Gerhard RICHTER (born in 1932)
1968 Richter invents the Hyperrealistic Blur
2013 SOLD 37 M$ including premium
Gerhard Richter is the true rebel of art. Some artists before him including Rauschenberg had introduced disgust as a variant of artistic impression. Richter goes much further. He debases the art to reveal its profound nature.
In 1962, he considers that a bad photo does not lie because it is too ugly to deserve retouching. It expresses real life, the reality of a fleeting moment which had probably been important for its author.
The anti-art by Richter consists to disproportionately enlarge black and white photos, blurry and often without any interest but in a great variety, by using a hyperrealistic technique already perfectly controlled.
One of his earliest works is the image of an airplane in flight, magnified as an oil on canvas up to 130 x 200 cm. Made in 1963, it was sold for $ 11.2 million including premium by Christie's on November 13, 2007.
The strength of the anti-artistic message of Richter is so great and so new that he finds customers. Domplatz Mailand, an oil on canvas 275 x 290 cm painted in 1968, was commissioned by the Milanese offices of Siemens.
The image is a masterpiece of ugliness with a particularly unpleasant blur. The original photo was lost, thankfully! This photo by an unidentified tourist may be repeated by anyone, without blurring motion, with a more relevant composition than truncating both the cathedral on the right and the buildings on the left.
With this quality and its very large size, Mailand Domplatz is the culmination of the first period of Richter. On the following year, he managed to radically shake the established tradition of landscape painting.
Domplatz Mailand is estimated $ 30M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 14. It is illustrated in a very interesting blog post shared by the auction house.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This large painting is a technical feat of the first style of Richter, playing altogether on the easy identification of the subject and on the difficulty of reading it. It was sold $ 37M including premium.
In 1962, he considers that a bad photo does not lie because it is too ugly to deserve retouching. It expresses real life, the reality of a fleeting moment which had probably been important for its author.
The anti-art by Richter consists to disproportionately enlarge black and white photos, blurry and often without any interest but in a great variety, by using a hyperrealistic technique already perfectly controlled.
One of his earliest works is the image of an airplane in flight, magnified as an oil on canvas up to 130 x 200 cm. Made in 1963, it was sold for $ 11.2 million including premium by Christie's on November 13, 2007.
The strength of the anti-artistic message of Richter is so great and so new that he finds customers. Domplatz Mailand, an oil on canvas 275 x 290 cm painted in 1968, was commissioned by the Milanese offices of Siemens.
The image is a masterpiece of ugliness with a particularly unpleasant blur. The original photo was lost, thankfully! This photo by an unidentified tourist may be repeated by anyone, without blurring motion, with a more relevant composition than truncating both the cathedral on the right and the buildings on the left.
With this quality and its very large size, Mailand Domplatz is the culmination of the first period of Richter. On the following year, he managed to radically shake the established tradition of landscape painting.
Domplatz Mailand is estimated $ 30M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 14. It is illustrated in a very interesting blog post shared by the auction house.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This large painting is a technical feat of the first style of Richter, playing altogether on the easy identification of the subject and on the difficulty of reading it. It was sold $ 37M including premium.
1975 Seestück
2022 SOLD for $ 30M by Sotheby's
Gerhard Richter redefines art, appropriating shabby photos whose meaning is important to him or more often to nobody. He thus becomes a specialist in blurred images of monumental size.
However, he does not want to lose any filiation with the great masters of the past. The clouds catch his attention. Their shape and color are constantly changing and yet they are perfectly identifiable. Through the clouds, Richter finds Friedrich, Constable and Turner.
After trials in limited dimensions and quantities in 1968 and 1969, the artist explores more systematically the clouds in 1970. For this sole year, his catalogue raisonné includes fifteen paintings on this theme, with various effects : pink, blue, green blue, atmosphere, backlight, abstract.
Within this set the opus 266 titled Wolken (Fenster) is the most ambitious, and the only one to meet one of Richter's fundamental ambitions : to simulate an architectural environment.
