Jerome and Laurent often send me over photos when they are visiting an exhibition. Can I guess who it is? The latest one seemed very familiar. I thought it was Baselitz but of course was not sure.
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| Baselitz |
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| Baselitz |
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| Baselits |
I don’t think that they really appreciated Markus Lüpertz (born in 1941…) and I can understand why. There is something very heavy about his work, monumental in many cases and not too easy to « relate to ». I will be quite honest, if the exhibition had traced this huge retrospective (over 100 works) starting from the beginning, I don’t know how I would have got on either. The curator had decided to start at the end of his career. This is what I came into. You may understand why I was not so sure if it was’t Baselitz.
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(I’m sure there must be a way to make these links shorter?)
It’s strange. Often when I am photographing a work, walking around it, « into it » - I frown and say to myself « why don’t I like it? » Trying to analyze my feelings is not that easy. When I get home and start framing the works, more than once something I haven’t liked at all, comes into focus and my feelings change. This was the case with Lüpertz.
He began painting in a postwar Germany which at the time, was dominated by Abstract Expressionism (a period which you may remember I enjoy immensely) and Pop Art (a period which I am not so fond of). He broke free of this period and started to test his limits. There are many series of art work - the retrospective follows 10 of them, which means all of them. It ends with the Dithyrambic painting (1964-1976) and if you don’t know what the word means and I didn’t
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dithyramb . However, his motifs which for the most are ordinary ones like tents, electricity poles, helmets…..really need much more space than they had in the exhibition. These paintings seem to join our world today in comics and advertising. When I started looking at them closely yesterday, my reaction was - « one yes, but not a series of them in one go »…
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| Deceived hope - 1967 |
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| Tunnel of Red Flowers - dithyrambique 1969 |
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| Tente 9- dithyrambique -1965 |
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| Tente 40 - dithyrambique -1965 |
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| Escalade dithyrambique around 1973 |
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| Escalade dithyrambique around 1973 |
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| Donald Duck 1963 and YES, I like Donald. |
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After this (1970-1976...) there is a very short period on « German
motifs ». I felt that they really could have been included in the first
period of his work as they didn’t necessarily only mean « German » to
me.
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| The rendez-vous 1978 |
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| Torreador |
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| Troie 1976 |
There are many other motifs and sculptures. I guess it’s the early 80’s which I really liked. I also like the reflection he made on abstract art…..His abstraction in both the art world and sculpture has more meaning for me. It’s the energy which emerges for me
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| No Title 1981 |
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| The Milky Way - 1981 |
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| Pierrot 1984? |
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| Milky Way in backgroun |
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| Landscape - 1981 |
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| Head 1981 |
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| The Principal - 1982 |
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Landscape with black arrow 1981
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The « After Poussin Period » (1989-1990) which is also very short leaves me indifferent. He’s revisiting work such as Poussin, Corot, Goya and apparently borrowing from their imagery which I just don’t seem to see. I certainly cannot say that I know these great Masters well, but the little I do know just can’t be found in his work - or not for me!
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| Springtime - after Poussin - 1989 |
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| Springtime - after Poussin - 1989 |
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| Fish Still life like Poussin - 1980 |
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| Springtime - after Poussin - 1989 |
It’s the same story with « Men Without Women ». Parsifal (1993-1997). It’s one of his most undeviating periods and I suppose he is referring to Wagner’s opera.
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| Parsifal, man without woman 1994 |
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| Parsifal, man without woman 1994 |
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| Yellow Skull - 1987 |
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| Parsifal, man without woman 1994 |
As to the « Nudes in Back View » (2004-2005) these are quite fascinating
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| No title 2012 |
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| Nude from the back 2006 |
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| Midday 2009 - a pleasant relief |
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| 9 sketches, nu from the back |
and along with it at the same period is a Mozart series - there was no indication why Mozart but the small sculptures and the sketches I found enchanting
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| Mozart 2008 |
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| Mozart 2008 |
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| Mozart 2008 |
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| Mozart 2008 |
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| Mozart 2008 |
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| Mozart 2008 |
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| Mozart 2008 |
So now we are at the beginning with the « Arcadias » (2013-2015). Legends and figures from Greek mythology. Something between figuration and abstraction. They are all monumental works and certainly there was not the space they needed in the museum. Once again, he has broken with the traditional representation of mythological scenes as I see it and these paintings seem to be contradictory using modern symbols in his work
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| Arcadies- Iphigénie 2013 |
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| part of Arcadies |
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| Ghost between 2 shephards with bird -1986 |
So, you can see. My feelings are very mixed. Some paintings I like and others I cannot relate to at all.
There are sculptures I like but still feel they are not unalike Basselitz
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| Self portrait? |
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| Ganymede 1985 |
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| Hektor Kopf 2014 (head) |
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| The Foot 1963 |
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| Achilles 2014 |
Even so, I do find the many reflexions that he makes about art, are very
relevant and in most cases I feel the same way myself. That is not been
pretentious I assure you.
Even so, I do find the many reflexions that he makes about art, are very
relevant and in most cases I feel the same way myself. That is not been
pretentious I assure you. 
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