By 1969, painting for painting’s sake was far from revelatory, and there is precious little abstract dynamism or formal innovation to be found in Baselitz’s work

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” It is to Bradford’s credit that his fiercely graceful gestures convey the seeds of future conflict already abloom in those lines.