Bauernzug
2010
Edition of 30
Drypoint and aquatint on Somerset paper
Printed by Mette Ulstrup at Niels Borch Jensen, Copenhagen
Plate size: 25 15/16 x 19 5/8 in. (65.9 x 49.8 cm)
Paper size: 35 7/16 x 25 13/16 in. (90 x 65.5 cm)

Price inclusive of VAT

This print, by acclaimed artist Georg Baselitz, was produced to coincide with his exhibition Between Eagles and Pioneers at White Cube Mason's Yard in 2010. The print is titled Bauernzug, which means ‘peasant march’ in German, and depicts an eagle in flight, upside-down and partially obscured by dripping black paint. The eagle has been a source of inspiration for the artist throughout his career. It is an emblem that has long appeared on the German coat of arms and is one of the oldest state symbols in Europe, although Baselitz maintains that it has no programmatic significance in his work. As the writer Michael Glover notes about paintings that employ the same motif: “the bird can look defiantly robust, noble, balletic, grandiose, almost symphonic, set as it is within the pomp and circumstance of the sky; in other paintings, it strikes us, with its desperately scrabbling claws, as quite pathetically weak, languid and inclined towards self-sacrifice”.

In 1969 Baselitz began creating and displaying works upside down in order to re-focus the viewer on the pure pictorial merits of his paintings. By attempting to overcome the representational, content-driven character of his earlier work, this also enabled him to emphasise the abstract qualities of the composition.

This print is an edition of 30 and is available in two colours. In editions 1/30-15/30 the background is red, in editions 16/30-30/30 it is yellow.