Special edition 2023

Special Edition

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the eminent German artist Ruth Baumgarte, the Kunststiftung honored her multifaceted oeuvre with the release of an extraordinary special edition of refined exclusivity. This edition compellingly unites artistic authenticity, art-historical significance, and the rarity sought by discerning collectors.

At its core are three selected motifs from Baumgarte’s outstanding Africa cycle—a body of work that bears eloquent witness to her profound engagement with existential themes, intercultural encounter, and the conditio humana. Through their expressive visual language and nuanced chromatic sensibility, these works reveal the artist’s unmistakable signature while simultaneously reflecting an era of both artistic and societal introspection.

The present serigraphs have been issued as certified original prints in a strictly limited edition of just 40 copies. Produced on high-quality fine art paper, they combine the utmost technical precision in printmaking with exceptional material integrity. Each individual work is authorized by the estate stamp of the Kunststiftung and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, reliably attesting to its provenance and exclusivity.

Offered at a price of €2,900, this special edition presents collectors with the rare opportunity to acquire a significant fragment of Ruth Baumgarte’s oeuvre in museum-quality form. The works are supplied unframed, allowing for individual modes of presentation.

For further information or acquisition inquiries, please contact the Kunststiftung Ruth Baumgarte: sekretariat@ruth-baumgarte.com; +49 521-56031-28

On the River Bank, 1987
(Woman on the River / Riverside / Africa X)
Watercolor over charcoal on paper
55.5 x 74.8 cm
WVZ No. 776

The large-format watercolor sheet shows an intimate portrait of a seated woman on a riverbank. Her muscular figure indicates hard daily work. Next to her is a basket of dishes. In the background of the atmospheric river landscape, a bargeman passes by; the silhouette of a modern city can be seen dimly on the other bank. But the woman covers her eyes from her surroundings with her left hand; she sits absorbed by the water, whose muted green-violet coloring reflects the mental state of the female figure.

Before Ruth Baumgarte switched completely to oil painting in her Africa cycle, she produced a group of large-format charcoal and pastel drawings and watercolor sheets in the 1980s, including this work. In these sheets, she characterizes the various roles and functions of women in African society, which mainly revolve around the home and the preparation of food. The women appear picking ears of corn, weaving nets, collecting wood and maize cobs.

It is remarkable how some works also show the women in contemplative situations, for example huddled together or pondering and reflecting as in this watercolor. The women thus become visible not only as part of a highly controlled social community, but also as self-determined, emancipated individuals who claim their own space to live and think.

Red Flower Africa III, 1988
(Floral Fire)
Watercolor on paper
53 x 71.5 cm
WVZ No. 822

Ruth Baumgarte has repeatedly reflected artistically on the internal conflicts in the apartheid state of South Africa since the 1980s. A group of seven watercolors and charcoal drawings on the theme of Red Flower Africa depicts various aspects of life in the African country. A bright red, expressive watercolor stands out from the group, linking the national flower cape rose (protea) with the element of fire.

The left half of the picture is entirely taken up by a red and yellow form whose tips reach up into the blue sky. To the right, a male figure is kneeling and working on the spot. Behind him are other figures that appear to be moving. The form is characterized as a flower by the sepals and the pistil clearly visible in the middle. However, the plant appears disproportionately monumental in this dimension, especially in comparison to the kneeling man next to it, which increases its significance.

The Cape rose depicted here represents the queen of flowers, adorns South Africa's coat of arms in stylized form and is also the country's national flower. The fact that its painterly design now merges with the fire motif has to do with Ruth Baumgarte's experiences on the African continent. The fire flower has become a symbol of liberation, unrest and violence. As part of her Africa cycle, the artist has depicted the element of fire as both a vital and a life-destroying force of nature. She shows that the hearth is able to unite people, while the fire has a destructive effect on the world of life and nature. The original watercolor is lost.

The Gleaners, 1988
Charcoal and chalk on grey paper
60 x 74 cm
WVZ no. 837

Before Ruth Baumgarte switched back to oil painting in the early 1990s, she created a series of large-format watercolors as well as charcoal and chalk drawings. She repeatedly focused on the depiction of strong women and portrayed them in a series of expressive everyday scenes and portraits.

An outstanding example is the charcoal and chalk drawing on gray paper The Gleaners (1988), which she created at the beginning of her extensive Africa cycle (1984-2004). In this work, the draughtswoman adapts a well-known motif from art history and transfers it to the African continent: The Gleaners by the French painter Jean-François Millet. The famous socially critical painting from 1856 was the first to depict the poor, working rural population without sentimentality and influenced an entire generation of artists, including Vincent van Gogh.

Ruth Baumgarte also emphasizes the sinewy bodies of the two women bent over the ground with a blunt stroke, who are absorbed in their work, turned away from us. Yet both the orange-red chalk tone of the headdress, the depiction of the bodies reduced to a few strokes and the masterfully naturalistic but slightly enlarged hand in the foreground lend the scene a contemporary expressive note and immediately involve the viewer's gaze in the everyday events. With empathy, Ruth Baumgarte tells of the strength and vulnerability of working women and refers to the important role they play in the fabric of African society.

With the motif of the working woman, the artist continues a broad thematic field of her work that she began with her industrial cycle (1952-1969).