One very clear tendency of the early to mid-1980s, which was trumpeted by a number of critics at the time, was a “return to painting,” mainly of a figurative or semifigurative nature. Some argued that this represented a regressive trend. The experimentalism of the 1960s and ’70s had undermined the status of the saleable art object, but a widespread return to the time-honoured technique of oil painting seemed to chime in with the return to a conservative political ethos. At the same time, the fact that national characteristics were being promoted by dealers and curators (such as the specifically “Germanic” ...(100 of 73439 words)