Georg Baselitz obituary

Georg Baselitz, the German painter and sculptor known for his provocative, expressionistic works and his iconic upside-down paintings, has died at the age of 88. The article traces his life from his childhood in war-torn Germany, through his early career as a rebellious artist in divided Berlin, to his rise as an international art star. It highlights his 1961 manifesto poster "Pandemonium I," his rejection of American abstraction, and his controversial 1963 exhibition that was raided by police for its explicit content.

Bruno Bischofberger, Art Dealer of Stars Like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dies at 86

Bruno Bischofberger, the legendary Swiss art dealer who championed American artists like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat in Europe, has died at age 86. His Zurich-based gallery announced his death on Saturday. Bischofberger founded his eponymous gallery in 1963, which became one of Switzerland's most important blue-chip art spaces. He forged deep personal and professional relationships with artists, including acquiring a stake in Warhol's Interview magazine, producing Warhol's film L'amour, and famously proposing the collaborative paintings between Warhol and Basquiat in 1984. Bischofberger also maintained a decades-long tradition of placing advertisements on the back page of every Artforum issue.

Gallerist Bruno Bischofberger, Who Catalyzed Basquiat/Warhol Collaboration, Dies at 86

Swiss art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, who catalyzed the famous collaboration between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, died on May 9 at age 86. His death was announced by his namesake gallery, which he had operated since 1963. Bischofberger played a pivotal role in introducing US Pop artists to Europe, representing Warhol and Basquiat, and commissioning collaborative works that led Warhol to return to painting after a two-decade hiatus. He also represented European artists like Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Gerhard Richter, and Jean Tinguely, and his idiosyncratic ads graced Artforum's back cover for nearly four decades.

Georg Baselitz, artist who turned painting upside down, 1938–2026

Georg Baselitz, the German painter, sculptor, and printmaker known for turning his canvases upside down, has died at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in Saxony in 1938, he witnessed the bombing of Dresden as a child, an experience that shaped his artistic vision. Expelled from art school in East Berlin, he moved to West Berlin and adopted the name Baselitz. His first solo exhibition in 1963 was deemed obscene and confiscated. In 1969, he created his first upside-down painting, which became his signature. He rose to international prominence as a neo-expressionist in the late 1970s and 80s, represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 1980, and continued working until his death. A recent series of his paintings will be shown at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice from May to September 2026.

German artist Georg Baselitz dies aged 88

German artist Georg Baselitz has died at age 88, as confirmed by the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery. Known for his expressive paintings and sculptures, Baselitz rose to prominence in the 1960s after a scandal over sexually symbolic works led to a high-profile court case. He pioneered painting canvases upside down from 1969 onward, a technique he used to grapple with German history and collective guilt. His work spanned six decades and included notable sculptures, such as a wooden figure at the 1980 Venice Biennale that appeared to perform a Nazi salute, which he later clarified was inspired by an African artifact. Baselitz achieved international acclaim in the 1980s and became one of Germany's highest-priced living artists, alongside Gerhard Richter.

The Great Lone Wolf of Art

Der große Einzelgänger der Kunst

Georg Baselitz, the German painter known for his radical, figurative works and iconic upside-down motifs, has died at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938 in Deutschbaselitz, Saxony, he fled East Germany for West Berlin in 1957 after being expelled from art school for "socio-political immaturity." Baselitz rose to international fame with his expressive, fractured depictions of the human figure, famously inverting his compositions starting with "Der Wald auf dem Kopf" (1969). He also worked as a stage and costume designer for operas by Harrison Birtwistle, György Ligeti, and Richard Wagner.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Director Susan Fisher Sterling to Retire

Susan Fisher Sterling, director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C., will retire at the end of 2024 after 18 years in the role and nearly four decades at the institution. Sterling joined NMWA as an associate curator in 1988, rose through the ranks to become director in 2008, and oversaw a $67.5 million renovation completed in 2023, expansion of the collection to over 6,000 works, and partnerships with the Louvre, the State Hermitage Museum, and Tate Modern. The board of trustees has begun a search for her successor with executive search firm Howe-Lewis International.

