17/10/2025
Before the Light
Georg Baselitz, Erwin Bechtold, Peter Brüning, Adolf Luther, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, Bernard Schultze und Emil Schumacher
SETAREH Düsseldorf Hohe Straße 53
„Every work of art is actually a sketch that is only completed by our imagination.”
- Georg Baselitz
Before the Light brings together a group of pioneering artists whose work foregrounds the nuanced dialogue between darkness and lightness. The exhibition presents works that are immersing from a mystery yet already emitting an internal radiance and initial unveiling of color. The works of these artists in their very own merits reflect the sustained examination of material and perception.
Our highlighted work, Elke im Profil (1977) by Georg Baselitz, exemplifies the radical independence of his artistic thinking. Since 1969, Baselitz has consistently turned his paintings upside down. This gesture, which seems simple at first glance, fundamentally changed the character of his painting. His goal was to break the close connection between the paintings and visible reality. At the same time, he challenged the viewing habits of the audience in a radical and previously unknown way.
This attitude is particularly evident in Elke im Profil. Here, Baselitz replaces the brush with a cutting tool that digs deep into the printing plate. The form is not painted, but rather carved out, as if he were liberating the figure from the material itself. This working method is considered the most decisive step towards his sculptural work, which began in 1980 with his sculpture for the Venice Biennale. The monumental linocut of his wife is part of a group of works that Baselitz created between 1977 and 1979. Among these linocuts that are notable for their rarity, and play a key role in the artist's graphic oeuvre, Elke im Profil is a unique work of art.
Elke im Profil reveals Baselitz's constant search for new forms of expression: not pure abstraction, but an image that continually reasserts itself through reversal, reduction and materiality.
