The most populist of his generation of German painters, Jörg Immendorff has remained philosophically if not formally true to his school, Beuys’ Düsseldorf Kunstakademie, drawing on political cartoons, agitprop posters, and graffiti to create work that functions above all as a vehicle for social concerns. If the didacticism seems quaint today, Immendorff’s savagely bravura figuration and hectoring sloganeering are an index of German art engagée over recent decades. In light of contemporary concerns over the EU and the homogenization of European culture, the show, which will contain fifty paintings chosen from the ’60s to the present, should provide insight into Immendorff’s specific version of history.
