Gouache and linocut
Signed, dated and numbered "2". On firm wove paper. 170 x 154 cm (66,9 x 60,6 in)Sheet: 225 x 202 cm (88,5 x 79,5 in).

Georg Baselitz is not only successful as a painter, but also as a sculptor and graphic artist. He began experimenting with wood- and linocuts in extremely large formats and very small editions in the late 1970s. The printing plates were dyed and printed by hand, and rarely worked over, as it is the case with this work. Similar to his sculptures, with the characteristic rough surfaces that have been worked out the wood block, Baselitz’s wood- and linocuts also force the observer to comprehend every step of the manual creation process. This way the artist, who always sought the examination of the object in his oeuvre, attains a fascinating alienation of the object. At the same time the monumental format of the leafless tress brings the depiction closer to its model in nature. The observer’s perception begins to sway between the object‘s snarled lines, which contributes to the work’s special appeal. [JS].