.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The work will be included in the forthcoming Volume 3 of the Gerhard Richter. Catalogue Raisonné, edited by the Gerhard Richter Archive Dresden and to be published in 2013.
Painted in 1981, Abstraktes Bild is an early and vibrant example of Gerhard Richter's investigations into abstraction and the formal possibilities of painting. The work is an intricate composition of multiple layers of colors and textures: flat planes of pale blue, yellow, white, and cerulean interspersed with black, all topped by a dynamic diagonal slash of red. This painting is a classic example of the beginning of Richter's exploration of abstraction, which has become a dominant aspect of his artistic output throughout his career.
The rich textural quality of Abstraktes Bild is due in part to the artist's interesting combination of painting techniques. Using a variety of implements, ranging from traditional brushes to his signature use of the squeegee, Richter is able to combine the pigments into a luxurious tapestry of strokes, marks and liquescent applications of paint. Using his squeegee technique, he takes a large rubber blade, sometimes as wide as the canvas itself, and pulls layers of fresh paint across the surface of the canvas, often exerting just enough pressure to remove parts of the newly laid paint layer, leaving a coating so thin that it becomes translucent and reveals the remnants of the preceding layer beneath it. The squeegee allows Richter to create a densely layered canvas, where each stratum becomes like a fossil that peaks out from later additions of paint. This delicate method builds upon Richter's 20 years of exploration of the aesthetic properties of paint. By employing these methods he slowly and methodically ekes out the painting's final appearance in a gradual process that he himself has likened to a chess match. He will often work on several paintings at the same time, often only returning to a particular painting after a few days to allow him time to fully consider the full aesthetic possibilities that each new paint layer presents him with. Richter explains his technique: "A picture like this is painted in different layers, separated by intervals of time. The first layer mostly represents the background, which has a photographic, illusionistic look to it, though done without using a photograph. This first, smooth, soft-edged paint surface is like a finished picture; but after a while I decide that I understand it or have seen enough of it, and in the next stage of painting I partly destroy it, partly add to it; and so it goes on at intervals, till there is nothing more to do and the picture is finished. By then it is a Something which I understand in the same way it confronts me, as both incomprehensible and self-sufficient. An attempt to jump over my own shadow....At that stage the whole thing looks very spontaneous. But in between there are usually long intervals of time, and those destroy a mood. It is a highly planned kind of spontaneity" (G. Richter, 1984, quoted in H.-U. Obrist ed., Gerhard Richter: The Daily Practice of Painting. Writings and Interviews 1962-1993, trans. D. Britt, London, 1995, p. 112).
Richter has used the squeegee to pull black paint across the surface in a primarily horizontal stroke that simultaneously reveals and obscures what could be a figurative background painting of a blue sky spattered with white clouds. Due to the heavy buildup of aggressive strokes of blue and yellow paint and the disruptive slash of red, it is difficult to determine what exactly lies beneath. In true Richter form, there is merely the suggestion of a figurative landscape, but no way to confirm what we are seeing. At this point in his oeuvre, Richter was certainly not denying such visual allusions as he continued to title some of his works after natural landscape features. Nevertheless, the slow effacement of illusionistic under-painting that is evident in Abstraktes Bild was clearly underway during this time period, as is evident in the progressively abstruse compositions of Wolken (Clouds) (1982), Marian (1983) and Busch (Bush) (1985) that came after it.
In its composition, size and date of execution, this 1981 Abstracktes Bild exemplifies the power of Richter's art and the command the artist has of his medium. The intricacy and delicacy of this particular work shines through the abundant layers of skillfully applied paint to make the surface come alive with both aesthetic and intellectual resonance. Richter's tussles with the formal nature of the differences between abstraction and figuration manifest themselves on the surface of this work with dramatic effect. With his planes of flat color interspersed with palpable strokes of bright color, the artist teases us, pulling our understanding one way, then the other. This paradox lies at the very heart of Richter's work and makes him undoubtedly one of the most exciting and influential painters working today. In his hands, the medium of paint has been rejuvenated and Richter has taken the lead in ensuring that it remains at the forefront of artistic expression.
