The Tale of Two German Artists
Two German artists with gallery shows in Chelsea around the same time. One represents an old way of thinking. Another, a new horizon. These artists are Georg Baselitz and Sophie von Hellermann.
Who are they? What exhibitions am I talking about? Why am I even comparing the two? How are they even similar?
They’re both artists, they’re both painters, and they’re both from Germany. One is a female and the other is a male. Which normally, I don’t think much of, unless that’s the subject matter they’re trying to provoke in their art and neither of these artists have that intention.
So why was I so drawn to thinking of Sophie von Hellermann when attending Georg Baselitz’s opening at Gagosian. I think because of the fact they represent such a clear separation in an old way of thinking and a new refreshing shift that's starting in the art world (and beyond in other industries).
Why does Georg Baselitz represent an 'old way of thinking?' Because he's infamous for believing that women are “lousy painters,” claiming…
“The market doesn’t lie,” he says. “Even though the painting classes in art academies are more than 90% made up by women, it’s a fact that very few of them succeed. It’s nothing to do with education, or chances, or male gallery owners. It’s to do with something else and it’s not my job to answer why it’s so. It doesn’t just apply to painting, either, but also music.” - Baselitz for The Guardian
I find this interesting considering his Gagosian female peer - Jenny Saville’s most expensive work (Propped) has outsold his (With Red Flag) at auction by over 3.4 Million USD...so he’s right. The market doesn’t lie.
I also should have more sympathy considering he grew up during Hitler’s peak of power...so he didn't have the easiest time (or the best societal role models). He even states the effect war had on him, saying the following (on his Wikipedia).
"I was born into a destroyed order, a destroyed landscape, a destroyed people, a destroyed society. And I didn't want to reestablish an order: I had seen enough of so-called order. I was forced to question everything, to be 'naive', to start again." - Georg Baselitz
So, Sophie von Hellermann is the perfect antithesis to Baselitz view of female painters.
Baselitz represents the old way of thinking, and von Hellermann is the future. Ironically, the same publication (The Guardian) that published the article with the quote above, published an article in 2011 dubbing
“von Hellermann’s paintings are an antidote to the boys'-club heaviness of contemporary art” - The Guardian
So my mind wasn’t just playing tricks on me. Sophie von Hellermann art is a visual antidote to the ‘heaviness’ that is in Baselitz work (and attitude).
According to the gallery that represents her in London (Vilma Gold)
“[Sophie] is best known for her large-scale, romantic, pastel-washed canvases, which are often installed to suggest complex narrative threads.” - Vilma Gold
Her recent exhibition at Greene Naftali - ‘ILEDEN’, on view from January 8th - February 2nd is named after her art studio in a barn in the Ileden forests.
“The group of paintings I made for New York indeed came very much from the time and place I painted them. Starting off slowly with thoughts about jokes and about who gets to laugh in the end, as always in the awareness that being a painter is ridiculous, I then breathed in some fresh air in my new studio in the barns at Ileden.” –Sophie von Hellermann
Fresh air and narratives indeed. Each work represents a different story, whether fiction or historical, such as a pilot being gunned down in World War II, or a little girl discovering a Viking sword in a lake….all things happening in the secluded landscape of her studio in these forests.
“von Hellermann paints all of this with signature vibrancy, underlining the transience and instability woven through her images of flight and fire; migration and exile; celebration and redemption.” - Greene Naftali
So who is she? Where did she come from?
She graduated from the Royal College of London and became instantly famous (at least for the art world). She was discovered by Charles Saatchi, which is basically the equivalent of Britney Spear’s getting her record deal at 15.
While most artists are lucky to be recognized by galleries well into their 30’s and 40’s, von Hellermann was snatched up by Vilma Gold in London as well as Greene Naftali in New York and has been exhibiting there (and beyond), consistently since.
She also had a massive show at the Centre Pompidou along with artists Francis Picabia, Alex Katz, Elizabeth Peyton, Luc Tuymans and many more. Not bad for a 20-something-year-old, two years out of art school.
A detail of her background that I love bringing to light is that her father is a Nuclear Physicist and she often finds inspiration in science when she’s creating her works.
For example, in her first solo show in New York at Greene Naftali - ‘Goddess in the Doorway’, she was inspired by Einstein’s “miracle year” of discovery...where things like e = mc squared all came to life.
“Space becomes time and time becomes space, in a very superficial way,” she explains. “The good-time girl becomes the Good Space Girl—someone who likes to party.” - von Hellermann for New York Mag
She’s represented by the following galleries
Greene Naftali, New York
Vilma Gold, London
Pilar Corrias, London
Marc Foxx, Los Angeles
She’s had quite the career.. At slightly more than half the age as Baselitz… maybe we’ll see her works selling for over 9 million at auction one day (or better yet, even more ;).
AND - such a rarity but if you’re really looking to go down the internet rabbit hole you can watch her paint below.
