Can
you tell me about your first exposure to abstract paintings and the first time you felt
the need to "depart" from the movement?
When I was fifteen years old, I came across,
by chance, a volume of paintings on Italian Futurism (Italienische futuristische). That
was a hand-bound catalogue containing many black and white images. I remember making some
replicas of them.
Then in 1957, I entered art school in Berlin. I must admit that I was quite fond of
Kandinsky's Theory of Art although I became skeptical of the Bauhaus movement.
Bauhaus, on its own, may be the foundation of modern architecture, design and most applied
arts. However, the form of fine art, the abstract art, that runs parallel with Bauhaus
designs has never been able to break free of a decorative nature.
My work focuses on thoughts and differs from the intent of abstract art.
How did the 19th Century artists and writers
influence your own work, especially your earlier work?
Yes, the 19th Century artists; they provided great inspiration.
Among the German and French romantics, I was much taken with the work of Karl Blechen
(1798-1840, German landscape painter) - Eugene Delacroix's Lions afford a
series of primitive yet tragic appeal -
I like everything by Gustave Courbet -
Then, Gericault. His drawings and paintings of people with madness are something I will
never forget.
My earlier work was deeply influenced by the behaviors of schizophrencis. Besides the
works of Gericault, I most admire Antonin Artaud.
In 1961 and 1962, along with my friend and fellow classmate Eugen
Schonebeck, we published the Pandamonische Manifest I and II. I
have always considered these as my gifts to Artaud, the world's greatest playwright, poet,
madman.
As to the Pandamonische Manifest - it is an outstanding work of German
Expressionistic endeavor.
As for Surrealsim, I enjoy
viewing their statements and respect its impact on contemporary art. But Surrealism, as an
art form, has not been a personal favorite.
In 1963, two of your paintings, Die Grosse Nacht in
Eimer and Der nackte Mann were banned from public by the German government.
Will you tell us about this incident?
During my art exhibit at Galerie Werner & Katz in Berlin in 1963, an art review had
linked the show with "public indecency" and caused a commotion in the city. Two of
my paintings were confiscated by the police. The district attorney's office fined my
gallerist, Michael Werner and I for inciting pornographic activities. We filed a lawsuit
against the city but it was not until 1965 that the two paintings were returned to me.
I have nothing to say about the event.
However, I had written a short passage entitled Lieber Herr W.! which, I now
feel, was a manifest to the 1963 Berlin exhibition.
"Dear Mr. W.!
I 've been ill since your lasr visit here. Twenty turpentine-soaked cigarettes a day,
nitro dilution in my throat, cause headaches and dizziness. The whole bag of tricks in
front of and behind the canvas makes me want to puke ...
I sit on the john with candles on my hat, and G. lies useless on the balcony. I can't say
anything about my pictures. I paint, and it's not easy - with that I've done everything.
You shouldn't reach too far. Things are dumped on me from the abyss of darkness: an astral
vault, a blood vessel, a wall, a Piranesi urn, the thorn in the ring, the barb - I yearn,
black, white, red. The topsy-turvy world upside down, The geniuses won't and can't bear
the responsibility anymore...
I'm left with little. I think it's enough. Why do you ask? I paint female bodies -
somewhat below, and the nicest thing is still to squoosh up a face, a head. Maybe
something external is involved. Go out in the street and look at the way the people keel
over, fall on the sidewalk, suddenly there's nothing left of any flight of fancy, it's so
fantastically simple. I'm included ...
... People have started ringing my bell again and rattling my mailbox. I haven't managed
to catch anyone. The sky is lilac.
Best.,
G. Baselitz
Berlin, August 8, 1963"
(originally in German, pub. Die
Schastrommel, no. 6, March 1972)
You prefer wood as medium for your
sculpture?
Wood is a basic material and the most traditional medium for all sculptures.
Other materials, such as glass, steel, metal, plastic, are preferred by craftsmen, not
artists. They are preferred over wood because it is much easier to produce replicas with
such materials.
Sculpture is like a small miracle. To make everything possible, I use wood.
Painted wood (lime) object: 2500 x 730 x 590 mm., sculpture.
Tate Gallery, London
George Baselitz with Frau Paganismus, Atelier Derneburg 1994
Frau Paganismus, 1994, sculpture, 215 x 132 x68 cm.
Hess Collection, Napa, California
You have, at many instances, spoken about the importance of drawings. As you once
said, "to draw badly requires tremendous skills" -- may we revisit the issue of
drawing?
