Lot 555 D

The present early work was created in 1964, three years after Gerhard Richter had flown the GDR and created a new life in Düsseldorf. At this time Informel, Fluxus and ZERO were of particular influence on the Düsseldorf art scene and the teaching programmes at the Art Academy, which Richter attended from 1961 to 1964. In 1963, together with his fellow students Sigmar Polke, Konrad Lueg and Manfred Kuttner, he founded 'Kapitalistischen Realismus' (Capitalist Realism), which postulated the break from all previous artistic expressions. Richer's oeuvre was characterised from early on by an unusually stylised versatility, which would be pursued by the artist in all directions. Alongside the distinctive paintings on photographs came the first abstracts, such as the present piece, which belongs to the earliest of Richter's abstract works. In an interview, Richter explained the parallels of abstraction and realism in his work: 'This parallelism doesn't exist. I cannot see a difference between a landscape and an abstract picture. The term 'Realism' has no meaning for me. I refuse to limit myself to one possibility, to one external similarity, to one stylistic entity, which doesn't exist'. (Gerhard Richter in an interview with Irmeline Lebeer 1973, in: Dietmar Elger and Hans Ulrich Obrist (ed.), Gerhard Richter, Text 1961 bis 2007, Cologne 2008, p.72/79).