2008.207: Saxon Motif
PaintingsThe painting shows a large figure occupying three-quarters of the picture plane from the right. The figure is made up of rounded shapes in different shades of red, it is surmounted by a brown cross. At the bottom of the top round is an eye placed vertically. It rests upon a round with an ear-shape on the top. A line of trees border the bottom. On the bottom left in the background is red-roofed building. The background is a milky white. Overall, the paint is roughly brushed on, the figures lack fine detail.
Gallery Text
Born Hans-Georg Kern in Deutschbaselitz, Saxony, the artist known as Georg Baselitz left East Germany in 1956 for West Berlin. The title of the painting references the artist’s birthplace and the notions of homeland so central to the tradition of German landscape painting. The recent Nazi past and the bifurcation of national identity following World War II, however, had rendered those ideas deeply problematic. At a time when many artists of his generation were abandoning painting, Baselitz remained dedicated to the medium. Openly rejecting the abstract styles predominant in West Germany at the time, Baselitz nonetheless destroyed both the idea and the literal depiction of landscape and the human figure — suggested in Saxon Motif by a stack of fleshy, disembodied forms — through his painterly process. Associating creative principles of disharmony, asymmetry, and fragmentation with his Nordic, Germanic heritage, Baselitz points here to what he felt was an “aesthetic of ugliness” particular to German art.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 2008.207
- People
-
Georg Baselitz, German (Deutschbaselitz, Germany 1938 -)
- Title
- Saxon Motif
- Other Titles
- Original Language Title: Sächsisches Motiv
- Classification
- Paintings
- Work Type
- painting
- Date
- 1964
- Culture
- German
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/329958
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 195 x 130 cm (76 3/4 x 51 3/16 in.)
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Friends Anniversary Collection, Gift of Dorette Hildebrand-Staab
- Copyright
- © Georg Baselitz
- Accession Year
- 2008
- Object Number
- 2008.207
- Division
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Contact
- am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
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Exhibition History
- 32Q: 1100, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 04/07/2025
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Verification Level
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu