Georg Baselitz

Born: 1938

Painter

Georg Baselitz was born Hans-Georg Kern in Deutschbaselitz in eastern Germany. He changed his name to Georg Baselitz in 1961. His father was an elementary-school teacher and the family lived in the local schoolhouse. Baselitz first encountered art in albums of nineteenth-century pencil drawings in the school library. The former “enfant terrible” has won numerous awards and established an international reputation.

In 1955, Baselitz applied to study at the Art Academy in Dresden but was rejected. In 1956, he successfully applied to study at the University of Applied Arts in East Berlin. After two semesters, however, he was expelled for "sociopolitical immaturity." The next year he successfully applied for a place at West Berlin's University of the Arts and finished his studies in 1957.

His career was jumpstarted when in 1963 two of his paintings were seized by the public prosecutor for immorality. After criminal proceedings, the pictures were returned in 1965. Baselitz was widely exhibited in Germany in the 80s and 90s. His work was exhibited for the first time in the US in New York City in 1981. The first major retrospective of Baselitz's work in the US was staged at the Guggenheim Museum in 1995.

Baselitz, one of the best selling artists of our times, is a professor of arts. He currently lives in Dernburg, Germany and Italy with his wife, with whom he has two sons.

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