This quadriptych of oils on canvas of individual dimension 200 x 100 cm appears like a large fragmented window which opens onto nothing. In turn, this nothingness takes on an emotional meaning by making the visitor believe that he sees the sky at sunset from the upper floors of a skyscraper, evaporating the city. This work anticipates the fragmented pools by David Hockney by almost ten years and the panels of snow-capped mountain scenery by Cui Ruzhuo by four decades.
Wolken (Fenster) was sold for £ 6.2M by Christie's on October 13, 2014 and for £ 10.4M by Sotheby's on July 28, 2020, lot 20.
In 1975 Gerhard Richter revisited his Seestück photo-painting series of 1969 by enlarging the canvas from a square 200 x 200 cm to a panoramic 200 x 300 cm. This extension to this larger size of the luminescent effect is a technical feat.
The out of focus of clouds and sea mingling through a faint horizon is an invite to the viewer to change his mind about visual perception. It is indeed.a step further by Richter in his quest of a personal total abstraction. The lack of focusing point within a monumental scale also leads to an illusion of movement and chance in the line of Riley's op art.
This new set is made of four paintings. One of them was sold for $ 30M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2022, lot 5.
However, he does not want to lose any filiation with the great masters of the past. The clouds catch his attention. Their shape and color are constantly changing and yet they are perfectly identifiable. Through the clouds, Richter finds Friedrich, Constable and Turner.
After trials in limited dimensions and quantities in 1968 and 1969, the artist explores more systematically the clouds in 1970. For this sole year, his catalogue raisonné includes fifteen paintings on this theme, with various effects : pink, blue, green blue, atmosphere, backlight, abstract.
Within this set the opus 266 titled Wolken (Fenster) is the most ambitious, and the only one to meet one of Richter's fundamental ambitions : to simulate an architectural environment.
This quadriptych of oils on canvas of individual dimension 200 x 100 cm appears like a large fragmented window which opens onto nothing. In turn, this nothingness takes on an emotional meaning by making the visitor believe that he sees the sky at sunset from the upper floors of a skyscraper, evaporating the city. This work anticipates the fragmented pools by David Hockney by almost ten years and the panels of snow-capped mountain scenery by Cui Ruzhuo by four decades.
Wolken (Fenster) was sold for £ 6.2M by Christie's on October 13, 2014 and for £ 10.4M by Sotheby's on July 28, 2020, lot 20.
In 1975 Gerhard Richter revisited his Seestück photo-painting series of 1969 by enlarging the canvas from a square 200 x 200 cm to a panoramic 200 x 300 cm. This extension to this larger size of the luminescent effect is a technical feat.
The out of focus of clouds and sea mingling through a faint horizon is an invite to the viewer to change his mind about visual perception. It is indeed.a step further by Richter in his quest of a personal total abstraction. The lack of focusing point within a monumental scale also leads to an illusion of movement and chance in the line of Riley's op art.
This new set is made of four paintings. One of them was sold for $ 30M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2022, lot 5.
1986
Intro
Gerhard Richter conscientiously serializes his Abstraktes Bild (AB) in chronological order, in series ranging from one to ten paintings. A review of the 1986 millésime, AB 588 to AB 619, tracks the evolution of the technique and inspiration of the artist in this very important transition year which includes the first use of the squeegee.
At the beginning of 1986, Richter already goes further than other abstract artists by an extensive use of the range of colors and a great brightness. The first AB's of 1986 are often inspired by landscape views in which we try to recognize waterfalls of various shapes. Lines are separating the various areas in the image.
At the beginning of 1986, Richter already goes further than other abstract artists by an extensive use of the range of colors and a great brightness. The first AB's of 1986 are often inspired by landscape views in which we try to recognize waterfalls of various shapes. Lines are separating the various areas in the image.
1
AB 599
2015 SOLD for £ 30.4M by Sotheby's
In 1986 Gerhard Richter redefines abstract art. He gradually escapes evocation. He also wants to stand out from abstract expressionism in favor of a chaos of colors for which it will however be necessary to provide an overall logic.
His innovation is not only the use of the squeegee but the conjunction of this new tool with the brush and the knife. By mingling impastos and transparent veils, the artist creates shimmering effects while using the full range of colors.
