Academic Journal
Painting the East German Experience: Neo Rauch in the Late 1990s.
| Title: | Painting the East German Experience: Neo Rauch in the Late 1990s. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Eisman, April A. |
| Source: | Oxford Art Journal. Jun2012, Vol. 35 Issue 2, p233-250. 18p. 1 Color Photograph. |
| Abstract: | Neo Rauch is an important artist on the international art scene, known in particular for large, dream-inspired paintings of alienated figures in eerie landscapes. These works combine recognisable imagery with flat areas of colour, hovering in the liminal space between figuration and abstraction. Critics frequently describe these works as ‘Kafkaesque’ and ‘nightmarish’. They also often point to visual references made to Socialist Realism, Dada, Pop, or comic books and print advertising of the 1950s. Close analyses of Rauch’s paintings, however, are surprisingly rare, especially in Anglo-American scholarship, which prefers to see them as having no meaning. This lack of interpretation may be due in part to the dearth of knowledge about his life and art before the fall of the Berlin Wall. This article focuses on Rauch’s art and reception before 1989/1990 in order to better understand a number of paintings he created in the late 1990s, and will argue that these more recent paintings reflect upon this past and, more specifically, upon the challenges that East German artists faced in the new Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Subject Terms: | *20th century German painting, *Art, *Figure painting |
| Geographic Terms: | Germany (East), Germany |
| People: | Rauch, Neo |
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| ISSN: | 01426540 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/oxartj/kcs016 |
| Database: | Art & Architecture Complete |