An artwork on Galleree from The Art Institute of Chicago.
About the artwork
Woodman (Waldarbeiter)Georg Baselitz (Hans-Georg Kern)
German, born 1938
1969
Germany
Framed: 254.6 × 204.5 cm (100 1/4 × 80 9/16 in.); 254.7 × 204.5 cm (100 1/4 × 80 1/2 in.)
Charcoal and synthetic resin on linen
Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Frederic G. Pick; Walter Aitken Fund
['20th Century']
['men', 'brown (color)', 'green (color)', 'trees']
['painting', 'modern and contemporary art']
['charcoal', 'synthetic resin paint', 'linen (material)']
['painting (image making)', 'drawing (image-making)']
['Essentials']
During the early 1960s, Georg Baselitz began producing representational images—characterized by thickly painted surfaces and often emotional and/or tragic themes—that drew inspiration from Germany’s artistic and cultural heritage. Between 1967 and 1969, Baselitz executed a series of Fracture Paintings, in which he segmented his subjects—animals, shepherds, and woodsmen—into horizontal bands or irregular fragments. Strung up sideways against a massive tree trunk, this woodsman heralded the artist’s trademark inverted figures, which first appeared soon after this painting’s completion. Conjuring a world gone mad, Woodman evokes the psychic and physical disorientation Germans experienced after their war-torn nation was partitioned in 1946. Indeed, Baselitz created this work after he left a divided Berlin to reside in a small German village.
| attributed to Art Institute of Chicago under CC-By license
In the hushed atmosphere of the early 1960s, a quiet storm was brewing in the heart of Germany. Georg Baselitz, a soul deeply tied to his homeland's artistic and cultural lineage, began to pour his emotions onto canvas. Each brushstroke was thick and expressive, breathing life into themes that captured the tragic beauty of a nation still reeling from the echoes of war.
As the clock ticked from 1967 to 1969, Baselitz embarked on a captivating project: a series known as the Fracture Paintings. Within this collection, ordinary subjects—animals, shepherds, and woodsmen—were transformed into fragmented forms. Imagery danced across the canvas, segmented into horizontal bands and uneven shards, as if the visual world was struggling to reassemble itself after enduring chaos.
One particular painting stood out, a haunting portrayal of a woodsman. Strung up against a colossal tree trunk, this figure seemed to hang in eternal uncertainty. It was a striking prelude to Baselitz’s groundbreaking inverted figures, which would soon capture the art world’s imagination. Each brushstroke reverberated with the disarray permeating Germany—like a reflection of a once-unified spirit, now warped and turned upside down.
Woodman, as this painting was aptly named, beckoned the viewer into a contemplation of a nation’s soul—a haunting reminder of the psychic and physical turmoil experienced by Germans after their country was split in two in 1946. This work was birthed from Baselitz's personal journey, a migration from the turbulence of a divided Berlin to the serene embrace of a small German village. It was here that he sought clarity amid confusion, wrestling with the shapes of his own identity while untangling the knot of his country’s past.
In this delicate interplay of art and emotion, Baselitz captured a moment in time, inviting us all to reflect on the profound stories woven into the fabric of our shared history.
About the artist
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