John Baldessari: The Stadel Paintings

John Baldessari’s most recent series of large-scale collages was created for an exhibition at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, drawing on works

from the museum’s collection ranging from Lucas Cranach the Elder to Maria Lassnig. This publication reproduces the collages and is complemented by essays and an interview with Baldessari and Philipp Kaiser, which deepen the understanding of the works.

The book examines how Baldessari combines text and photography to create complex oppositions and juxtapositions between historical and contemporary art. It traces his use of classic modernist pictorial strategies, including montage and the incorporation of everyday imagery, as a means of engaging with postwar avant-garde practices and their critical reflections on consumer culture and the media. By intertwining different media and materials and bringing together distinct artistic registers, Baldessari replaces a singular pictorial meaning with a layered and open-ended readability.

Lavishly produced and illustrated with seventy color images, the publication offers an early insight into a recent body of work by one of the most influential conceptual artists of our time.