GEORG BASELITZ | Zwischengrün

Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
Acquired from the above by the present owner 

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although there are less magenta undertones in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is some evidence of light handling and faint rub marks in isolated places along the extreme outer edges with an associated small speck of loss to the upper right corner. Extremely close inspection reveals a small and unobtrusive speck of loss to the thicker impasto towards the centre of the composition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Through its evocative painterly surface and life-size scale, Zwischengrün, executed in 1999, is exemplary of Georg Baselitz’s daring oeuvre. One of the most provocative painters of the twentieth century, the artist’s dramatic canvasses fully envelop the viewer, drawing them into his complex microcosms, constructed through his exquisite marriage of selected colour and expressionistic form. A paradigm of the artist’s iconic inversion technique, the present work conveys Baselitz’s progressive experimentation with altering our perception of images. Thematically Zwischengrün can be seen as a development of the artist’s revered Fraktur series from the late 1960s. The present work is from a series created from the winter of 1999 through to the spring of 2000, in which the artist used the recurring motif of his Mastiff dog Bruno. Expertly traversing the lines of figurative representation and abstraction, Zwischengrün diverges from the artist’s earlier paintings of dogs through his exploration of the psychoanalytic notions of Sigmund Freud. In the present work, vibrant swathes of fluid paint wash over the picture plane, in which the central figure is set; Baselitz creates an aesthetic depth and visual levity, reflecting the various conceptual dimensions which weave through the canvas. A reimagination of a motif that the artist had delved into before, Zwischengrün was hung in the artist’s office in Schloss Derneburg for over five years. Here, Baselitz explores the unconscious, creating a painterly void where repressed thoughts are thrust to the foreground through the inversion of the image. Everything that has been suppressed is at once flipped; suddenly Baselitz has turned the world on its head. Physically painting this series of works on the floor, the present lot is exemplary of the artist’s technique of crawling on all fours in his studio to create his canvasses, often leaving traceable feet and hand marks, as slightly tangible in the present work, like distant traces of primitive and carnal desire.

The image of the dog in Baselitz’s oeuvre can also be traced back to his earlier work, where dogs were utilised as heraldic symbols of an allegorical ideal. After moving to the Swabian countryside in 1966, Baselitz entered a new chapter in his practice and began working on his Frakturbilder, employing a visual library of traditional German motifs, such as huntsmen, bears, cows and dogs. Removing and redeploying elements of the composition, Baselitz created a new breed of aesthetic archetypes based on folkloric imagery. Through the fracturing of his idyllic protagonists, Baselitz removed their symbolic potency; surgically distorting the subject matter, the artist deconstructed motifs that had once been so proudly Germanic. Whereas other German post war artists, such as Gerhard Richter, obscured traumatic imagery of the Second World War in his pivotal photorealistic paintings, Baselitz employed a form of expressive distortion to experiment with darker facades of cultural memory and the national psyche. With their muscular bodies and snubbed snouts, the dogs portrayed in the Fraktur works are emblematic of the tougher life of the mythical rural ideal. From 1969, Baselitz’s technique of rotating his artworks by 180 degrees further liberated his imagery from symbolic power, detracting the objectifying gaze of the viewer in order to free his robust sitters from subjective associations. In Zwischengrün, the dog motif has become domesticated; the curled, long-haired coat of the dog is tactile, his innocent gaze loyal and trusting. Baselitz’s dog is presented in an almost quasi-religious manner, in a similar reverence as one views the Madonnas by Raphael, such as the infamous Sistine Madonna. As we gaze up at the central figure, the frenetic ochre and black brushstrokes of the artist channel a fervent vitality which fills the canvas. It is this biting wit, combined with the multiple readings of Baselitz’s work, which makes his paintings so unique and continually intriguing. Self-referential in subject matter, Zwischengrün perfectly conveys the artist’s key preoccupation that our perception of events, people, animals, colours and shapes can be completely altered through presentation. Like a kaleidoscope, the artist expertly filters subject matter through his variety of compositions and his rich tapestry of freed associations, completely altering the viewer’s opinion at every glance.