- 154
Gerhard Richter
Description
- Gerhard Richter
- Abstraktes Bild
- signed, dated 1981 and numbered 474/2 on the reverse
- oil on canvas
- 65.5 by 80cm.; 25 7/8 by 32in.
Provenance
Exhibited
Herford, MARTa, Karl Kreber: A Selection, 2005-6
Literature
Angelika Thill et al., Gerhard Richter Catalogue Raisonné, 1962 - 1993, vol. III, Ostfildern-Ruit, 1993, p. 173, no. 474-2
Condition
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
The early 1980s saw a new international appreciation and admiration for the medium of painting, and Richter's participation in the exhibition 'New Spirit of Painting' at the Royal Academy in 1981, cemented him as key figure in contemporary painting at this time. Richter referred to his abstract paintings as communicating, 'the utmost visual immediacy...in order to depict nothing' (Gerhard Richter in: Exhibition Catalogue, Document 7, 1982, p. 100). This immediacy is aptly conveyed through Richter's use of heavily impastoed raspberry brushstrokes that dominate the central axis of the composition, unashamedly overpowering the visible blue and citrus workings beneath. The dramatic array of colours in the series to which the present work belongs, are symptomatic of a significant shift from the grey tonalities which dominated Richter's experiments of the late 1970s.
The characteristic blurring movements of later Abstraktes Bilds conveyed by the use of Richter’s signature squeegee are in this example, only just becoming evident, as he uses the technique intermittently in vivid yellow. This vibrant combination of brushstrokes and squeegee contrasts beautifully with the stillness of the darker fields in the background, offering the effect of a work changing before the viewer's eyes. As the paint merges and layers, so does the momentum gathering behind Richter's ideas, pushing forward to a greater abstraction.