Neo Rauch: At the Well

At the Well is the catalogue for Neo Rauch's 2014 exhibition of new paintings at David Zwirner in New York, an oversized book with an essay by Norman Rosenthal and a reprinted Brothers Grimm tale.

The exhibition combined small and large paintings, and the 80-page hardcover reproduces them with sixteen plates and a number of life-size details, 62 color reproductions in all. Studio Blackwell designed it in close collaboration with the artist. Rosenthal, an art historian and curator, reads the paintings through fairy tale, through the influence of the German Democratic Republic on Rauch's development in the 1980s, and through the alienation in his narratives. He chose the Grimm tale "The Young Giant" to extend that reading, and it is reprinted here. The figures in these paintings are often caught mid-transformation, with elements from different eras collaged around them.

Rauch was born in Leipzig in 1960, lives there, and studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst. David Zwirner has represented him since his first show with the gallery in New York in 2000. Earlier New York solo shows there came in 2002, 2005 (Renegaten), 2008 and 2011 (Heilstätten). His museum exhibitions include The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2007.