Michael Werner Gallery, London is pleased to present an exhibition of recent paintings by Markus Lüpertz. Painted over the last four years in Italy and Germany, the artist masterfully combines Southern and Northern European painting traditions while creating work that is new, innovative and contemporary.
The art historian Eric Darragon has said that Lüpertz “is a contemporary artist who wants a future for his works and finds it by thinking about the past.” In this new body of work, Lüpertz returns to the theme of Arcadia, a classic, pastoral utopia. Figures are pulled from Italian Renaissance and Dutch Golden Age paintings, given identities as characters from Greek mythology and placed into idyllic landscapes, largely inspired by the surroundings of his studio in Märkisch Wilmersdorf, Germany. A veteran painter who has exhibited worldwide for nearly sixty years, Lüpertz continues to explore art history and classicism and introduce new materials and methods in his oeuvre.
Markus Lüpertz (b. 1941, Liberec, Bohemia) is one of the most important and influential artists to emerge from post-war Germany. In recent years, major retrospective surveys have been shown at Kunst- und Austellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn (2009); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (2011); The Hermitage State Museum, St. Petersburg (2014); the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2015); the Hirshhorn Museum and the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (2017); and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2019).
Markus Lüpertz: Recent Paintings opens 13 April at Michael Werner Gallery in London will remain on view through 15 May. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10AM to 6PM. For more information, please contact the gallery at press@michaelwerner.com.