Drawing badly does not only require tremendous skills, it is
many times as difficult as executing a traditional drawing in which the composition and
perspective can be measured and the muscles and bones can be examined for correctness.
Skilled draftmen may replicate the likeness of their environments but an artist sees its
spirit and races to capture its essence on paper.
Tremendous pressure has been imposed on artists nowadays, by academicians, politicians and
fashion, to be "exact" and "realistic." Many people have spent most of
their time questioning the correctness of a depiction yet while they are doing that,
the drawing itself departs from its maker.
If you put a piece of paper in front of you and draw a tree on it and then claim that this
tree is standing just as erect on the paper as in your garden, then you are simply taking
over, untested, something that others claim.
You've written, "history is linear ... art
is idiosyncratic," would you expound on this?
The scholars say, "history will repeat itself.," Of
course. And the history of art is very similar in this respect. But what I really want to
say is, the wisdom of art is different from all disciplaines of academic endeavors.
Orangenesser (IV) (Orange Eater [IV] ),
1981
oil and tempera on
canvas, 146 x 114 cm.
Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich.
There are no such things as goals or objectives in art. Art does not follow the beginning
or ending of an era or a political saga. Art follows only one person: its maker, or, the
artist. If there is one heroic act a work of art attempts to create, it is the
establishment of an effect, or an influence. However, this influence will be utterly
useless outside the realm of art.
People ask, "why can't art be more like science?" Why can't art change our
society like inventions or political uprisings?" What they mean to say is, why can't
art be useful, or rational?
This is impossible. If art becomes "useful" objects, much like what the church
had done in the past by turning works of art into religious artifacts -- the spirit of art
will be lost. And poetry, paintings and music will be nothing but ornaments of leisure.
Art and history. A child has no biography, but his imagination already spread inside him
before he was born, and when he draws he tries to harmonize his imagination with whatever
he sees and experiences. But sooner or later you're no longer a child, then you've done
enough comparing and measuring and drawing; and at that point, when every stroke, dot, or
splotch is no longer used to compare with a thing, to approach it, then that's enough. Now
you only need to talk to yourself and you've got a lot to say --
Trummerfrau (Bomb-Site Woman), 1978,
oil and tempera on canvas, 330 x
250 cm.
Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum,
Eindhoven.
I know, no matter how hard we try, human
beings cannot alter time or the system. Then again, I can tell you, if you let it happen,
art can open your eyes, and show you a part of the world you have never seen before.
Two last questions, and very important ones. Ever
since 1975, you have been living and working at Derneburg, a castle. What is it like?
Hot and cold.
That is, hot in the summer and cold in wintertime.
Finally, what's your favorite color?
Rotgtun.
Baselitz's reply of rotgrun (red-green) indicates that the subject is a
combination of the primary colors red and green. However, if one mixes these pigments, a
dark, "non-color" is formed --
Therefore, is Gerog Baselitz's favorite color, non-color?
A year after receiving her PhD in history, Bonita left New York City to work as a museum curator in Marseille, France. Her publications include J.F.M.: a catalogue raisonné of the graphic art of Jean-François Millet, En Route 1999, and the soon-to-be-published Empire of Our Prodigal Sons. Bonita, who is often seen in her Lazio football jersey, is the editor of Once Upon A Time magazine.
©2002, 2003, 2004 L'Atelier Bonita
|
GEORG BASELITZ CHRONOLOGY
1938 Born Hans-Georg Kern, on 23
January in Grossbaselitz,
Upper Lansitz, Saxony; to Johannes and Lieselotte Kern,
both primary school teachers. Hans-Georg is the second
of four childten.
1940-50 The Kern family lives in the local
school house, and in
its library, young Baselitz first discovers albums of
19th Century pencil drawings.
1950-55 The family moves to Kamenz where
Baselitz completes
primary school education. In his early teens, he reads
17th Century mystic Jakob Bohme. Ar 14, he begins
painting portraits, including those of Beethoven, Geothe
and Stalin. In 1955, he applies to the Kunstakademie in
Dresden but is rejected.
1956 Baselitz passes
the entrance examination to study
forestry at the Staatliche Forstschule in Taranth but
does not enroll. That winter, he becomes a student at
the Hochschule fur Bildende und Angewandte Kunst in
East Berlin. Among his classmates are Peter Graf and
Ralf Winkler (later known as A.R. Penck). With Graf, he
travels to West Berlin. During the school break, Baselitz
refuses to go to Rostock to do industrial work. As a
result of the paintings he produces during the break,
he is expelled after two terms because of "socio-political
immaturity."
