Martin Kippenberger

Petersen Gallery, Hamburg
Michel Würthle, Berlin
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1990

Like his mocking series of self-portraits that took as their subject the artist’s own bloated and deteriorating body, just beneath the surface of Kippenberger’s work there is often a sense of the reality of hurt, vulnerability and pain. This is a trend that began in the paintings that he made in Florence during 1976-1977. Although he had gone to Florence with the express intention of becoming an actor, with no work in sight however, he begun to paint images that he saw as giving, “a good picture of the place.” Regarded by the artist as his first series, these distinctive grey-tone canvases, each of an identical 50 by 60cm format, are known collectively as ‘Uno di Voi un Tedesco in Firenze’, which translates as 'One of You, a German in Florence'. Composed of a miscellany of images that in some way directly related to Kippenberger’s experiences as a foreigner in Florence, together these works introduce the variety, directness and tragi-comic pathos that were to become customary hallmarks of his later career.

Gathering images indiscriminately both from life and from an assortment of postcards, photographs, newspaper cuttings, these pictures provide an identikit account of Kippenberger’s daily existence. This veiled autobiographical function importantly can be seen to have sown the seeds for the existential bent of his later work, as epitomised by the ‘Hotel Drawings’. Often choosing to deliberately crop his chosen motifs in decidedly ambiguous ways, through an atmospheric drama of shadow plays, the variety of subjects and styles juxtaposed in these canvases presented an ironic criticism against conventional aesthetic and cultural values.

On returning to Hamburg, Kippenberger showed the series at the Petersen Gallery in what was his first solo exhibition. The present work was acquired by Michel Würthle - the joint owner of Berlin’s Paris Bar and arguably the single most important figure in Kippenberger’s life. One of the artist's earliest patrons and greatest supporters, Wurthle bought several of these Florentine paintings and hung them in the very bar which provided the focus and sustenance for Kippenberger’s daily existence in Berlin.

Kippenberger’s frequent success in causing embarrassment and controversy has often meant that the underlying meaning of his work is overlooked. The artist was quick to point to the half-mocking conceptual basis of these early paintings, which when stacked up were intended to be the same height as the artist himself (1.89m.). More importantly, in their use of photographs as a basis for the painted image as well as in their black and white palette, they provide a strong reflection of Kippenberger’s interest in the work of Gerhard Richter. However unlike Richter who immortalised recognisable figures from the media such as his 48 Portraits bedeutender Manner (‘48 Portraits of Important Men’), Kippenberger selected his images for their striking arbitrariness. This disparity is further enhanced by Kippenberger’s brushwork which actively eschews the regularity and cohesion of Richter’s virtuoso sfumato. In doing so, Kippenberger succeeds in removing the veneer of mystery and genius that had been built up around the figure of the artist and injecting his work with a vital, if sometimes disturbing, humanity and contemporary relevance.