We would like to thank Juerg Judin and Dr. Pay Matthis Karstens for kindly providing us with additional information.
Literature and illustration
Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg (ed.): Baselitz/Schönebeck: 1962-66. Mailand, Skira (will be published in 2025)
Viewing works by Eugen Schönebeck is always a great privilege. On one hand, this is because there are so few of them, as Schönebeck stopped painting in 1966/67. On the other hand, because this small oeuvre belongs to the most distinctive contributions of German post-war painting. It is both fascinating and disturbing, opening up the abysses of post-war Germany and new painterly worlds.
From 1955 to 1961, Schönebeck studied at what is now Berlin University of the Arts, where he befriended Georg Baselitz. Around the same time as Baselitz, he turned to figurative drawing and painting in 1960. They were the first German artists to address the traumatic experiences of World War II in their work. In 1961 and 1962, they published their „Pandämonische Manifeste“ (pandemonic manifestos), in which they called for a new painting style in an avant-garde manner. This led to a close, productive friendship, highly consequential for German painting, which, however, soon fell apart and turned into its opposite.
This dual portrait reflects their equally productive and conflict-ridden friendship. Baselitz and Schönebeck are depicted as Siamese twins, touching headfirst. The piece was created in 1963 and was originally monogrammed on both sides. Some time later, the friends had a falling out and went their separate ways, prompting Schönebeck to obscure the monogram beneath his portrait with fine lines.
What remains is a wonderful, masterfully executed ink drawing, where the two portraits seek stability, floating without a defined space, circling around each other. Schönebeck, upside down and resting on the significantly smaller head of Baselitz, or perhaps emerging from it.
Martin Engler
India ink over pencil on paper. 36,8 × 26,9 cm
(14 ½ × 10 ⅝ in.). Monogrammed and dated lower right: ES 63. Catalogue raisonné: The drawing will be included in the catalogue raisonné of Eugen Schönebeck's works on paper by Juerg Judin and Dr. Pay Matthis Karstens, Berlin (in preparation). [3143] Framed
Provenance
Private Collection, Berlin (acquired directly from the artist)
We would like to thank Juerg Judin and Dr. Pay Matthis Karstens for kindly providing us with additional information.
Literature and illustration
Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg (ed.): Baselitz/Schönebeck: 1962-66. Mailand, Skira (will be published in 2025)
Viewing works by Eugen Schönebeck is always a great privilege. On one hand, this is because there are so few of them, as Schönebeck stopped painting in 1966/67. On the other hand, because this small oeuvre belongs to the most distinctive contributions of German post-war painting. It is both fascinating and disturbing, opening up the abysses of post-war Germany and new painterly worlds.
From 1955 to 1961, Schönebeck studied at what is now Berlin University of the Arts, where he befriended Georg Baselitz. Around the same time as Baselitz, he turned to figurative drawing and painting in 1960. They were the first German artists to address the traumatic experiences of World War II in their work. In 1961 and 1962, they published their „Pandämonische Manifeste“ (pandemonic manifestos), in which they called for a new painting style in an avant-garde manner. This led to a close, productive friendship, highly consequential for German painting, which, however, soon fell apart and turned into its opposite.
This dual portrait reflects their equally productive and conflict-ridden friendship. Baselitz and Schönebeck are depicted as Siamese twins, touching headfirst. The piece was created in 1963 and was originally monogrammed on both sides. Some time later, the friends had a falling out and went their separate ways, prompting Schönebeck to obscure the monogram beneath his portrait with fine lines.
What remains is a wonderful, masterfully executed ink drawing, where the two portraits seek stability, floating without a defined space, circling around each other. Schönebeck, upside down and resting on the significantly smaller head of Baselitz, or perhaps emerging from it.
Martin Engler
