Georg Baselitz

The German painter Hans Georg Kern was born in Deutschbaselitz, Saxony, in 1938. In 1958 he changed his name to that of his home town. He studied at East Berlin’s major art school, the Hochschule für bildende und angewandte Kunst, from 1956 to 1957, but then relocated to West Berlin, where he attended its art academy, the Hochschule für bildende Künste, until 1964. In 1963 his solo exhibition with provocative, sexually offensive motifs caused a scandal. Baselitz works not only in the medium of painting but also in drawing, sculpture and printmaking. His pictures range from a suggested figuration to informal gestural painting. In 1969 he began turning his subjects upside down, so as to force viewers to concentrate on the picture rather than its content. Since 1980 he has created expressive, rough-hewn wood sculptures to which he applies colour accents. Baselitz has received numerous awards, including the Villa Romana Prize in 1965, the Goslar Kaiserring in 1986 and the Julio González Prize of Valencia. His works can be seen in international and national public collections.