George Baselitz, Purveyor of the Tortured Male Genius Myth, Dies at 88

Georg Baselitz, the influential German Neo-Expressionist painter known for his emotionally charged, often violent works and his controversial statements about women artists, has died at age 88. His final paintings will be shown in the exhibition "Eroi d’Oro" at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice starting May 6. Baselitz rose to prominence with his "Heroes" series of monumental male soldiers and his signature "upside down" paintings, which forced viewers to focus on painterly gesture over representation. He was a key precursor to Germany's Neue Wilde movement and confronted Germany's World War II trauma in works that combined expressionistic brutality with Wagnerian grandeur.

Georg Baselitz – a life in pictures

Georg Baselitz, the German painter known for his raw, expressive works and inverted imagery, has died at age 88. Born in 1938 in Deutschbaselitz, he lived through Nazi Germany and East German communist rule, experiences that deeply shaped his art. The Guardian's obituary traces his life through photographs, from his early years to major exhibitions at Thaddaeus Ropac, White Cube, and the Serpentine, highlighting key works such as 'Das Grosse Pathos' (1966) and his 2024 series 'A Confession of My Sins'.

The Prototype of an Artist

Der Prototyp eines Künstlers

Timm Ulrichs, the self-proclaimed "Totalkünstler" (total artist) known for his boundary-pushing performances—tattooing himself, locking himself inside a hollowed boulder, and running naked in thunderstorms—has died at age 86 in Berlin. A pioneer of Land Art, Body Art, concrete poetry, and endoscopic imaging, Ulrichs created works that anticipated later artists like Isa Genzken, and was invited to Documenta 6 in 1977. Despite his prolific output and influence on younger generations, he often lamented being overlooked by the international art market compared to peers like Georg Baselitz and Gerhard Richter.

art georg baselitz artist venice death

Georg Baselitz, the influential German painter known for his inverted, upside-down artworks, has died at age 88 on April 30. The news was announced by his longtime gallery, Thaddaeus Ropac, via an obituary written by Robert Isaf. Baselitz gave his final spoken interview weeks before his death, discussing his upcoming exhibition “Eroi d’Oro [Heroes of Gold]” at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, which opened May 6. The show features monumental gold-primed canvases with inverted portraits of himself and his wife Elke, which he described as a summary of his career and a reflection on art history.

Bruno Bischofberger stirbt im Alter von 86 Jahren

Bruno Bischofberger, the influential Swiss gallerist and art collector, has died at age 86. His gallery announced the news. Bischofberger was a key figure in the international art trade, known for introducing American post-war art to Europe. He formed a close partnership with Andy Warhol, who granted him a lifelong first-refusal right on his works. In 1984, Bischofberger initiated the collaboration between Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and also facilitated joint works with Francesco Clemente. He opened his first gallery in Zurich in 1963, showing artists like Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, and Gerhard Richter, and later expanded to Männedorf and St. Moritz.

Décès de Bruno Bischofberger

Bruno Bischofberger, the influential Swiss gallerist and art dealer, has died. Known for his Zurich gallery that represented major contemporary artists, Bischofberger played a pivotal role in the careers of figures like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Francesco Clemente. His death marks the end of an era for the post-war and contemporary art market.

Georg Baselitz, grande figure de l’art allemand, est mort à l’âge de 88 ans : retour sur sa vie et son œuvre

Georg Baselitz, one of Germany's most significant post-war artists, has died at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938, he grew up in Nazi-era Saxony and later rejected his father's ideology, fleeing to West Berlin in 1957. Known for his provocative, expressionist works and signature upside-down paintings, Baselitz challenged artistic conventions with brutalist techniques—attacking wood with chainsaws and axes—and created scandalous pieces like "Die große Nacht im Eimer" (1962–1963), which was banned from exhibition. His career included major retrospectives at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2011) and Centre Pompidou (2021), and commissions for the Reichstag.

