Gerhard Richter

Galerie Claude Fain, Paris
Private Collection, France
Christie's, Paris, May 30, 2007, Lot 348
L & M Arts, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Angelika Thill, et. al., Gerhard Richter: Catalogue Raisonné 1962-1993, Volume III, Cologne, 1993, cat. no. 630, illustrated in color

This work is in excellent condition overall and there are no apparent condition problems with this work. The canvas is well stretched and the surface is clean and the colors are vibrant. There is no evidence of restoration is apparent under ultra-violet light inspection. Framed.
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The present work exemplifies Gerhard Richter's considerable sophistication and great subtlety with the medium of paint. In the most delicate manner, strokes of vibrant reds and bright oranges overlap, mix or even disappear under streaks of blue and different hues of green. The different layers of paint, applied in varying density across the canvas, lead the eye in and out of the picture plane, letting the viewer explore the illusionistic space and the seductive depth of this two dimensional canvas.

 

Abstraktes Bild dates from 1987 and is characteristic of the time when Richter employed the squeegee as his preferred utensil in applying paint to the canvas; a technique that conceals any visibility of the artist's individual brushstroke. Richter's composition lies almost uniquely in the hands of chance; a result Richter aims for: "I want to end up with a picture that I haven't planned. This method of arbitrary [...] choice, [...] , [..] never produces a predetermined picture [...]. I just want to get something more interesting out of it than those things I can think out for myself." As the artist adds layer upon layer onto his canvas it becomes a challenge recognizing the different colors. This work is a prime example of the artist's procedure. In some cases the new streak of wet paint, which Richter applies by pulling the squeegee from the left to right of the canvas, has torn the skin off a partially dry layer underneath, thus slicing into an earlier level which eventually creates a lush landscape of color.

 

Any attempt the viewer might make of approaching the work analytically seems hopeless; he must give in to Richter's gestures. After all, the artist reiterates: "With abstract painting we create a better means of approaching what can be neither seen nor understood because abstract painting illustrates with the greatest clarity, [...] 'nothing.' [...] we allow ourselves to see the un-seeable, that which has never before been seen and indeed is not visible." (Exh. Cat., London, Tate Gallery, Gerhard Richter, 1991, p.112-113.)