Jörg Immendorff - New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art New York Wednesday, September 25, 2024 | Phillips

New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art

New York Auction 25 September 2024

  • Jörg Immendorff’s Gelbe und braune Babies (Yellow and Brown Babies), executed in 1966-67, embodies the artist’s playful yet politically charged approach to art. The piece features two almost cosmic sized babies—one brown, one yellow—in an ecstatic, fleshy embrace. The brown baby squeezes the yellow, tugging at its rolls of fat and pinching its ballooning cheek. The babies’ shut eyes and pursed red lips suggest deep pleasure, adding a layer of both charm and humor. This playful imagery is typical of Immendorff’s early works, which often blur the line between the serious and the absurd.

     

    As a student of Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Immendorff was very much influenced by Beuys’ belief in the social and political power of art. The 1960s were a period of political unrest in Europe, and Immendorff, like many of his contemporaries, opposed the Vietnam War and the socioeconomic systems he felt perpetuated it. His Lidl Babies series, with its roots in baby talk and the sound of a rattle, reflects his desire to create an “alternative reality” that subverts conventional political discourse. The term Lidl became a mantra in his work, symbolizing both nonsense and rebellion.

     

    This work holds particular significance not only for its distinctive and unconventional appearance but also for its influence on the development of Immendorff’s later Neo-Expressionist style. Lidl Babies exemplifies the early stages of experimentation that would culminate in his acclaimed Café Deutschland series, marking it as a pivotal piece for understanding the trajectory of one of Germany’s most provocative post war artists. The piece’s unique integration of humor, social critique, and artistic innovation underscores its importance within the broader context of Immendorff’s oeuvre.

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    • Description

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    • Provenance

      Michael Werner Gallery, New York and Cologne
      Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2004

    • Exhibited

      Eindhoven, Van Abbemuseum, Pinselwiderstand, April 12–May 17, 1981, no. 19
      Adelaide, Art Gallery of South Australia; Perth, Art Gallery of Western Australia; Wellington, New Zealand, National Arg Gallery, Wild visionary spectral – New German Art, February 28–August 24, 1986, no. 26, p. 60 (illustrated)
      Cologne, Michael Werner Gallery, Jörg Immendorff – Frühe Arbeiten und LIDL, March 7–April 4, 1992, no. 15, pp. 20-21, 37 (illustrated, pp. 20-21)
      Bonn, Kunstmuseum, Jörg Immendorff: Malerdebatte, October 1–November 15, 1998, p. 13 (illustrated)
      Ishøj, Arken Museum of Modern Kunst, Europop. A Dialogue with the U.S., January 30–May 24, 1999, p. 66 (illustrated)
      New York, Anton Kern Gallery, Lidl (Fluxus) Works and Recent Paintings, January 17–February 17, 2001
      Berlin, Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery, Jörg Immendorff: Aualand, September 6–October 25, 2003
      Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum; Berlin, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures, January 25, 2009–January 10, 2010, no. 168, pp. 141, 366 (illustrated, p. 141)
      Los Angeles, Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Jörg Immendorff, October 4–December 7, 2013

    • Literature

      Eli Diner, “Jörg Immendorff,” Artforum, October 4, 2013, online (Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2013 installation view illustrated)
      “Freunde oder Feinde? Das Verhältnis von politischer und kultureller Bildung.,” Politik & Kultur, April 2018, online, p. 1 (illustrated)

150

Jörg Immendorff

Gelbe und braune Babies (Yellow and Brown Babies)

signed, indistinctly inscribed and dated "Immendorff 27. Oktober 66" on the reverse
synthetic resin and acrylic on shaped chipboard
72 1/4 x 98 3/8 in. (183.5 x 249.9 cm)
Painted in 1966-1967.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$80,000 - 120,000 

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Avery Semjen
Specialist, Head of New Now Sale
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New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art

New York Auction 25 September 2024