The work entitled Youth Portrait shows Ulrike Meinhof, a young, politically active journalist before she became a protagonist of the radical left-wing German terrorist organization the Red Army Faction (RAF). The composition of the painting is reminiscent of celebrity portrait photography, and the use of light in front of a dark background recalls Old Master paintings. Gerhard Richter’s characteristic technique of gently blurring the painting reinforces the impression of youth and tenderness of the person depicted.

The painting is part of Richter’s series October 18, 1977, about the activities and demise of the RAF. As with the other works in this cycle, Youth Portrait is based on a photograph selected by Richter and transferred into the medium of painting. Although it does not mark the beginning of the series in the artist’s catalogue raisonné, it is often presented as the introductory image since it shows the earliest event in the chronology of the RAF within the series of paintings. The original photograph was probably taken in 1970 in connection with Bambule, a film made by Meinhof about young female protesters. Its scheduled TV transmission was cancelled because of her involvement in the violent escape of Andreas Baader from prison in Berlin-Tegel. The escape is often understood to have been the inception of the RAF; thus the photograph was taken at a time when Meinhof’s radicalisation was imminent.

While working on the painting, Richter made a number of changes from the source photograph. In addition to softening the image through blurring, he has made Meinhof look younger – at that time she was actually 35 years old but here looks more childlike. Her gaze seems less determined than in the photograph, and her features less animated. In Richter’s painting, Meinhof’s expression exudes an almost melancholic thoughtfulness. The title of the work underlines Richter’s intention to depict Meinhof as an inexperienced and unsuspecting young woman.

Youth Portrait offers a stark contrast to many of the other paintings in the October 18, 1977 cycle, which focus more on the death of the terrorists. Therefore it provokes thoughts about what had happened to her and how she had changed between the taking of this photograph and the photographs taken following her death that Richter also used for this series [Dead, CR: 667/1-3].

Notes prepared by editorial team