Lot 126 D

In this auction, a comprehensive section of works by Gerhard Richter provide an overview of his oeuvre, in particular the Editions. The works span the period from 1969 to 2015, whereby the medial spectrum with which the artist worked, becomes clear. The Editions occupy a significant place in Richter's creativity. He leaves conventional printing techniques behind, adopts novel methods and combines opposing techniques across traditional genre boundaries. With great joy in experimentation, Richter tests medial means of expression and constantly widens his pictorial possibilities: “I sometimes think I shouldn't call myself a painter, but a picture maker. I am more interested in pictures than in painting” (Gerhard Richter, quoted from: Hubertus Butin, et al. (ed.), Gerhard Richter, Editionen 1965-2013, Ostfildern-Ruit 2014, p. 8).
The early work is represented by an example from the series “Neun Objekte” (Lot 129) from 1969, once owned by Richter's friend and artist colleague Blinky Palermo. The offset prints from his own photographs of self-made wooden objects combine three media that build on each other. The Edition “Grau” (Lot 124) picks up the colour grey, a recurrent theme in Gerhard Richter's work since 1966. In contrast to the likewise monochrome Edition “Grauer Spiegel” (Lot 125) from 2015, the oil paint on glass shows the brushstrokes of the paint application and therefore the unique handwriting of the artist. The small-format oil painting “Blech” (Lot 123), created in 1988 as an annual gift of the Bonner Kunstverein, is one example from a series of unique pieces. Completely abstract, it evokes the title-giving impression of a curved metal surface. The reverse-glass Edition “Schwarz, Rot, Gold II” (Lot 130) from 1998 is closely related to the monumental work “Schwarz, Rot, Gold” made of enameled glass, which Richter completed on commission from the German parliament in Berlin (cat. rais. 856).
In two overpainted photographs from the year 2000, “11. Jan. 2000 (Firenze)” (Lot 128) and “13. Nov. 2000” (Lot 127), Richter superimposes the two-dimensional reproducibility of photography with the feel and individuality of the painted picture: “Photography has almost no reality, is almost only image. And painting always has reality, the paint that one can touch, it has presence; but it always produces a picture”, describes Richter himself (quoted from: Gerhard Richter online catalogue raisonné, Quotes). The Editions “Haut I” (Lot 133) and “Haut II” (Lot 134) from 2004 thematically follow his two oil paintings entitled “Abstraktes Bild (Haut)” (cat. rais. 887-2 and 887-3). Here Richter modifies the photographic motif “milch, 75 hz” by Carsten Nicolai from the year 2000. Nicolai made a series of photographs of the surface of milk that was subjected to an acoustic signal in frequencies between 10 and 150 hz. The acoustic influence set the surface of the liquid in a state of permanent vibration and created individual structures of movement.
“Abdallah” (Lot 126) is part of a group of works of reverse-glass paintings created from 2008 to 2010. The bright, abstract streaks and layers of colour have the effect of geological formations or cuts of precious stone. To achieve this, Richter first lets the colour flow onto a Perspex sheet and engages in this random process of image formation through the use of brushes and spatulas. He then presses the glass plate, the picture carrier, onto the desired section of the resulting composition, which now only indirectly reveals the colour structures on its reverse. The other titles of this cycle of works such as “Bagdad”, “Sinbad” and “Ilfrit” make clear the artist's preoccupation with the culture of the Middle East.
The most recent work, “Grauer Spiegel” (Lot 125) dates from 2015. It was created as an annual gift of the Mönchengladbach Museum Association on the occasion of the loan of the eight “Grauen Bilder” (cat. rais. 367-1 - 367-8) - owned by the Mönchengladbach Museum since 1975 - to the Fondation Beyeler in Basel for the exhibition “Gerhard Richter: Bilder / Serien”. The glass on the reverse of the Edition is covered with a stove enamel finish which gives the effect of a grey mirror surface that reflects the viewer's image.