being published at
the occasion of the exhibition.
Götz Adriani, Hg.: Baselitz. 50 Jahre Malerei, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2009, 208 S.
with essays of Götz Adriani, Georg Baselitz, Siegfried Gohr and Kay Heymer, 208 pages
Hardcover, 28.5 x 20 cm, € 24.80
Image: Kopf in der Sonne, 1982, oil on linen 250 x 200 cm Private collection
Press contact Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden:
Dr. Dirk Teuber
Lichtentaler Allee 8a, 76530 Baden-Baden Phone: (00)49-(0)7221-30076-404, Fax: (00)49-(0)7221-30076-500 teuber@kunsthalle-baden-baden.de
Press contact Museum Frieder Burda:
Horst Koppelstätter
Koppelstätter Kommunikation GmbH Friedrichstraße 2, 76530 Baden-Baden Phone: (00)49–(0)7221–97372-11, Fax: (00)49-(0)7221-97372-22 hok@koppelstaetter-kommunikation.de
Press conference Friday 20.11.2009, h 11 a.m.
Opening: Friday, 20.11.2009, h 7pm
50 years of Painting
20.11.2009 – 14.02.2010
Museum Frieder Burda
Lichtenthaler Allee 8b D - 76530 Baden-Baden
Tel: +49 (0)7221 298890
fax: +49 (0)7221 3989830
http://www.museum-frieder-burda.de
office@museum-frieder-burda.de
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm, Monday closed
30 years of Sculpture
20.11.2009 – 14.03.2010
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
Lichtentaler Allee 8a D - 76530 Baden-Baden
Tel +49 (0)7221 30076401
Fax +49-(0)7221 30076500
info@kunsthalle-baden-baden.de
http://www.kunsthalle-baden-baden.de
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm, Monday closed