Georg Baselitz, German Neo-Expressionist Painter, Dies at 88

Georg Baselitz, the German Neo-Expressionist painter known for his provocative, upside-down figurative works, has died at age 88. Along with contemporaries like Anselm Kiefer, Baselitz led a frontal assault on the dominant Minimalist and Conceptualist art movements of the 1970s, reviving expressive, gestural painting in postwar Germany.

Mark Gerson obituary

Mark Gerson, a British photographer renowned for his intimate portraits of literary figures, has died at age 104. Over a career spanning half a century, Gerson captured iconic images of authors including Evelyn Waugh, Doris Lessing, William Golding, Tom Stoppard, and Martin Amis, often photographing them in their own homes to put them at ease. His most famous picture is of a grumpy Waugh on his 60th birthday, taken after Gerson was plied with wine. Gerson's work was championed by National Portrait Gallery director Roy Strong, and in 1996 the gallery held a major exhibition of his portraits titled "Literati."

È morto Bruno Bischofberger, il gallerista e collezionista svizzero che fece lavorare assieme Warhol e Basquiat

Bruno Bischofberger, the influential Swiss gallerist and collector, has died at age 86. A pivotal figure in the contemporary art market, he opened his first gallery in Zurich in 1963 and was instrumental in introducing American Pop Art to Europe, exhibiting Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Rauschenberg. He later championed Minimalism, Land Art, and Neo-Expressionism, representing artists like Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, and Francesco Clemente. Most famously, Bischofberger discovered Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1981 and orchestrated the legendary collaboration between Warhol, Basquiat, and Clemente. His close relationship with Warhol included a first-refusal agreement on future works and the suggestion of standardized portrait commissions that became Warhol's primary income source.

Hedwig Fijen to Depart as Founding Director of Manifesta

Hedwig Fijen, the founding director of Manifesta, the nomadic European biennial launched in 1996, has announced she will depart on October 5. Fijen began working on the platform in 1991 under a commission from the Netherlands Office for Fine Arts, and oversaw editions in cities including Rotterdam, Palermo, Pristina, and Barcelona. The supervisory board has appointed Emilia van Lynden as general director and Catherine Nichols as artistic director to lead future editions, starting with Manifesta 16 in Germany’s Ruhr Valley this year and Manifesta 17 in Coimbra, Portugal, in 2028.

georg baselitz dies at 88, pioneer of inverted painting and postwar german art

Georg Baselitz, the influential German painter known for his inverted figures and raw, expressive style, has died at age 88. A pioneer of postwar German art, Baselitz gained international fame in the 1960s by turning his canvases upside down, forcing viewers to focus on form and paint rather than narrative. His work often grappled with the trauma of Nazi Germany and the divided nation's identity, making him a central figure in the Neo-Expressionist movement.

L'invité de La Tribune de l'Art n° 28 : Gérard Audinet

Gérard Audinet, director of the Maison de Victor Hugo in Paris, is retiring. In a new podcast episode of "L'invité de La Tribune de l'Art," he discusses the history of the museum, its collections, the Maison de Victor Hugo in Guernsey, and the acquisitions and exhibitions he oversaw during his tenure.

No Regrets: Artists Decide To Sell Buffalo’s Legendary Hitching Post Gallery

Father-and-son artists William and Hugh Jennings have closed the Hitching Post Gallery in Buffalo, Wyoming, after 30 years of operation. The gallery, which opened in November 1993 on Main Street, was a longstanding fixture in the community, showcasing works from many area artists alongside gifts, books, and tobacco products. William stepped away about seven years ago, and Hugh recently decided to retire, locking the doors for the last time at the beginning of May. Hugh expressed no regrets, saying he wanted to focus more on his own art.