Jiří Georg Dokoupil

JIŘÍ GEORG DOKOUPIL (Czech Republic, 1954).
“Blue Head,” 1989.
Ink on Canson paper mounted on cardboard.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 32.5 x 25 cm.
By the late 1980s, Jiří Georg Dokoupil had already established a unique position within the European art scene. After making a strong impact on the German art scene as a member of the Neue Wilde (New Wild Ones) movement, the artist had begun to distance himself from any generational labels to develop his own artistic language based on constant experimentation. This drawing dates precisely to that moment of full artistic maturity, when his painting ceased to conform to a recognizable style and became an unceasing exploration of the possibilities of gesture, the support, and the material.
Jiří Georg Dokoupil studied at the Kunsthochschule in Cologne, at the University of Frankfurt, and later at the Cooper Union in New York.In the late 1970s, he was one of the founders of the influential Mülheimer Freiheit group, a core element of the German Neue Wilde movement, which spearheaded the resurgence of figurative painting in Europe during the 1980s. His work has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, the Kunsthalle Kiel, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, the Palazzo delle Papesse (Siena), the BOZAR – Centre for Fine Arts (Brussels), the Museum Küppersmühle (Duisburg), the MUSAC (León), and numerous international museums and galleries in Europe, the United States, and Asia. He has also participated in several editions of Documenta and the Venice Biennale, cementing his presence in the leading forums of international contemporary art. His works are part of prestigious public and museum collections, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Tate (London), the Museum Ludwig (Cologne), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Albertina (Vienna), the Kunstmuseum Bonn, the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the MUSAC (León), the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, and numerous institutional and private collections in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.