1957 Baselitz receives a
5-year scholarship to attend the
Staaatliche Hochschule fur Bildende Kunst in West Berlin.
He studies painting under Hann Trier, the theories of
Vasily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich and befriends
fellow students Eugen Schonebeck and Benjamin Katz.
1958 Baselitz settles in
West Berlin. The same year, he meets
his wife-to-be Elke Kretzchmar who is also studying at
the academy. He creates first series of paintings,
including the imaginary Onkel Bernhard (Uncle Bernhard)
portraits. At the academy, he sees two traveling
exhibitions from America on Abstract Expressionism and
becomes interested in the work of Willem de Kooning,
Philip Guston and Jackson Pollock.
1959 Baselitz hitchhikes to
Amsterdam, see Chaim Soutine's
Le Boeuf écorché (The Skinned Ox, 1926) ar the
Stedelijk Museum. On his return, he stops to view
Documenta 2 at Kassels. He gives up his studio at
the academy and works exclusively at home.
1960 Baselitz becomes
interested in the art of the mentally ill.
He paonts G. - Kopf (G. - Head) based on Hans
Prinzhorn's book and its illustrations on madness.
1961 He adopts the surname Baselitz,
which is taken from
the name of his birthplace. He visits Paris for the first
time and sees works by Gustav Moreau. The same year,
Baselitz and Schonebeck stage an exhibition of their work
in ab abandoned house. They wrIte an accompanying
manifesto, the Pandamonisches Manifest 1961.
Georg Baselitz and Eugen Schonebeck,
Pandamonisches Manifest I, 1. Vversion, October 1961,
blueprint,
62.5 x 103.9 cm, Private collection.
1962 Baselitz and Schonebeck
write Pandamonisches
Manifest II, 1962. He marries Elke Kretzchmar, their
first son, Daniel, is born. This year he completes his
studies at the academy and befriends Michael Werner.
1963 Baselitz first solo
exhibition inaugurates Galerie
Werner & Katz in Berlin. Two of his paintings in the
show, Die grosse Nacht im Eimer (The Big Night Down
the Drain) and Der nackte Mann (The Naked Man) are
confiscated by the district attorney on charges of
public indecency. The court case lastes until 1965 and
results in the return of the paintings to the artist.
Baselitz writes as a manifesto the letter Lieber Herr W.!
(Dear Mr. W.!} He completes a series of eleven
paintings entitled P.D. - Fiisse (P.D. - Feet).
Die grosse Nacht im Eimer (The Big Night
Down the Drain), 1962-63,
oil on canvas, 250 x 180 cm.
Musuem Ludwig, Cologne, Ludwig Donation.
1965 Baselitz spends six months at
the Villa Romana in
Florence on a scholarship. He studies Italian Mannerist
prints and creates his Tierstuck (Animal Piece) pictures.
His first exhibition at Galerie Friedrich & Dahlem opens in
Munich. In Berlin, he works on the Helden (Heroes)
pictures.
Helden: Der neue Typ (Herors: The New Type), 1966,
oil on canvas, 162 x 130 cm.
Louisiana Musuem of Modern Art, Humelback, Denmark.
1966 His son Anton is born.
Baselitz moves to Osthofen
near Worms. His paintings reflect a rural scene.
He makes his first woodcuts.
1967 Baselitz paints B
fur Larry (B for Larry).
B fur Larry (B for Larry), 1967, oil on canvas,
250 x 200 cm. Private collection.
1968 He receives grant from the
cultural section of the
German Industrial Association.
1969 He paints first
pictures in which the entire composition is
upside down, beginning with Der Wald auf dem Kopf
(The Wood on Its Head).
Der Wald auf dem Kopf (The Wood on Its Head), 1969,
oil on canvas, 250 x 190 cm.
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Ludwig donation.
1971 He moves to Forst on
the Weinstrasse and uses the old
school house as his studio. Baselitz starts to paint
pictures of birds as well as beginning a series of finger
paintings.
1972 Baselitz participates
in Documenta 5 in Kassel.
1973 His 1965-66 Heroes
pictures are shown at the Hans
Neuendorf's gallery in Hamburg. Baselitz paints the
Fahnen (Flags) with strips of canvas pinned to the wall.
