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Overview
Depicting a geometric assemblage of red and pink blocks visually morphing into a collection of variously coloured fish, Kopf an Kopf II belongs to Georg Baselitz’s formally poignant series of Streubilder (or ‘Scatter Paintings’), which he devised in the first half of 1989, and which adroitly exemplifies the artist’s increased interest colour, shape, line, and brushstroke. Departing from his previous focus on human representation and the relationship between figure and ground, predominantly deployed through his signature image of the inverted figure, Baselitz began blending expressionist brushwork with a folkloric subject matter in the 1980s and 1990s, simultaneously incorporating an idiosyncratic checkerboard pattern which he had first developed in the late 1970s. Looming before the viewer in a larger-than-life scale, Kopf on Kopf II is an exquisite example of the German artist’s part-figurative, part-abstract series, which was notably included in his landmark solo exhibition travelling from the Kunsthaus Zürich to the Städische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, in 1990.
A European Flair
Marked by a scintillating resurgence of painting in critical and commercial spheres of the art world, the 1980s gave Baselitz a fresh sense of confidence that allowed him to create some of his best work – both through recycling old subject matters and devising new ones. Toward the end of the decade, the artist began moving away from the predominantly figurative content that had commanded his output a few years prior, and veering towards a more pointed investigation into the realm of abstraction. Exploring these novel pictorial parameters through the deployment of various geometric constructions, Baselitz’s Scatter Paintings embody the new approach that the artist took creatively, notably incorporating square tiles taking up large portions of the paintings’ surfaces. Coinciding with the artist’s series Ciao America – displaying a proliferation of upside-down birds – Baselitz’s Streubilder echoed the shift that was operating in the art world at the time, as European neo-expressionist work began garnering more attention, and American production resultingly receded into the background. Kopf an Kopf II symbolises this shift perfectly: it eludes the cooler, conceptual approach that American artists took on, and instead boasts distinctly European traits, namely a primitivist, expressionist brushwork that became indissociable from Baselitz’s overall aesthetic.
Piet Mondrian, Victory Boogie Woogie, 1944, oil on canvas, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. Image: Bridgeman Images. Baselitz’s Geometric Abstraction
At once formulaic and elusive, figurative and abstract, Kopf an Kopf incorporates a number of visual elements that resonate with various categories and genres that defined the history of painting in modern times. Characterised by a unique all-over style, Kopf an Kopf II is notably reminiscent of Jackson Pollock and de Kooning’s expressionist compositions, as well as Philip Guston’s work of the 1950s, in its passages of textured abstraction. Additionally, the composition’s checkerboard pattern echoes the grid structure with which Piet Mondrian constructed his De Stijl compositions; specifically his Victory Boogie Woogie from 1944, which similarly distributes variously sized blocks of colour serendipitously across the canvas. Quoting painterly predecessors whilst constructing an entirely new visual language, Baselitz became a reference within the canon of contemporary painting, cementing his status as one of the foremost artists of his time.
Baselitz Discussing His Career
Provenance
Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne
Hester Van Royen
Private Collection, Dublin
Galerie Haas, Berlin
Michael Werner Gallery, New York and London
Acquired from the above by the present ownerExhibited
Kunsthaus Zurich; Dusseldorf, Städtische Kunsthalle, Georg Baselitz, 22 May – 9 September 1990, no. 73 (illustrated, p. 159)
Cologne, Galerie Michael Werner, Accrochage, 23 July – 15 August 1993
Berlin, Kontorhaus Spittelmarkt, Michael Fuchs Galerie, Kunstwert, 8 September – 15 October 1994 (illustrated, p. 17)
Shanghai, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Silent Power: Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Markus Lüpertz, A.R. Penck, 17 March – 11 May 2006, no. 8 (illustrated, p. 33)
Cologne, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Georg Baselitz, 22 April – 17 July 2010
London, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Georg Baselitz. A Focus On the 1980s, 2 October – 21 November 2018
Ο◆31
Kopf an Kopf II
signed with the artist's initials and dated ‘GB. 18.IV.89’ lower left; further signed, titled, inscribed and dated ‘G.Baselitz .7.II.89 + 18.IV.89 .Kopf an Kopf II’ on the reverse
oil on canvas
250 x 200 cm (98 3/8 x 78 3/4 in.)