Gerhard Richter in his studio. (c) Gerhard Richter 2012.
Painted in 1981, Abstraktes Bild is an early and vibrant example of Gerhard Richter's investigations into abstraction and the formal possibilities of painting. The work is an intricate composition of multiple layers of colors and textures: flat planes of pale blue, yellow, white, and cerulean interspersed with black, all topped by a dynamic diagonal slash of red. This painting is a classic example of the beginning of Richter's exploration of abstraction, which has become a dominant aspect of his artistic output throughout his career.
The rich textural quality of Abstraktes Bild is due in part to the artist's interesting combination of painting techniques. Using a variety of implements, ranging from traditional brushes to his signature use of the squeegee, Richter is able to combine the pigments into a luxurious tapestry of strokes, marks and liquescent applications of paint. Using his squeegee technique, he takes a large rubber blade, sometimes as wide as the canvas itself, and pulls layers of fresh paint across the surface of the canvas, often exerting just enough pressure to remove parts of the newly laid paint layer, leaving a coating so thin that it becomes translucent and reveals the remnants of the preceding layer beneath it. The squeegee allows Richter to create a densely layered canvas, where each stratum becomes like a fossil that peaks out from later additions of paint. This delicate method builds upon Richter's 20 years of exploration of the aesthetic properties of paint. By employing these methods he slowly and methodically ekes out the painting's final appearance in a gradual process that he himself has likened to a chess match. He will often work on several paintings at the same time, often only returning to a particular painting after a few days to allow him time to fully consider the full aesthetic possibilities that each new paint layer presents him with. Richter explains his technique: "A picture like this is painted in different layers, separated by intervals of time. The first layer mostly represents the background, which has a photographic, illusionistic look to it, though done without using a photograph. This first, smooth, soft-edged paint surface is like a finished picture; but after a while I decide that I understand it or have seen enough of it, and in the next stage of painting I partly destroy it, partly add to it; and so it goes on at intervals, till there is nothing more to do and the picture is finished. By then it is a Something which I understand in the same way it confronts me, as both incomprehensible and self-sufficient. An attempt to jump over my own shadow....At that stage the whole thing looks very spontaneous. But in between there are usually long intervals of time, and those destroy a mood. It is a highly planned kind of spontaneity" (G. Richter, 1984, quoted in H.-U. Obrist ed., Gerhard Richter: The Daily Practice of Painting. Writings and Interviews 1962-1993, trans. D. Britt, London, 1995, p. 112).
Richter has used the squeegee to pull black paint across the surface in a primarily horizontal stroke that simultaneously reveals and obscures what could be a figurative background painting of a blue sky spattered with white clouds. Due to the heavy buildup of aggressive strokes of blue and yellow paint and the disruptive slash of red, it is difficult to determine what exactly lies beneath. In true Richter form, there is merely the suggestion of a figurative landscape, but no way to confirm what we are seeing. At this point in his oeuvre, Richter was certainly not denying such visual allusions as he continued to title some of his works after natural landscape features. Nevertheless, the slow effacement of illusionistic under-painting that is evident in Abstraktes Bild was clearly underway during this time period, as is evident in the progressively abstruse compositions of Wolken (Clouds) (1982), Marian (1983) and Busch (Bush) (1985) that came after it.
In its composition, size and date of execution, this 1981 Abstracktes Bild exemplifies the power of Richter's art and the command the artist has of his medium. The intricacy and delicacy of this particular work shines through the abundant layers of skillfully applied paint to make the surface come alive with both aesthetic and intellectual resonance. Richter's tussles with the formal nature of the differences between abstraction and figuration manifest themselves on the surface of this work with dramatic effect. With his planes of flat color interspersed with palpable strokes of bright color, the artist teases us, pulling our understanding one way, then the other. This paradox lies at the very heart of Richter's work and makes him undoubtedly one of the most exciting and influential painters working today. In his hands, the medium of paint has been rejuvenated and Richter has taken the lead in ensuring that it remains at the forefront of artistic expression.
Gerhard Richter in his studio. (c) Gerhard Richter 2012.