Saturday, October 15, 2011

Georg Baselitz's Woodman

Georg Baselitz's Woodman painted in 1962 is a painting that seems to be about 10'x6'. The woodman is painted on a dark khaki colored linen. The top 3/4 of the painting's background is light gray with green tints-a murky unsettling color. This is painted in large brush strokes which leave streaks of lighter areas as well as the linen showing through. The bottom 1/4 of the painting is a chestnut brown. The gray and brown are separated by graphite lines sketching out the horizon which is sloping up towards the right side of the image. On the left side the graphite markings are about a foot and a half long, 4 inches tall which connect like a triangle. This triangle like shape is exposed linen. Above this is a 7 inch tall area of cream with yellow tints. This is the only spot of yellow in the whole composition. Starting at the top of the painting, about 1/4 of the way from the top left of the painting, is a column about 1/4 of the painting wide. This column is painted down 80% down the composition. This column resembles a tree trunk, outlined in a burnt umber and the middle only halfway painted in with sienna. The sienna is not painted in all the way which exposes the linen. At the base of the tree are black 'squamous' shaped burnt umber and sienna splotches leading 45 degrees from the right base of the tree. These shapes resemble foot prints. Farther in the horizon, is another tree about a foot higher than the other tree. This tree is another vertical simularly painted column ending about half way through the composition. 1/3 up the larger tree is a subject horizontal yet tilting downward. The subject's legs are missing from the knees down.

...And that is as far as I got

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