Painted in 1989.
Estimate
£600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £705,000
Kate Bryan
Specialist, Head of Evening Sale
+44 20 7318 4026
kbryan@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
London Auction 20 October 2020
1
Emily Mae Smith
Alien Shores
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £277,200
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2
Salman Toor
Aashiana (Hearth and Home)
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ‡
Sold for £138,600
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3
Portia Zvavahera
Arising from the Unknown
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £163,800
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4
Titus Kaphar
Alternate Endings
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £466,200
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5
Hernan Bas
Two Fruits
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £163,800
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6
Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
Black Stripes on White
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ‡
Sold for £94,500
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7
Dana Schutz
Trump Descending an Escalator
Estimate £380,000 - 580,000 ‡
Sold for £688,000
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8
Banksy
Girl with Balloon & Morons Sepia
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,232,500
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9
Nicolas Party
Rocks
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
Sold for £603,300
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10
Georg Baselitz
Das letzte Selbstbildnis I
Estimate £4,700,000 - 6,000,000 ♠
Sold for £4,983,500
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11
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Back of the Neck
Estimate £450,000 - 650,000 ‡
Sold for £627,500
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12
Keith Haring
Untitled (Grace Jones Mask)
Estimate £1,500,000 - 2,000,000 ‡
Sold for £1,716,500
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13
George Condo
The Age of Reason
Estimate £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 ‡
Sold for £2,082,369
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14
Alex Katz
Ada with Mirror
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £529,200
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15
Yoshitomo Nara
Magic Carpet
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000
Sold for £504,000
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16
Ed Ruscha
1981 - Future
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000
Sold for £567,000
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17
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Pestus)
Estimate £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 ‡
Sold for £2,200,500
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18
Andy Warhol
Flowers
Estimate £1,400,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,595,500
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19
Sir Peter Blake, R.A.
Nudina
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ♠
Sold for £75,600
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20
Allen Jones
Project for Fifteen Foot Women
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £189,000
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21
Sean Scully
Somebody's Angel
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,014,700
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22
Joan Mitchell
Untitled
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
Sold for £441,000
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23
Cy Twombly
Portrait of Alvise di Robilant
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £510,300
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24
Alberto Giacometti
Femme debout
Estimate £550,000 - 750,000 ‡
Sold for £651,700
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25
Wojciech Fangor
M 91
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ♠
Sold for £252,000
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26
Georges Mathieu
Petite Torture infligée au Marquis de Coconat et à son complice la Môle
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £252,000
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27
Hurvin Anderson
Marlene’s
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £252,000
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28
This lot is no longer available.
29
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Luminary
Estimate £250,000 - 450,000 ♠
Sold for £315,000
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30
Henry Taylor
Ari and the Deer
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £113,400
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31
Georg Baselitz
Kopf an Kopf II
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £705,000
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32
Albert Oehlen
Control
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £475,000
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33
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £800,000 - 1,200,000 ‡♠
Sold for £990,500
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34
Albert Oehlen
Die Veränderungen
Estimate £700,000 - 900,000 ♠
Sold for £809,000
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35
Günther Förg
Untitled
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £315,000
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36
Anish Kapoor
Blade
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £85,680
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37
This lot is no longer available.
38
Jason Rhoades
Heroic Vagina
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
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39
Wolfgang Tillmans
Freischwimmer 27
Estimate £210,000 - 300,000 ♠
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40
Cory Arcangel
Photoshop CS: 110 by 72 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient 'Spectrum', mousedown y=23900 x=11650, mouseup y=32650 x=11650
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £252,000
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