A rare and collectable publication marking Georg Baselitz’s first exhibition with the gallery at White Cube Mason’s Yard (February – March 2009), curated by Sir Norman Rosenthal, this fully illustrated catalogue documents a series of 16 large-scale canvases featuring the figures of Lenin and Stalin. Across this suite of paintings, Baselitz’s unique combination of solemnity and humour in dealing with the legacies of Totalitarianism, as well as German Expressionism and Abstract Expressionism, surfaces in his choice of titles referring to his art world peers. 

Lavishly illustrated throughout with full-bleed details and sumptuous artwork reproductions, the publication features an essay by Sir Norman Rosenthal, situating the series within both the artist’s extended practice and the political landscape of 20th-century Europe. In his appraisal, Rosenthal emphasises that the paintings and works on paper retain ‘a sense of spontaneity that overcomes the agony of the hard-won image however serious the motif or subject matter’. Alongside the essay, two poems by the German Expressionist writer Johannes R. Becher – ‘Stalin’ and ‘Who Lenin Was’ – are reproduced in full, locating the source from which the series arose.

Edited by Honey Luard
Assisted by Rowan Aust and Ros Furness
Designed by Jonathan Hares
Texts by Norman Rosenthal and Detlev Gretenkort
Printed by Artnetworx GmbH, Hannover
325 x 265 mm, hardback
97 pages, colour illustrations throughout
ISBN 978-1-906072-25-4
Published by White Cube, February 2009

Norman Rosenthal was Exhibitions Secretary of the Royal Academy of Arts, London (1977–2008). He lives and works in London.