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Chair in Profile

Stuhl im Profil
Chair in Profile

1965 90 cm x 70 cm Catalogue Raisonné: 98

Oil on canvas

The painting Chair in Profile depicts a simple wooden chair, viewed from one side; the chair back runs almost parallel to the left edge of the painting. The chair is positioned precisely within the image: the seat lies at the horizontal central plane and the distances between chair and the picture's edges are similar on every side. This results in an almost-square blank area in the image, enclosed by the chair back and seat. The light-coloured wall and dark floor in the background are reminiscent of Gerhard Richter's Kitchen Chair, from the same year [CR: 97]; in contrast to that work, the flat lighting of Chair in Profile creates a softer impression.

Richter here takes on an everyday motif, a chair, something which appears in two other paintings [CR: 97–99]. This particular chair in the painting Chair in Profile has another level of meaning, because it had already entered the art world as a work by Joseph Beuys: in conversation with Uwe M. Schneede, Gerhard Richter remarked that the painting was based on a photograph of Beuys' Fat Chair – a source image that is not included in Richter's Atlas.1

Richter here reuses Beuys' motif, but forgoes the addition Beuys had made to the chair: a wedge-shaped block of fat. In Richter's painting there is only the empty square space above the seat.

Joseph Beuys taught at Düsseldorf Academy since 1961, and was thus in Richter's immediate circle. Richter said of Beuys: 'he still fascinates me as a person more than anyone else; that special aura of his is something I've never come across either before or since.'2 However, Richter remained sceptical of Beuys' art: 'When I first saw the work, I wasn't all that interested; it was too eccentric for me. I'm increasingly in favour of the official, the classic, the universal.'3

The painting Chair in Profile gives the impression that Richter acted precisely in that sense. By using Beuys' chair, without the addition of the fat, as the subject of his painting, Richter restores its original state as an everyday object and its classical form – a form more consistent with Richter's own idea of art.

1 Uwe M. Schneede, Gerhard Richter's Images of an Era in: Gerhard Richter: Images of an Era, Hirmer Publishers, Munich, 2011, p.13/14.
2 Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist, 1993 in: Gerhard Richter: Text. Writings, Interviews and Letters 1961–2007, Thames & Hudson, London, 2009, p.299.
3 Ibid.

Notes prepared by editorial team

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands


This artwork is based on an image included in Atlas:

This Atlas sheet includes the source images of the following works:

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This artwork was shown in the following exhibitions:

This artwork is included in the following publications:

Title Author Date

Issue

01 January 2017

Publisher

The National Gallery in Prague, Prague

Details

Softcover, 205 pages

ISBN

9788070356463

Language

English

Category

Solo Exhibitions
Artwork Discussed: pp. 21
Illustrated: p. 18 (colour)

Exhibitions

More Details
Gerhard Richter Elger, Dietmar / Fajt, Jiří 2017

Issue

01 January 2014

Publisher

Distanz, Berlin

Details

Hardback, 207 pages

ISBN

9783954760619

Language

German

Category

Monographs

Notes

 

 

Artwork Mentioned: pp. 29

This monograph was published on the occasion of the following exhibition: Erika Kiffl - Von Ai Weiwei bis Gerhard Richter.

 

 

...
More Details
Erika Kiffl. Fotografie 1964-2014 Bachér, Ingrid / Buschmann, Renate / Elger, Dietmar / Fleck, Robert / Jansen, Gregor / Lohe, Hans-Georg / Mattern, Jutta / Merten, Ulrike / Sondermann, Vanessa / Stecker, Raimund / Wiese, Stephan von / Wismer, Beat 2014

Issue

01 January 2012

Publisher

Édition du Centre Pompidou, Paris

Editor

Godfrey, Mark / Serota, Nicholas / Brill, Dorothée / Morineau, Camille

Details

Hardback, 304 pages

ISBN

978-2844265746

ISBN

284426574X

Language

French English

Category

Solo Exhibitions
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 248, 296
Illustrated: p. 63 (colour)

Exhibitions

More Details
Gerhard Richter, Panorama: une rétrospective = a retrospective Godfrey, Mark / Serota, Nicholas / Brill, Dorothée / Morineau, Camille / Borchardt-Hume, Achim / Dickson, Amy / Haidu, Rachel / Mehring, Christine 2012

Issue

01 January 2012

Publisher

Prestel, München

Editor

Godfrey, Mark / Serota, Nicholas / Brill, Dorothée / Morineau, Camille

Details

Hardback, 305 pages

ISBN

9783791351896

Language

German

Category

Solo Exhibitions
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 246
Illustrated: p. 63 (colour)

Exhibitions

More Details
Gerhard Richter: Panorama: Retrospektive Godfrey, Mark / Serota, Nicholas / Brill, Dorothée / Morineau, Camille / Borchardt-Hume, Achim / Dickson, Amy / Haidu, Rachel / Mehring, Christine 2012

Issue

01 January 2011

Publisher

Hirmer Publishers, Munich copublished by Heni Publishing, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY and Paris

Details

Hardback, 214 pages

ISBN

9783777450018

Language

English

Category

Solo Exhibitions
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 13, 194
Illustrated: p. 13, 194 (colour)

Exhibitions

Gerhard Richter. Images of an Era was published on the occasion of the exhibition at Bucerius Kunstforum in Hamburg in 2011. Both the exhibition and the catalogue focus on Richter’s paintings of the 1960s

