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Lot Essay
Executed in 1963, Geschlecht mit Klössen (Sex with Dumplings) is an early work on paper by Georg Baselitz. With the same title and subject matter as his iconic painting of the same year that was included in the artist's first ever solo exhibition at Galerie Werner & Katz in Berlin, Geschlecht mit Klössen presents a visceral and dark image, bordering abstraction in its conception. In his now signature gestural brushstrokes, Baselitz depicts seething, organic forms, delineated by his masterful use of ink, watercolour and gouache. The pulsating, animated bodies pour over the entire surface, filled in with shades of ashen grey and ecru brown, appearing at once natural and grotesque. Like in his paintings, Baselitz layers the watercolour and gouache elements, creating a confusion of various intertwined forms, bursting forth from the flatness of the paper surface.
The first half of the 1960's marked a significant period of reflection and ultimately, of breakthrough, in the young artist's nascent career. Still a poor student living in West Berlin, Baselitz was studying under Art Informel and Tachisme advocate Hann Trier at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste. It was here that he met friend and future collaborator Eugen Schönebeck. In an act of rebellion against the dominance of these styles, the two artists began exhibiting their paintings and drawings together in 1961, articulating their new style in early manifestos entitled Pandämonia. These manifestos form the basis of Baselitz's early works, conjuring images of destruction, mysticism, and demonic fantasy. Phrases such as 'gilded flesh', 'vulgar Nature' and 'endless ecstasy' populate the manifestos, revealing the sinister and apocalyptic thoughts of the artists (G. Baselitz and E. Schönebeck quoted in 'Pandemonium 2', exh. cat., Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1983, pp. 24-25). With its contorted, flesh-like appearance, Geschlecht mit Klössen echoes the tumultuous and eerie language of Pandämonia, offering the viewer an insight into the troubled and macabre mind of a young, defiant Baselitz.
Geschlecht mit Klössen reveals Baselitz's early and continual fascination with deconstruction and distortion of the motif, a method that has remained central to the artist's entire oeuvre. From his Fracture paintings of the late 1960s to his seminal inverted canvases to his more recent Remix works, Baselitz holds true to his belief in the singular importance of the painted surface, championing pictorial construction over subject matter, materiality over representation.
The first half of the 1960's marked a significant period of reflection and ultimately, of breakthrough, in the young artist's nascent career. Still a poor student living in West Berlin, Baselitz was studying under Art Informel and Tachisme advocate Hann Trier at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste. It was here that he met friend and future collaborator Eugen Schönebeck. In an act of rebellion against the dominance of these styles, the two artists began exhibiting their paintings and drawings together in 1961, articulating their new style in early manifestos entitled Pandämonia. These manifestos form the basis of Baselitz's early works, conjuring images of destruction, mysticism, and demonic fantasy. Phrases such as 'gilded flesh', 'vulgar Nature' and 'endless ecstasy' populate the manifestos, revealing the sinister and apocalyptic thoughts of the artists (G. Baselitz and E. Schönebeck quoted in 'Pandemonium 2', exh. cat., Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1983, pp. 24-25). With its contorted, flesh-like appearance, Geschlecht mit Klössen echoes the tumultuous and eerie language of Pandämonia, offering the viewer an insight into the troubled and macabre mind of a young, defiant Baselitz.
Geschlecht mit Klössen reveals Baselitz's early and continual fascination with deconstruction and distortion of the motif, a method that has remained central to the artist's entire oeuvre. From his Fracture paintings of the late 1960s to his seminal inverted canvases to his more recent Remix works, Baselitz holds true to his belief in the singular importance of the painted surface, championing pictorial construction over subject matter, materiality over representation.