Abstraktes Bild 599 is sparkling, with bright contrasts amidst a geometric structure somewhat reminiscent of Boccioni's futuristic compartmentalization. This 250 x 300 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 30.4M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2015, lot 37. The seminal work of this style was the opus 590 titled SDI, possibly a reference to the Cold War.
Chaos is here replaced by a double movement of forces, horizontal and vertical. This is one of his earliest uses of the squeegee which is still challenged by the brush. Many remorses indicate all the care paid to the realization of this painting in a large size that brings to it the role of a demonstrator.
The artist offers 599 with a full chromatic scale structured in blocks with visible border lines between the colored areas. The clear parts display an opulent shine.
The gigantic culmination of this phase is the two Claudius, AB 603 and AB 604, 311 x 406 cm each. Offered by Christie's on October 19, 2008 at the start of the crisis of the art market, AB 604 was not sold.
His innovation is not only the use of the squeegee but the conjunction of this new tool with the brush and the knife. By mingling impastos and transparent veils, the artist creates shimmering effects while using the full range of colors.
Abstraktes Bild 599 is sparkling, with bright contrasts amidst a geometric structure somewhat reminiscent of Boccioni's futuristic compartmentalization. This 250 x 300 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 30.4M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2015, lot 37. The seminal work of this style was the opus 590 titled SDI, possibly a reference to the Cold War.
Chaos is here replaced by a double movement of forces, horizontal and vertical. This is one of his earliest uses of the squeegee which is still challenged by the brush. Many remorses indicate all the care paid to the realization of this painting in a large size that brings to it the role of a demonstrator.
The artist offers 599 with a full chromatic scale structured in blocks with visible border lines between the colored areas. The clear parts display an opulent shine.
The gigantic culmination of this phase is the two Claudius, AB 603 and AB 604, 311 x 406 cm each. Offered by Christie's on October 19, 2008 at the start of the crisis of the art market, AB 604 was not sold.
2
1986 AB 612-4 Still
2016 SOLD for $ 34M by Sotheby's
AB 612-4, 225 x 200 cm, titled Still, was sold for $ 34M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on November 17, 2016, lot 13.
To execute Still, the artist used jointly brushes and squeegees. The contribution of the squeegee adds a smooth veil over the impasto. The dividing lines are now disappearing.
The title is interesting. Still is of course not a movie picture. The website gerhardrichter.com provides the official English translation : Quiet. AB 615 and AB 616 are named Courbet. Nothing prevents AB 612-4 to be a tribute to another master : Clyfford Still. The large red area on the left in AB 612-4 may be an echo to Still's hells. The intermingling colors that open the new signature style of Richter remind the shredded separations between Clyfford Still's colors.
AB Courbet 616 was sold for $ 26.5M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013, lot 22.
To execute Still, the artist used jointly brushes and squeegees. The contribution of the squeegee adds a smooth veil over the impasto. The dividing lines are now disappearing.
The title is interesting. Still is of course not a movie picture. The website gerhardrichter.com provides the official English translation : Quiet. AB 615 and AB 616 are named Courbet. Nothing prevents AB 612-4 to be a tribute to another master : Clyfford Still. The large red area on the left in AB 612-4 may be an echo to Still's hells. The intermingling colors that open the new signature style of Richter remind the shredded separations between Clyfford Still's colors.
AB Courbet 616 was sold for $ 26.5M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013, lot 22.
1987 Tribute to the Unknown Landscape Painter
2018 SOLD for $ 32M including premium
Gerhard Richter increasingly masters his technique from the moment he applies oil paint in translucent layers with a wide squeegee. The mixing between the wet layers provides a detailed and complete chromatic range. Large gestures with the rake generate vertical and oblique lines of tension. The skill of the artist leads him to create very large formats.
In 1986 the brush is still used, especially to obtain over-shine sprinkles that reinforce or contradict the lines of forces. Abstraktes Bild 599, 300 x 250 cm, was sold for £ 30.4M including premium by Sotheby's on February 10, 2015. AB Still 612-4, 225 x 200 cm, was sold for $ 34M including premium by Sotheby's on November 17, 2016.
