Georg Baselitz | Milestones Collection Baselitz's 'Upside Down' Paintings in a New Skira Catalogue

A few weeks after his death, Georg Baselitz is the subject of a new catalogue (the opening image shows a detail of the cover), recently published by Skira. The editorial project, curated by the German art historian and writer Cornelius Tittel, was born from direct collaboration with the master shortly before his passing last April at the age of 88.

The work offers a detailed account of the Kamenz-born artist's more than sixty years of activity, documented through reproductions of paintings, engravings, and monumental sculptures that have changed the way we see reality. The selection of images is accompanied by a series of texts, photographs, and interviews, introducing readers to the universe of an artist who, starting in the 1960s, has redefined the canons of the visual arts.

THE NEW BOOK IN THE "MILESTONES" SERIES DEDICATED TO GEORG BASELITZ

The catalogue ideally closes the first editorial cycle of Milestones. At the Heart of Creation, Skira's new series dedicated to the milestones that have marked the creative paths of great masters of contemporary art such as William Kentridge and Alex Katz. True to this approach, the work analyses the moments of rupture that transformed Georg Baselitz's figurative language.

Leafing through the pages of the volume, the reader is led to discover the fundamental years in the artist's career, such as 1969 (when he began creating his famous “upside-down” portraits) or the presentation of his controversial work Modell für eine Skulptur, which took place at the 1980 Venice Biennale. The first section of the book contains an unpublished conversation between Baselitz and the curator of the monograph, from which emerges the essential value that the German artist placed on the ability to challenge every convention and academic rule.