...
More Details
Gerhard Richter. Images of an Era Schneede, Uwe M. / Butin, Hubertus / Elger, Dietmar / Rübel, Dietmar / Westheider, Ortrud 2011

Issue

01 January 2011

Publisher

Hirmer Verlag, München

Details

Hardback, 214 pages

ISBN

9783777434513

Language

German

Category

Solo Exhibitions
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 13, 194
Illustrated: p. 13 (colour)

Exhibitions

Gerhard Richter. Bilder einer Epoche was published on the occasion of the exhibition at Bucerius Kunstforum in Hamburg in 2011. Both the exhibition and the catalogue focus on Richter’s paintings of the 1960s

...
More Details
Gerhard Richter. Bilder einer Epoche Schneede, Uwe M. / Butin, Hubertus / Elger, Dietmar / Rübel, Dietmar / Westheider, Ortrud 2011

Issue

01 January 2011

Publisher

Tate Publishing, London

Details

Softcover, 288 pages

ISBN

1854379453

ISBN

978-1854379450

Language

English

Category

Solo Exhibitions
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 248, 296
Illustrated: p. 63 (colour)

Exhibitions

More Details
Gerhard Richter: Panorama: A Retrospective Godfrey, Mark / Serota, Nicholas / Brill, Dorothée / Morineau, Camille / Borchardt-Hume, Achim / Dickson, Amy / Haidu, Rachel / Mehring, Christine 2011

Issue

01 January 2009

Publisher

University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

Details

Hardback, 408 pages

ISBN

9780226203232

Language

English

Category

Monographs
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 126, 363
Illustrated: p. 137 (b/w)

Gerhard Richter has been widely regarded as a publicity shy artist. However, the biography Gerhard Richter. A Life in Painting gives an insight into Richter’s personal history as well as into the development of his artistic œuvre.

...
More Details
Gerhard Richter. A Life in Painting Elger, Dietmar 2009

Issue

01 January 2008

Publisher

DuMont, Köln

Details

Softcover, 415 pages

ISBN

9783832190651

Language

German

Category

Monographs

Notes

Corrected and extended new edition.

Artwork Mentioned: pp. 63, 119, 147
Illustrated: p. 160 (b/w)

Gerhard Richter has been widely regarded as a publicity shy artist. However, the biography Gerhard Richter, Maler gives an insight into Richter’s personal history as well as into the development of his artistic œuvre.

...
More Details
Gerhard Richter, Maler Elger, Dietmar 2008

Issue

01 January 2008

Publisher

DuMont, Köln

Details

Hardback, 88 pages

ISBN

3832190511

Language

German

Category

Monographs
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 12

Inside the Studio. Erika Kiffl fotografiert Gerhard Richter presents two photographical series that show Richter in his studio. In 1967 a first series was taken in his studio Fürstenwall in Düsseldorf

...
More Details
Inside the Studio. Erika Kiffl fotografiert Gerhard Richter Kiffl, Erika / Buschmann, Renate / Marzona, Daniel / Elger, Dietmar / Mai, Ekkehard 2008

Issue

01 January 2002

Publisher

DuMont, Köln

Details

Hardback, 420 pages

ISBN

9783832158484

Language

German

Category

Monographs
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 66, 129, 163
Illustrated: p. 178 (b/w)

Gerhard Richter has been widely regarded as a publicity shy artist. However, the biography Gerhard Richter, Maler gives an insight into Richter’s personal history as well as into the development of his artistic œuvre.

...
More Details
Gerhard Richter, Maler Elger, Dietmar 2002

Issue

01 January 1989

Publisher

Verlag Fred Jahn, München

Details

Hardback, 236 pages

Language

German

Category

Solo Exhibitions
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 17

Exhibitions

More Details
Gerhard Richter: Atlas Zweite, Armin 1989

Issue

01 January 1989

Publisher

Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Details

Softcover, 166 pages

ISBN

9069180464

Language

Dutch English

Category

Solo Exhibitions
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 4, 5

Exhibitions

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Gerhard Richter 1988/89 Schampers, Karel / Tilroe, Anna / Buchloh, Benjamin H. D. 1989
Gerhard Richter. Bilder = Paintings 1962 - 1985 Harten, Jürgen / Hering, Karl-Heinz / Honisch, Dieter / Loock, Ulrich / Ronte, Dieter / Elger, Dietmar 1986

Issue

01 January 1974

Publisher

CNAC, Paris

Details

Softcover, 168 pages

Language

French

Category

Group Exhibitions
Artwork Illustrated: p. 149 (b/w)

Exhibitions

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Hyperréalistes Américains. Réalistes Européens Abadie, Daniel 1974

Issue

01 January 1972

Publisher

Museum Folkwang, Essen

Details

Hardback, 154 pages

Language

Italian German English

Category

Solo Exhibitions
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 14, 38
Illustrated: p. 48 (b/w)

Exhibitions

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Gerhard Richter. 36. Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione tedesco = 36. Biennale in Venedig, Deutscher Pavilion = 36. Biennale in Venice, German Pavilion Honisch, Dieter / Helms, Dietrich / Honnef, Klaus / Ohff, Heinz / Dienst, Rolf Gunther / Schön, Rolf / Polke, Sigmar 1972

Issue

01 January 1967

Publisher

Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover

Details

Softcover, 78 pages

Language

German

Category

Group Exhibitions
Artwork Mentioned: pp. 52

Exhibitions

More Details
128. Frühjahrsausstellung im Kunstverein Hannover Jüdes, Rudolf 1967