1974 A retrospective of
Baselitz's graphic works (including
etchings for 1963-74 and woodcuts from 1966-67) is
organized by Rolf Wedewer for the Stadtisches Museum
Leverkusen, Schloss Morsbroich. He paints the Akt Elke
(Nude Elke) pictures.
1975 Baselitz moves to
Derneburg near Hildesheim, his studio
is part of his home. He makes his first trip to New York
and works in a studio for two weeks.
1976 Baselitz exhibits his
paintings, graphic works and
Pandamonisches Manifestos at the Kunsthalle Bern.
1977 He works on larger
format linoleum cuts until 1979.
He is appointed instructor at the Staatliche Akademie de
Bildenden Kunst in Karlsruhe and, in 1978, he is given
a professorship. Baselitz withdraws participation in
Documenta 6, due to participation by official
representatives of East German aonters. He begins
painting diptychs on wood.
Weiblicher Akt auf Küchenstuhl
(Female Nude on a Kitchen Chair) 1977-79
Linocut on paper,
2021 x 1370 mm. Tate Gallery, London
Die Ahrenleserin (The Gleaner), 1978,
oil and tempera on canvas, 330.1 x 249.9
cm.
Solomon R, Guggenheim Museum, New York.
1979 He begins making wood
sculptures.
1980 The sculpture Modell fur
eine Skulptur (Model for
a Sculpture, 1979-1980) is shown in the West German
Pavilion at the Venice Bienale.
1981 Baselitz participates
in A New Spirit in Painting at
the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He continues to
exhibit at Galerie Michael Werner in Cologne, his
first exhibitions are held in New York at Xavier Fourcede
Gallery and Brooke Alexander, Inc. He completes
Orangenessers (Orange Eaters) and the Drinkers
(including Flaschentrinker, Bottle Drinking Man) series.
1982 He participates in Documenta
7. Exhibitions are held at
Sonnabend Gallery (New York), Young Haffman
Gallery (Chicago), Wassington Galleries and Anthony
d'Offay Gallery (London). The first issue of the magazine
Krater und Wolke is devoted to Baselitz; it is edited by
A.R. Penck and published by Galerie Michael Werner in
Cologne. Baselitz returns to intensive work on sculptures
of figures and heads.
1983 He paints Nachteesen
in Dresden (Supper in Dresden),
which portrays Die Brucke artists. He leaves the academy
in Karlsruhe to assume a professorship at the Hochschule
de Kunst Berlin. An exhibition of paintings from 1976-83 is
organized by Galerie Danoff fro the Akron Art Museum.
The first volume of catalogue raisonné of Baselitz's
graphic workds is published by Jahn.
1984 Baselitz had his first
exhibition at Maty Boone Gallery in
New York in association with Michael Wener.
A retrospective of graphic work opens in Munich and
travels to the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva and
Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Baselitz's first exhibition
of prints at the Musuem of Modern Art in New York..
1987 Baselitz delivers
lectures of Das Rustzeug der Maler in
Amsterdam and London.
1988 He makes the Tragischer
Kopf (Tragic Head) sculpture
and Das Motiv (The Motif) paintings. A retrospective of
work from 1965-87 opens at the Sala d'Arme di Palazzo
Vecchio in Florence and travels to Hamburg. The first
monograph on Baselitz's paintings and sculptures is
published (compoled by Edwatd Quinn with a text by
Andreas Franzke).
1989 The
French Art Minister Jack Lang confers upon Baselitz
the Medal of Chevalier dan l'Ordre des Arts et des
Lettres.
1990 The
first large-scale exhibition of Baselitz's work is
held in East Germany at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
1991 Baselitz delivers
lectures of Das Rustzeug der Maler in
Amsterdam and London. Baselitz edits an issue of
Krate und Wolke devoted to A.R. Penck.
Bildelf, 1992, oil on canvas,
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany
1993 Baselitz creates
scenic concepts for Harrison Birtwistle's
opera Punch and Judy, directed by Pierre Audi at
the Deneder Landse Opera in Amsterdam. An exhibition of
drawings from 1962-92 is organized for the Musée
National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
1994 He
participates in The Romantic Spirit in German Art
1790-1990, which is held at the Royal Scottish Academy.
The same year, Baselitz writes the manifesto, Maden aus
dem Kopf, au dem Kopf, oder aus dem Topf.
1995 Baselitz's first
comprehensive retrospective at
an American museum is organized for the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum in New York.
The artist continues to live and work in Derneburg.
|
TIME