On November 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells as lot 8 Abstraktes Bild 636, diptych of total size 260 x 400 cm painted in 1987. The image is dominated by irregular vertical lines in light shades. An ascending and descending oblique pattern ensures the texture. Partially masked by this network, an incandescent zone remains more visible at the bottom of the left side.
In late 1987 and early 1988 for an exhibition in London, Richter painted abstract expressions of colors to evoke the views of the city by Monet. Brick Tower 643-1, 200 x 140 cm, was sold for £ 14.1M including premium by Christie's on July 1, 2015. St James 653-1, 200 x 260 cm, was sold for $ 22.7M including premium by Sotheby's on November 17, 2016.
AB 636 is an abstract work without identification of a naturalistic inspiration. With the domination of verticals, it is however tempting to see the edge of a forest lit by the sun, after Cézanne or Shishkin.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
In 1986 the brush is still used, especially to obtain over-shine sprinkles that reinforce or contradict the lines of forces. Abstraktes Bild 599, 300 x 250 cm, was sold for £ 30.4M including premium by Sotheby's on February 10, 2015. AB Still 612-4, 225 x 200 cm, was sold for $ 34M including premium by Sotheby's on November 17, 2016.
On November 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells as lot 8 Abstraktes Bild 636, diptych of total size 260 x 400 cm painted in 1987. The image is dominated by irregular vertical lines in light shades. An ascending and descending oblique pattern ensures the texture. Partially masked by this network, an incandescent zone remains more visible at the bottom of the left side.
In late 1987 and early 1988 for an exhibition in London, Richter painted abstract expressions of colors to evoke the views of the city by Monet. Brick Tower 643-1, 200 x 140 cm, was sold for £ 14.1M including premium by Christie's on July 1, 2015. St James 653-1, 200 x 260 cm, was sold for $ 22.7M including premium by Sotheby's on November 17, 2016.
AB 636 is an abstract work without identification of a naturalistic inspiration. With the domination of verticals, it is however tempting to see the edge of a forest lit by the sun, after Cézanne or Shishkin.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1988 Around the Blue
2014 SOLD 28.7 M$ including premium
In 1988, Gerhard Richter desires to control all the artistic potential of pure abstraction. His method is to rework tirelessly the layers of paint until the achievement pleases him. By such a subconscious creation, he is a follower of Pollock. Emotion and hand make art.
He adds two key features: the staging of all colors of the spectrum and the very large size. His progressive and patient technique also enables an exceptional vibration of the color dots.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells a monumental oil on canvas, 3 x 3 m. This opus 658 is entitled Blau. Blue is predominant only in a small area in the bottom right but its dynamism overrules the artwork. Blau is estimated $ 25M.
Two years later with his squeegee, Richter explores the creation of an illusion of reality, abolishing the differentiation between figuration and abstraction. as De Kooning had done.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Blau was sold for $ 28.7M including premium consistently with its lower estimate.
He adds two key features: the staging of all colors of the spectrum and the very large size. His progressive and patient technique also enables an exceptional vibration of the color dots.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells a monumental oil on canvas, 3 x 3 m. This opus 658 is entitled Blau. Blue is predominant only in a small area in the bottom right but its dynamism overrules the artwork. Blau is estimated $ 25M.
Two years later with his squeegee, Richter explores the creation of an illusion of reality, abolishing the differentiation between figuration and abstraction. as De Kooning had done.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Blau was sold for $ 28.7M including premium consistently with its lower estimate.
1988 Abstraktes Bild 680-1
2021 SOLD for $ 27M by Christie's
Gerhard Richter restarts around 1985 the exploration of the expressive capabilities of the abstraction. He soon obtains the complete control of his self developed painting technique, well suited for using the full spectrum of bright colors on large scale formats.
In a first phase he maintains a borderline relation with the figurative and with the simulation of a three dimension effect. He also creates some abstract opuses in the reproduction of the palette of former top figurative painters.
For that purpose he adds and deletes layers and dots until he is happy with the effect. Around 1988 he manages new abstract paintings without a detailed preconceived idea, letting the random doing the job. Gerhard Richter is a great colorist. He creates through that bold process of unprecedented freedom his most sumptuous abstractions, perfectly under his control for the final vision.
On November 11, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 27M as lot 27C the Abstraktes Bild 680-1, oil on canvas 200 x 180 cm.
The chromatic specificity of this opus is an abundant use of the golden yellow as a pattern of impasto smears over the upper layer.
In a first phase he maintains a borderline relation with the figurative and with the simulation of a three dimension effect. He also creates some abstract opuses in the reproduction of the palette of former top figurative painters.
For that purpose he adds and deletes layers and dots until he is happy with the effect. Around 1988 he manages new abstract paintings without a detailed preconceived idea, letting the random doing the job. Gerhard Richter is a great colorist. He creates through that bold process of unprecedented freedom his most sumptuous abstractions, perfectly under his control for the final vision.
On November 11, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 27M as lot 27C the Abstraktes Bild 680-1, oil on canvas 200 x 180 cm.
The chromatic specificity of this opus is an abundant use of the golden yellow as a pattern of impasto smears over the upper layer.
1990 The Decade of the Squeegee
2014 SOLD 29 M$ including premium
Abstraktes Bild 712 by Gerhard Richter was sold for $ 17.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012. This painting is estimated $ 22M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, lot 15 of the catalog.
I reuse below my previous article with some additional technical information.
Abstraktes Bild 712 is the first work done by Gerhard Richter in 1990. He had started this series two years before, and he his now mastering his use of a wide rake to apply colors.
This squeegee used by Richter to bring the liquid paint on the canvas is a hard tool that disrupts the previous layers of paint when they become almost dry. The process is repeated until the color balance of the work meets the wish of the artist.
To begin that new decade, Richter prepares a masterpiece. This oil on canvas, 260 x 200 cm, is one of the largest. Also the nicely mingling red, yellow and blue are enhanced by a final layer of silver gray which provides a brightening effect onto the whole.
The choice of these three basic colors enables to reach almost the entire spectrum. This is an indirect tribute to the fascination with pure colors that had been expressed by Barnett Newman.
The work is completely abstract, but the uneven distribution of color densities may generate the illusion of a blister, as if this area was part of a living being. It is well known that an Abstraktes Bild by Richter has no figurative meaning. By the effect it can provide to the viewer, 712 is probably one of the closest to Monet's Nymphéas and their famous admirer Rothko.
POST SALE COMMENT
This Richter painting was sold for $ 29M including premium, far above its 2012 price.
I reuse below my previous article with some additional technical information.
Abstraktes Bild 712 is the first work done by Gerhard Richter in 1990. He had started this series two years before, and he his now mastering his use of a wide rake to apply colors.
This squeegee used by Richter to bring the liquid paint on the canvas is a hard tool that disrupts the previous layers of paint when they become almost dry. The process is repeated until the color balance of the work meets the wish of the artist.
To begin that new decade, Richter prepares a masterpiece. This oil on canvas, 260 x 200 cm, is one of the largest. Also the nicely mingling red, yellow and blue are enhanced by a final layer of silver gray which provides a brightening effect onto the whole.
The choice of these three basic colors enables to reach almost the entire spectrum. This is an indirect tribute to the fascination with pure colors that had been expressed by Barnett Newman.
The work is completely abstract, but the uneven distribution of color densities may generate the illusion of a blister, as if this area was part of a living being. It is well known that an Abstraktes Bild by Richter has no figurative meaning. By the effect it can provide to the viewer, 712 is probably one of the closest to Monet's Nymphéas and their famous admirer Rothko.
POST SALE COMMENT
This Richter painting was sold for $ 29M including premium, far above its 2012 price.
1993 Abstraktes Bild 797-2
2021 SOLD for $ 33M by Sotheby's
Gerhard Richter admitted that the process for his abstract paintings included some unplanned effect to be offset by his ultimate inspection of his creation. In all cases, even in his sublimely chaotic and most sumptuous abstract works, chance followed a detailed preparation adapted for each opus.
