Gerhard Richter

Galerie Durand-Dessert, Paris
S.J.B. Collection, Paris
Private collection, London
Private collection, Seoul
Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Paris, Galerie Durand-Dessert, Abstrakte Bilder, Kerzen, Schädel, 1984
Saint-Eitenne, Musée d'Art et d'Industrie, Gerhard Richter, 1984, p. 26, illustrated in color
Paris, La Nouvelle Biennale, 1985, p. 133, illustrated
London, Tate Gallery, Gerhard Richter, 1991, p. 82, illustrated in color
Oslo, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Gerhard Richter: The Art of the Impossible - Paintings 1964-1998, January - April 1999, p. 88 and cover, illustrated in color
Oslo, Moderne Kunst, Gerhard Richter, 1999, p. 88 and cover, illustrated in color
Prato, Museo Pecci, Gerhard Richter, 1999, p. 125, illustrated in color

Jurgen Harten, ed., Gerhard Richter: Bilder Paintings 1962-1985, Cologne, 1986, p. 293, illustrated
Angelika Thill, et. al., Gerhard Richter: Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. III, Osterfildern-Ruit, 1993, cat. no. 546-1, illustrated in color

Gerhard Richter's contribution to the theory and practice of painting in the second half of the Twentieth Century marks him as one of the most influential artists of his time. Arguably, more than any other artist, Richter has developed the art of painting; blurring the boundaries between form and content, between Sign and Signifier, on the canvas. Richter's concern was not so much how to make marks, but why one should develop such marks in the context of an antagonism between representation and re-representation. The only reality was not the image, but the process. For Richter, painting became an ethereal exploration, with the canvas as the laboratory; his tools thus became the means to conjure some of the most magical images of this period.

This intellectual and painterly elasticity was born from the radical developments of his monochromatic Photo-Paintings in the 1960s. Essentially, Richter created 'photographs out of paint', not through an attempt to make a representation more of less 'artistic', but, as he has said, "I…equalize, neutralize what is depicted, attempt to retain the anonymous gloss of the photograph, to replace the craftsmanly-artistic with the technical" (Gerhard Richter in Roald Nasgaard, Gerhard Richter, London, 1988, p. 49). During the mid-1960's, Richter also explored the relationship between pure color as form, and his Farbfelden are some of the most provocative paintings of that period.

Considering his initial focus on the distilled image, and the later focus on color contrasts (as well as a continued interest in the process of mark making as is evident in the Abstract Paintings) it is no surprise that Richter executed color Photo-Paintings. The dialogue between painterly abstraction and romanticized realism related to photography is best exemplified in the series of 32 works depicting skulls and candles, executed by Richter between 1982 and 1983.

Richter's choice of candles as a subject enacts an engagement with art history. Like the skull, the candle is a typical Vanitas symbol that evokes the flow of time and mortality. Here, two candles dominate the composition, tall and bright, but they will diminish, fading all signs of life. This understood, Richter's Zwei Kerzen cannot therefore be read literally as a Still Life. The image becomes the vehicle for a more interesting investigation into the veracity of 'realistic images' and an exploration into the role of light in painting. As Kate Linker noted in 1983 "The presentation of a single, double and triple lighted candles, placed close to the viewer and 'shot' against gray-green interior backgrounds, and undoubtedly made according to Richter's recipe technique of photo-slide projection approach the photographs styleless, 'imagistic' look. (ArtForum, April 1983, p. 71. Indeed, the present work is a masterpiece of tonal interplay. Richter is able to create the subtlest chromatic changes that contribute to the overall dynamism and coherency of the entire composition. The gray-green horizontal shadow of the lower half of the composition turns into veils of darker gray, and then slowly graduates into shades of sienna brown and then, eventually, black. Just as the candle will eventually extinguish, so color here eventually turns in on itself, becoming pure, unadulterated shade. The fluid, liquid brushwork, so tightly controlled by Richter, is mesmerizing. This extremely sophisticated background provides the most wonderful backdrop to the two candles: umbras and penumbras of pure light are allowed to dance across the canvas, fixing the composition as a whole both as a painting and as an intellectual point de depart.

Zwei Kerzen is an integral work in Richter's oeuvre. This wonderfully poised and precise canvas, executed with a stunning refinement of technique and a rare impact of vision, stands out as a masterpiece. In terms of its embodiment of Richter's determination to expand painting as a genre to new dimensions, while raising important questions of perception and conception, Zwei Kerzen, is a crucial work to any understanding of the artist's artistic and intellectual predilections and further confirms Richter's place as a pivotal figure in Post-War art.