Untitled, 1987
Ink and collage on paper
Unframed: 23 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches (59.69 x 46.99 cm)
Framed: 36 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches (92.71 x 80 cm )

Courtesy of The Donald Baechler Foundation

Selected by Jenny Borland

Donald Baechler (b. Hartford, CT 1956 - d. New York, NY 2022) was a well-known painter and sculptor. He studied at Maryland Institute College of Art, The Cooper Union, and Städelschule, Frankfurt. Based in New York from the late 1970s, he exhibited widely in Europe and the United States until his untimely death. Bearing hallmarks of various movements of the 1980s, Baechler’s work was haphazardly grouped with Neo-Expressionism and Downtown "Street Art”. Otherwise reluctant to self-categorize, he considered himself a formalist, with Minimalism, Warhol, and Twombly all key influences. Suffusing his prolific output were his unflagging interests in: the untrained hand, the illusion of repetition, and the (elusive) coalescence of the abstract and figural. Major works are in the collections of: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Albertina, Vienna; Deichterhallen, Hamburg; Ludwig Forum, Aachen; Guggenheim Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Lenbachhaus, Munich; and MAMCS, Strasbourg. The Donald Baechler Foundation has recently been established to promote his legacy and support living artists.