Georg Baselitz

Achenbach Art Consulting, Dusseldorf
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 2002

This work is in very good condition overall. The canvas is unlined. There is light wear at the extreme corners and turning edges. There are minor pinholes that run intermittently along all four edges of the canvas, presumably from staples previously applied by the artist. All areas of heavy impasto are intact and stable. There are scattered scuffs and faint handling marks throughout the perimeter quadrants, which appears to be original to the work's condition and inherent to the artist's working method. Under Ultraviolet light, there is no evidence of restoration. Framed.
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Georg Baselitz’s captivating In Der Werkskantine exemplifies his skepticism of traditional artistic principles, a skepticism that was formative to his career.  Baselitz began painting his subjects upside down in 1969, prioritizing form over representation. In In Der Werkskantine, Baselitz’s deft handling of paint produces an image that appears, initially, as a compositionally compelling celebration of texture and color against a stark white background, and later reveals itself as a curious double portrait of a female figure and a male figure.

Postwar Germany provided a platform for Baselitz, a product of both East and West Germany, to establish a new artistic and historical identity for Germany. His art seeks to bridge the gap between the German present and its unassailable history.  Baselitz questions basic human understanding of the concept of what makes something upside down or right side up, remarking: “The hierarchy of sky above and ground down below is only a pact that we have admittedly got used to but that one absolutely doesn’t have to believe in.” (Georg Baselitz in Exh. Cat., London, Gagosian Gallery, Farewell Bill, 2014, p. 15). This unexpected questioning of a generally accepted understanding of everyday life has allowed Baselitz to reshape his approach and challenge fundamental art historical notions in new ways.

Upon first glance, In Der Werkskantine confounds the viewer. Under closer inspection, what first appears as abstraction takes its shape as two figures, who could be mother and son, perhaps even bearing a resemblance to Princess Diana and one of her sons, turned toward one another. Rich colors executed with a painterly brushstroke form the two figures that appear to be in perfect compositional harmony with one another. The physical closeness of the pair is juxtaposed with the apparent emotional distance between them. Baselitz enhances the mystery of the relationship between the figures by suggesting, but not completing, the facial features and expressions. We are left with only their eyes to study. The two figures’ gazes do not meet; the male figure stares dispassionately into distance, and the woman’s gaze is directed outward towards the viewer. However, the fact that this double portrait is upside down draws any assumption about the relationship of the subjects into question: perhaps an outsider cannot understand the complexities and abstractions inherent to a relationship between two humans.