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Volkstanz - Marode [Folkdance - Tired]
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? Georg Baselitz

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Volkstanz - Marode [Folkdance - Tired] 1989
  • Artist Rooms
This is one of a series of paintings that Baselitz painted in the first half of 1989, with the generic title of `Streubilder? (or `Scatter Paintings?) or `Ciao America?. `Scatter Paintings? describes the lack of a compositional focus in works like `Volkstanz - Marode?. Its `pattern? of tiles and heads is reminiscent of the all-over quality of American Abstract Expressionism, but the primitivist style and reference to folkdance are unapologetically European. Baselitz was at the forefront of European Neo-Expressionist painting from the 1960s onwards, which enjoyed massive popularity in the 1980s, and caused some to see European art eclipsing American art at the time. Ciao America!

Glossary Open

Abstract Expressionism

Term applied to a loose grouping of New York-based artists in the mid-20th century including Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko. Internal feelings were expressed by the physical action of producing the art works.

Composition

The arrangement of different elements in a work of art.

Neo-Expressionism

An art movement of the 1970s and 80s inspired by German Expressionism. Most popular in Germany and America, the style is characterized by large, figurative works, rapidly painted, often with objects, such as broken plates or straw, incorporated into their surfaces.

Primitive

A term once used to describe the art of non-Western cultures such as Africa and Oceania, now generally seen as deprecatory and indicative of an outdated belief in Western superiority. It is also used to describe artists, usually self-taught, who work outside of the currents of mainstream art practice.

Abstract Expressionism , Composition, Neo-Expressionism, Primitive

Details

  • Acc. No. AR00031
  • Medium Oil on canvas
  • Size 250.40 x 251.00 X 5.80cm
  • Credit ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008

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