Baselitz - Academy

Book excerpt: This major monograph offers a comprehensive assessment of the work of one of the most influential painters of the last half-century. Accompanying a major retrospective, the first exhibition devoted to a living artist ever presented by the prestigious Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, this richly illustrated monograph traces the full arc of Georg Baselitz's career to date through his relationship with Italian artistic tradition and with genres of painting. Featuring more than two hundred reproductions, the book provides a thorough overview of the artist's various cycles and stylistic phases in six sections: "Paraphrasing the Old Masters," "From Pandämonium to Pianta," "Chiaroscuro: The Origin, Technique, and Style of the Woodcuts," "Portraits and Idols," "On the Nudes," and "The Double Twist of the Negative Portraits." An expansive essay by art historian and curator Kosme de Barañano is accompanied by a conversation with the artist, an introduction by Paolo Marini, and an essay by Michele Tavola, as well as copious full-page plates, archival photographs, and illustrations highlighting the artist's sources and inspirations. Together, they reveal Baselitz confronting academic genres and painting traditions and reinterpreting them in provocative and sometimes unsettling ways.