Georg Baselitz Skulptur [Sculpture], 1982

The decisive graphic lines and strong contouring in Skulptur (1982) reflect a close affinity with Baselitz’s sculptures, which he began creating in the 1980s. Both show direct traces of the artist’s hand, whether as pencil strokes on paper or tool marks on wood. The artist explicitly links the two mediums: ‘In sculpture, using the saw is an aggressive process which is the equivalent of drawing. It’s a linear signal. For example, when you can see the ribs, this hasn’t got an anatomical significance, it’s not justified by anatomy, but it is a fascination that gives life to the body.’

The 1980s was a pivotal decade that saw Baselitz develop a truly international reputation, through his participation in widely publicised exhibitions such as A New Spirit in Painting (1981) and German Art in the Twentieth Century (1985) at the Royal Academy of Arts, London; Zeitgeist (1982) at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; and Expressions: New Art from Germany (1983), which toured the United States. That same year, a major retrospective was presented at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, later travelling to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the Kunsthalle Basel.