Gerhard Richter

Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Gerhard Richter. Fuji, 1997

Hubertus Butin, Stefan Gronert and the Dallas Museum of Art, Eds., Gerhard Richter Editions 1965-2004, Ostfildern-Ruit 2004, p. 238, no. 89, illustration of another example from the series in colour
Hubertus Butin, Stefan Gronert, and Thomas Olbricht, eds., Gerhard Richter. Editionen 1965-2013: Catalogue Raisonné, Ostfildern 2014, p. 260, no. 89, illustration of another example from the series in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although there are fewer blue undertones in the green along the right edge, and the central vertical band of colour tends more towards bright orange in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Extremely close inspection reveals a minute speck of loss to the top layer of pigment on the lower edge towards the lower right corner tip. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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With its chromatically spectacular arrangement of red, orange, green and white oil paint on a shimmering aluminium base, Gerhard Richter’s Fuji is an exuberantly accomplished example from the artist’s celebrated abstract paintings. Beautifully fusing his distinctive interest in chance and control, Fuji captures Richter’s unique visual language and echoes the arresting aesthetic of his monumental paintings from the 1990s on a domestic scale.

 

The Fuji series was conceived in 1996 as a series of 110 unique paintings to help finance the purchase of his famous Atlas by the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich, and much like the Atlas project itself, it sums up some of Richter’s greatest artistic achievements. Each Fuji painting was individually produced by applying separate layers of red, Indian yellow and emerald green paint on an aluminium surface, after which the artist applied another layer of white paint with his signature squeegee tool on top. By spreading out these different layers of oil paint over the smooth surface, unexpected gradients and ruptures emerge that produce the unmistakable aesthetic of Richter’s abstract paintings and create a beautiful contrast between soft colour transitions and abrupt breaks where the underlying paint layers become visible. This combination of a controlled, pre-conceived process and the unexpected effects of the squeegee are characteristic for Richter, who explained: “I want to end up with a picture that I haven't planned. This method of arbitrary choice, chance, inspiration and destruction may produce a specific type of picture, but it never produces a predetermined picture. Each picture has to evolve out of a painterly or visual logic: it has to emerge as if inevitably” (Gerhard Richter quoted in: Dietmar Elger, Gerhard Richter: A Life in Painting, Chicago 2009, p. 312).

 

As one of the most brightly coloured and beautifully constructed paintings, the present painting is an exceptional work from the series, as well as an outstanding example of Richter’s iconic abstract paintings. With deep reds appearing from underneath the white top layer, and a captivatingly vivid orange at the centre which imbues the painting with a carefully balanced composition, the particularly vivid colours and tangible surface make Fuji an unmistakably important work from one of the leaders of contemporary art today.