Lot 18 D

Gerhard Richter - Untitled (5.2.89)

Auction 1256 - overview Cologne
29.11.2024, 18:00 - Modern and Contemporary Art - Evening Sale
Estimate: 120.000 € - 150.000 €
Bid

Gerhard Richter

Untitled (5.2.89)
1989

Oil on card. 21 x 29.8 cm. Mounted on card support. Framed under glass. Signed and dated '5.2.89 Richter' on card support. Dated '5.2.89' on verso of frame backing and with signed and dated dedication. - Minor traces of age.

In early 1989, Gerhard Richter compiled an series of abstract works on paper. In a horizontal format the size of writing paper extremely expressive works developed. The chosen colours and their intensity and density alone generate a strong deep spatial effect and individual character. Due to the assumed simplicity of the painterly means, these intimate works on paper are even freer and more direct in their effect than the abstract paintings of this period with their more elaborate multi-layered colour treatment.
Although entirely non-representational, these works evoke involuntary associations and atmospheric images when viewed – each work possesses a singular expressiveness. This work, created on 5th February 1989, with its casual, translucent streaks of colour in fresh shades of green and blue, is reminiscent of impressions of nature, vegetation, and reflections on water. However, as the artist himself points out, the creation of the image is largely involuntary: ‘The logic of an image can only be verbalised subsequently, it cannot be constructed. Afterall, one says: re-flect. I always realise how important the unconscious is, essential when painting – as if something is working secretly. [...] Sometimes it’s called inspiration or “divine intervention”, it’s just much more down-to-earth and complicated.’ (Gerhard Richter, cited from: Dietmar Elger a.o. (eds.), Gerhard Richter, Text 1961 - 2007, Cologne 2008, p.238)

Certificate

With accompanying confirmation from Dietmar Elger, Gerhard Richter Archiv Dresden, dated 21.06.2024.

Provenance

Directly from the artist; private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia