Published on the occasion of Georg Baselitz’s second exhibition at the gallery, at White Cube Mason’s Yard (May – July 2011), this publication documents a series of paintings centred on three principal themes – eagles, dogs and double portraits. Attesting to the persistent vigour of Baselitz’s distinctive pictorial style and his exploration of personal and collective narratives, images of these paintings first appeared in the historic edition of the German newspaper Die Welt, marking the twentieth anniversary of German reunification in 2010.

This now rare catalogue features an essay by writer and critic Michael Glover, tracing the eagle as a recurring obsession across Baselitz’s career, exploring its shifting charge as a symbol of might, longevity and self-determination. Noting Baselitz’s characteristic disavowal of programmatic meaning, Glover pursues the paradox held within the eagle motif, observing its appearance as at once ‘defiantly robust, noble, balletic, grandiose’ and ‘quite pathetically weak, languid and inclined towards self-sacrifice’ – a tension that served as a creative wellspring for Baselitz throughout his career.

Edited by Honey Luard
Editorial assistance by Dorothy Feaver and Sara Macdonald
Designed by Jonathan Hares
Texts by Michael Glover and Detlev Gretenkort
Printed by Hurtwood Press, Surrey, UK
325 x 265 mm, hardback
96 pages, colour illustrations throughout
ISBN 978-1-906072-46-9
Published by White Cube, June 2011

Michael Glover is an art critic, poet and editor of The Bow-Wow Shop, an international poetry forum.