I admired Mr Baselitz back in art school and it would have been for his painterly approach to art making. Georg led the Expressionist revival back in the 1970’s with his strange compositions and free and liberal use of paint. It seems like he had a determination to make it as an artist which is a common theme amongst creatives. I guess it’s very easy to be discouraged and perhaps the difference at times between those that make it and those that don’t is there tenacity (and willingness to be poor for much of their lives).
So today I’ve been reading up about the Expressionist movement at the beginning of the 20th century. Groups such as Die Brucke (the bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (the blue rider) were inclined to express their emotions through paint. Incongruous colours (much as those seen in the Fauve movement), raw distorted shapes, and emotional representation in an angsty kind of way seem to be the dominant characteristics of this movement.
Interestingly Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Wassily Kandinsky 2 of the leading lights of the Expressionists were among those exhibited in Hitlers’ degenerative art exhibition held in Munich 1938.
Oh and just thought I should add that Georg Baselitz is German, still alive (born 1938, coincidentally the same year of the Munich Degenerative art exhibition) and still very much involved in the art world. One never retires from ART!
Have a wonderfully creative afternoon. Cheers…
Kerri Smith Artist 