Deichtorhallen

Georg Baselitz: Die Russenbilder

16 Nov 2007 - 03 Feb 2008

© Georg Baselitz: Lenin on the Tribune, 1999, 250 x 200 cm, oil on canvas, Courtesy Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Salzburg / Paris
Georg Baselitz
Die Russenbilder
November 16, 2007 - February 3, 2008

On the occasion of Baselitz’ 70th birthday, the Deichtorhallen exhibit the series of „Russian Paintings“, while the Royal Academy dedicades a singlee main exhibition of the artist.

Georg Baselitz is seen as an artist who has voraciously consumed-and altered- Western figurative styles from both the recent and distant past. With his paintings, which are turned up side down he conquered the international art world. He is Germany’s most famous living artist.

The exhibition at Deichtorhallen in Hamburg constitutes the first presentation of the “Russian paintings” in a German-speaking country. The “Russian paintings” are a series of large- and medium-sized paintings, which Georg Baselitz produced between 1998 and 2002. In the series, he addressed famous works of “Socialist Realism” dating from the Stalinist era, which, on the one hand, represented pictures that had a great influence on him during his youth in then East Germany, and, on the other hand, have since inspired him to revise his relation to German and European 20th century history by affording especially great painterly freedom.

Thus, the “Russian paintings” can be seen as the second experimental series Georg Baselitz has produced at the turn of the century. In them, he has most energetically and courageously introduced a completely new phase in his painterly work – comparable to the “Remix paintings”, but in a very different way.

The exhibition of the “Russian paintings” shows 58 paintings, and was produced in cooperation with the Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Etienne as well as the Nationalmuseum of Modern Art in Seoul.
 

Tags: Georg Baselitz