Many public art collections are the result of a private collector gifting part of their prized accumulation for the pleasure of the nation. A recent bequeath to the British Museum from Count Christian Duerckheim is such a gift, 34 works on paper by leading German artists have been generously donated by the private collector, boosting the museum’s post-war holdings.
The exhibition focuses on Georg Baselitz’s career during the 1960s and 1970s when he developed his erratic expressive style that resisted abstract painting of the time. These works are put into context with the addition of pieces by five of his contemporaries: Gerhard Richter, A.R. Penck, Lüpertz, Binky Palermo and Sigmar Polke.