Footnotes

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Provenance
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, no. 5169.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1997.

Exhibited
Nîmes, Carré d'art, Museé d'Art Contemporain de Nîmes, Gerhard Richter: 100 Bilder, June 15 - September 15, 1996, no. 835-4 (illustrated p. 125).
New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, Gerhard Richter, October 18 - November 30, 1996.

Literature
H. Friedel & M. Hentschel, Gerhard Richter 1998, London, 1998, p. 106, no. 835-4 (illustrated p. 94).
A. Kruszynski (ed.), Gerhard Richter: Catalogue Raisonné 1993-2004, Düsseldorf, 2005, p. 312, no. 835-4 (illustrated p. 276).
D. Elger (ed.), Gerhard Richter: Catalogue Raisonné, Volume 5: Nos. 806-899-8, 1994-2006, Berlin, 2019, no. 835-4, p. 190 (illustrated p. 190).


Born in Dresden in 1932, Gerhard Richter is arguably the most important European artist of the postmodern period. A polymathic painter of the highest degree, he has been a singular force in the twentieth century, challenging the relationships between abstraction, representation, stylistic consistency and imagistic meaning, maintaining a steadfast commitment to painting as the medium through which to probe the concept of History as it underpins the Western art canon. An artist who has endured the real arc of history – one not only long, but cruelly war-torn and divided in his native Germany – the scope of his impact through six decades of art making is broad and deep. Presented here is one of Richter's iconic Abstraktes Bild from 1995. The canvas demonstrates the adroitness of Richter's hand; we peer through the sinuous, taut surface into an atmospheric space beyond, endowing it with a shimmering, emanating light. Such an effect is rare in Richter's Abstraktes Bild, particularly versions of this size, where chromatic intensity or ploys often override imagistic nuance at this scale.

In the present work, the palette and compositional effect is engrossing – we sense a 'subject' is one or two curtains of paint behind the luscious surface of 'grips' and 'drags.' The truth of the work, if you will, is hidden in plain sight. This is precisely Richter's masterful stroke and highlights still more how the German artist has been at the forefront of painterly practice, pushing at its boundaries with photography and its capacity for political-historical account.

Enrolling at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in 1951, his experience of World War II as a child, followed by resettlement amongst the rubble of Dresden after the indiscriminate allied bombing campaigns of 1945, shaped his relationship to historical events and their documentation. The shifting political landscape of East Germany, then part of the Soviet front, instilled in him a skepticism toward authority and ideology. During his time at the Dresden Academy, he studied traditional techniques and developed a refined hand under the regime that pushed Socialist Realist tenets, recalling that 'the Dresden Academy was especially obedient in this regard' ('Interview with Bruce Ferguson and Jeffrey Spalding, 1978' in D. Elger, Gerhard Richter: A Life in Painting, Chicago, 2009, p.12). Attending documenta II, in Kassel in 1959, was a watershed moment for Richter, providing the chance to see the works of Jackson Pollock, Jean Fautrier and Lucio Fontana firsthand. The restrictive and deteriorating conditions of Eastern Germany, coupled with the formal-ideological constraints of his academy training, underscored this revelatory moment as it pertained to abstraction. It was a motivator to seek greater artistic freedom, ultimately driving his departure for West Germany in April of 1961.

Settling in Düsseldorf, Richter enrolled at the Art Academy in the city in October 1961. Despite his formal training at the Dresden Academy, his choosing to re-educate himself amongst new peers in the energetic space of West Germany allowed him to test and push his practice beyond what had formerly been prescribed to him. This was an intense and important period of his career, enabling Richter to sample stylistic pathways and broaden his relationship with painting and embed himself with a post-war German avant-garde that was emerging from the Düsseldorf Academy. In his own words, Richter 'was incredibly lucky to find the right friends at the Academy: Sigmar Polke, Konrad Fischer and [Blinky] Palermo' ('Interview with Jan Thorn-Prikker, 2004', Online). It wasn't until 1963 that Richter qua Richter emerged in earnest, with his earliest paintings reproducing scenes from consumer handouts and political reportage. Combined with his interest in abstraction, photography became a cornerstone for Richter to explore the complexities of perception and memory—themes that would coalesce and bloom throughout his career.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Richter moved towards pure abstraction and saw his career reach a new level of international acclaim. His Color Charts, produced in the 1970s, as well as the his Grey paintings, marked a highly specific passage of his practice as he navigated the potentialities of abstraction and minimalism, aligning himself with Ellsworth Kelly, Ad Reinhardt, and Barnett Newman. It was a period of intense experimentation, and one that would guide Richter more holistically into his late, great abstract works. Despite his ever-shifting process, he was venerated on the international stage, chosen to represent Germany at the 36th Venice Biennale and documenta 5.

Having produced some of his most important realist works, including the Kerze (Candle) paintings, and the iconic Betty, now in the Saint Louis Art Museum, by the 1990s, Richter had moved beyond the monochrome towards high-key chromatic Abstraktes Bild, as he was now titling his abstract paintings. This mutuality that his practice constructed between abstraction and figuration sets Richter apart from his contemporaries, pushing at the limits of painting at either end of the spectrum. Contextualized in his practice, each painting takes on a heightened, almost combative identity, executed in a specific mode with a specific intent. Produced in 1995, the present Abstraktes Bild is an elegant culmination of decades, evoking the Grey paintings, the feathered skies of his landscapes, and executed with his now famous tool, the squeegee.

Layering the paint with brush strokes and palette knives onto the primed canvas, Richter begins his process with a soft ground. With a 'loaded' squeegee he tracks across the canvas, pulling the rolls of pigment over the weave and first layer of paint, allowing it to 'jump' and 'grab' at the surface. In the process, like Pollock before him, there is a confluence of choice and luck in how the painting emerges, a pure abstraction in real terms. In the present work, the surface boasts a wonderful and variously textured composition, moving between softer flutters over the horizon-like background, through reds and ochres, towards the fully-loaded monochrome shades. On such an elegant scale, the impact is impressive and intensely felt.

Richter is an unquestionable master of the twentieth century, one whose own experiences shaped his relationship to history painting and how ideology underpins, or otherwise overrules, artistic practice. From his foundational studies at the Dresden Art Academy, through his defection to West Germany in 1961, to the present day, his restless and ambitious approach to painting has produced a body of work that is diverse and complex. An artist whose paintings are the 'star' pieces of global institutional collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London; and the Astrup Fearnley Musset, Oslo, the historical importance of his career continues to be reappraised by the foremost curators and critics of the day. From one of the most celebrated passages of his career, the present work beautifully illustrates how Richter tethered abstraction to figuration, ideology to action. Completely fresh to market, it challenges our assumptions and prejudices as they relate to abstract painting and presents with a jewel-like and crisp intensity.