Andreas Gursky

Galerie Monika Sprüth, Cologne
Private Collection, New York
Acquired from the above by the previous owner

Hamburg, Deichtorhallen; Amsterdam, de Appel Foundation, Andreas Gursky, Fotografien 1984-1993, 1994, p. 49, illustrated in colour (edition no. unknown)
Dusseldorf, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Andreas Gursky: Photographs from 1984 to the Present, 1998, p. 76, illustrated in colour (edition no. unknown)
Krefeld, Kunstmuseum Krefeld, Haus Lange und Haus Esters; Stockholm, Moderna Museet; Vancouver, Vancouver Art Gallery, Andreas Gursky: Werke - Works 80 - 08 , 2009, pp. 112-13, illustrated in colour (edition no. unknown)

Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is fairly accurate, although there are more red undertones in the original. Condition: This work is in good condition. The sheet has evenly discoloured throughout.
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Executed in 1986-93, Gursky’s imposing Gardasee represents a seminal moment in the artist’s career. Moving from his early landscape photographs into his mature oeuvre from the 1990s, the work captures an important transitional phase that hints at Gurksy’s iconic later imagery. After he started using digital manipulation in 1992, the artist developed his signature interplay of dominant compositional structures on a macro-level with intricate details on a micro-scale, as is indeed the case in the present work. On the one hand Gardasee seems to have an almost minimalist composition, with the central horizon dividing the composition in two, and with the mountains almost symmetrically positioned on each side of the picture. Closer inspection, however, reveals a depth of detail with an almost impossible number of windsurfers on the Italian lake, many of whom might have indeed been added in digitally. As this interplay of overarching structure and minute detail would become a key compositional tool for Gursky in the 1990s, both as a formal quality but also as a reflection on the position of the individual in a postmodern society, Gardasee offers a crucial insight into this important period of the career of one of the most important contemporary photographers.