The catalogue raisonné for 1993 begins with Grün Blau Rot, a series of no less than 126 oils on canvas 30 x 40 cm continuously numbered in two sub-series from 789-1 to 789-115 and from 789-a to 789-k.
This time consuming task was obviously intended to test the visual effects of detailed forms confronting three basic colors without changing the pigments. The Rot Blau Gelb of 1973, numbered 338-1 to 338-100 in rectangular format and 339-1 to 339-7 in square format, had been a similar experience.
The 1993 green blue red was immediately reused by the artist with the brushes as the background layer in seven large size square paintings. Random effects were added with the squeegee in the desired range of vibrant colors. Richter's tool has here a deconstructing role that cancels forever the intermediate states, same as the drippings for Pollock.
The importance of this process is confirmed by the fact that one of these Abstrakte Bilder was representing Richter's abstractions in the severely selected Macklowe collection. This 797-2, oil on canvas 240 x 240 cm painted in 1993, was sold for $ 33M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 22.
The catalogue raisonné for 1993 begins with Grün Blau Rot, a series of no less than 126 oils on canvas 30 x 40 cm continuously numbered in two sub-series from 789-1 to 789-115 and from 789-a to 789-k.
This time consuming task was obviously intended to test the visual effects of detailed forms confronting three basic colors without changing the pigments. The Rot Blau Gelb of 1973, numbered 338-1 to 338-100 in rectangular format and 339-1 to 339-7 in square format, had been a similar experience.
The 1993 green blue red was immediately reused by the artist with the brushes as the background layer in seven large size square paintings. Random effects were added with the squeegee in the desired range of vibrant colors. Richter's tool has here a deconstructing role that cancels forever the intermediate states, same as the drippings for Pollock.
The importance of this process is confirmed by the fact that one of these Abstrakte Bilder was representing Richter's abstractions in the severely selected Macklowe collection. This 797-2, oil on canvas 240 x 240 cm painted in 1993, was sold for $ 33M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 22.
1994 Abstraktes Bild 809-4
2022 SOLD for $ 36.5M by Christie's
The Abstraktes Bild 809-4 was sold for £ 21.3M by Sotheby's on October 12, 2012, lot 15, and for $ 36.5M by Christie's on May 10, 2022, lot 8 B.
This oil on canvas 225 x 200 cm was painted in 1994 in the period of greater maturity in the abstract art of Gerhard Richter, when his technique of squeegee was fully developed.
With always different and often subtle colors, the horizontal movement of the rake comes in opposition with large vertical streaks. However, the shock of colors is not actually geometric or cleverly dispositioned or allusive of forms. Richter renewed the abstract art without imitating Rothko, or Zao Wou-ki, or Still, and Pollock not either.
Richter's magic is to provide an impression of spontaneity in paintings extensively worked until reaching the emotion intended by the artist. The wording proposed in Sotheby's catalogue of an "exuberant cacophony" is not enough. For the balance of colors and shapes, Richter has indeed the absolute eye.
The abstract world of Richter is the chaos of current time. Musicians enjoy Richter as they enjoy Basquiat. In 2012, 809-4 had been brought to auction by Eric Clapton.
This oil on canvas 225 x 200 cm was painted in 1994 in the period of greater maturity in the abstract art of Gerhard Richter, when his technique of squeegee was fully developed.
With always different and often subtle colors, the horizontal movement of the rake comes in opposition with large vertical streaks. However, the shock of colors is not actually geometric or cleverly dispositioned or allusive of forms. Richter renewed the abstract art without imitating Rothko, or Zao Wou-ki, or Still, and Pollock not either.
Richter's magic is to provide an impression of spontaneity in paintings extensively worked until reaching the emotion intended by the artist. The wording proposed in Sotheby's catalogue of an "exuberant cacophony" is not enough. For the balance of colors and shapes, Richter has indeed the absolute eye.
The abstract world of Richter is the chaos of current time. Musicians enjoy Richter as they enjoy Basquiat. In 2012, 809-4 had been brought to auction by Eric Clapton.
