Georg Baselitz (b. 1938)
Untitled (15.XI.06)
signed 'G. Baselitz' (lower centre); dated '15.XI.06' (upper centre)
pen and ink on paper
25⅞ x 20⅛in. (65.7 x 51.1cm.)
Executed in 2006

Provenance:
Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin.
Private Collection.

Exhibited:
Berlin, Contemporary Fine Arts, Georg Baselitz, The Bridge Ghost's Supper, 2007, no. 2 (illustrated, frontispiece).
London, Karsten Schubert, Ridinghouse Benefit: A Changing Group Exhibition, 2010-2011.

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Specialist Notes:

Renowned artist Georg Baselitz’s watercolours combine fine graphic lines with rough splashes of colour to present dynamic works suffused with light, movement and vitality. By contrasting the light delicacy of watercolour with the sharp definition of ink, Baselitz brings spontaneous expression and liveliness to his imagery. Visually challenging the viewer and himself with his inverted compositions, Baselitz succeeds in retaining the intrinsic characteristics and questions and question concepts of familiarity, traditional composition and perspective painting. Through this new viewpoint, Baselitz challenges conventional ways of seeing and compels us to consider a different order for the interpretation of the work.

While Baselitz sees feet as a metaphor of grounding, his heads have the opposite connotation. Their inversion makes them lose their central position as men’s symbol for rational thinking, alluding to the notion of the insane. Despite the clarity of expression, Baselitz’ portrait seems to be inaccessible in terms of emotions. Tightly pursed lips and the introspective gaze, place the subject of the portrait in an introvert state that creates a cold distance and has no intention to establish a connection with the viewer. In the present work, patches of colour are laid on the paper with fluid and spontaneous gestures, providing rhythm and narrative to the work. Through Baselitz’ quick gestures the expression in the portrait is diluted, pointing back at the physical activity of painting.

As with all Baselitz's work since 1969 the images have been inverted so as to render insignificant a literal interpretation of the image in the quest for pure art. By presenting his images upside-down, Baselitz wants us to distance ourselves from the subject and focus on the picture as picture, as colour and form that is not connected to the reality outside of the painting. Accordingly the images have no symbolic meaning for the artist. Thus while a line may describe an image, it is primarily emancipated from its descriptive role and becomes detached from the printed background. This flexibility and renewed vision, together with the elegant simplicity of the artist’s motifs, enables his art to be absorbed purely in a visual way.

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