Grosser Kopf [Large Head]
About this artwork
This is one of Baselitz's earliest woodcuts. It was made after a trip to Florence, where he became interested in Italian Mannerist painting. The fractured face, overlaid with worm-like forms, is characteristic of his paintings of the same time, in which parts of the figures are cut up and rearranged or are missing altogether. The imagery may be influenced by the death and destruction of the Second World War; the shapes in the background look like smoke, which would support this reading.
Updated before 2020
see media-
artist:Georg Baselitz (born 1938) German
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title:Grosser Kopf [Large Head]
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date created:1966
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materials:Colour woodcut with monotype on paper
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measurements:48.30 x 40.50 cm; paper size: 50.10 x 40.90 cm (framed: 75.00 x 66.50 x 4.00 cm)
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1988
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accession number:GMA 3374
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gallery:
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subject:
Georg Baselitz
Georg Baselitz
Georg Kern was born near Dresden in East Germany and studied art in both East and West Germany. He took the surname Baselitz from his place of birth in 1961, the year the Berlin Wall was built. Baselitz is credited with reintroducing the figure, as well a sense of history (a problematic issue in...