Ernste Spiele: Der Geist der Romantik in der deutschen Kunst 1790–1990

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. 40 Years of Painting at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, this publication represents a broad range of Gerhard Richter's paintings of the last 40 years.

Gerhard Richter's diverse body of work questions broadly held attitudes about the inherent importance of stylistic consistency for an artist. It ranges from photo-based pictures all across the board to gestural abstraction. The 'natural' evolution of individual artistic sensibility, the spontaneous component of creativity and the relationship of technological means and mass media imagery to traditional studio methods and formats. Richter has always kept his distance from revolutionaries and conservatives alike regarding what painting “should” be. This has resulted in what has been among the most convincing renewal of painting's vitality in late 20th- and early 21st-century art.

This publication consists of a critical essay by curator Robert Storr, a rare interview with the artist himself, a chronology, an exhibition history, and nearly 300 colour and duotone reproductions.

Gerhard Richter is widely recognized as one of the most significant painters working today, and he is certainly among the most influential. He has worked in a wide range of media since the early 1960s, producing abstractions, landscapes, images derived from the mass media and from other photographs, and more. Seen together, these works call into question such widely held assumptions as the importance of stylistic consistency, individual artistic sensibility and spontaneous creativity. They also explore the impact of technology and media imagery on the traditional methods and formats of painting.

The Museum of Modern Art has published two important books on Richter, both written by Robert Storr: one covering forty years of his work, and published to accompany the Museum's large retrospective of his work in 2002, and one focusing on a single crucial series, October 18, 1977. This book brings together the essays and recent interviews from both of those books in a single volume.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. 40 Years of Painting at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, this publication represents a broad range of Gerhard Richter's paintings of the last 40 years.

Gerhard Richter's diverse body of work questions broadly held attitudes about the inherent importance of stylistic consistency for an artist. It ranges from photo-based pictures all across the board to gestural abstraction. The 'natural' evolution of individual artistic sensibility, the spontaneous component of creativity and the relationship of technological means and mass media imagery to traditional studio methods and formats. Richter has always kept his distance from revolutionaries and conservatives alike regarding what painting “should” be. This has resulted in what has been among the most convincing renewal of painting's vitality in late 20th- and early 21st-century art.

This publication consists of a critical essay by curator Robert Storr, a rare interview with the artist himself, a chronology, an exhibition history, and nearly 300 colour and duotone reproductions.

The catalogue of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, London in 2009 focuses on Richter's portraiture.

Author and curator Paul Moorhouse presents a systematic examination of Richter's work within this genre. The portraits, exclusively painted after photographic source images, are categorised according to their origin. The chapter "Devotional Pictures" compiles images that can be traced back to family photo albums, whereas the source images in the chapter "Continual Uncertainty" mostly derive from newspapers or magazines and reflect the zeitgeist.  However, the greatest share is formed by portraits of people from Richter's intimate circle: artists, friends and family members.

With over a hundred full-colour illustrations, Gerhard Richter. Portraits. Painting Appearances makes an important contribution to our understanding of the artist's work within this genre.

The catalogue of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, London in 2009 focuses on Richter's portraiture.

Author and curator Paul Moorhouse presents a systematic examination of Richter's work within this genre. The portraits, exclusively painted after photographic source images, are categorised according to their origin. The chapter "Devotional Pictures" compiles images that can be traced back to family photo albums, whereas the source images in the chapter "Continual Uncertainty" mostly derive from newspapers or magazines and reflect the zeitgeist.  However, the greatest share is formed by portraits of people from Richter's intimate circle: artists, friends and family members.

With over a hundred full-colour illustrations, Gerhard Richter. Portraits. Painting Appearances makes an important contribution to our understanding of the artist's work within this genre.
 

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.
Besides an evaluation of numerous letters and material from the Gerhard Richter archive, the book includes conversations with the artist as well as several of his contemporaries. Dietmar Elger, director of the Gerhard Richter Archive, describes Richter’s daily studio routine and his creative process. Thanks to detailed background information, this book contributes to an understanding of Richter’s art in connection with his life.

Designed by the artist himself, this publication gives a rare insight into one of the most intensive work periods (1995–1996) of Richter’s life.

It commences by introducing pictures, which having been kept in the artist’s studio had never been on view. Although mostly focussing on abstract works, an intimate cycle of eight photo paintings in a smaller format is also included: an autobiographic cycle depicting his third wife Sabine Moritz, a painter herself, and their first son Moritz in a Madonna-like pose.

This issue of the Patrimonia series was published on the occasion of the acquisition of the painting Portrait Dr. Knobloch of 1964 by Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden in 2009. The history of the painting’s origin, which was one of Gerhard Richter’s first commissioned portraits, is analysed in context of his other early portraits. The portraits after passport photos are highlighted especially and compared with portraits by Andy Warhol.

Text contribution by Dietmar Elger, director of the Gerhard Richter Archive Dresden.

Designed by the artist himself, this publication gives a rare insight into one of the most intensive work periods (1995–1996) of Richter’s life.

It commences by introducing pictures, which having been kept in the artist’s studio had never been on view. Although mostly focussing on abstract works, an intimate cycle of eight photo paintings in a smaller format is also included: an autobiographic cycle depicting his third wife Sabine Moritz, a painter herself, and their first son Moritz in a Madonna-like pose.

At 864 pages, this monumental and comprehensive publication maps the ideas, processes, life and times of Gerhard Richter. Conceived and closely edited by Richter himself, Atlas cuts straight to the heart of the artist's work, collecting more than 5,000 photographs, drawings and sketches that he has compiled or created since the moment of his creative breakthrough in 1962. The images closely parallel, year by year, the subjects of Richter's paintings, revealing the orderly but open-ended analysis that has been so central to his art.
Offering invaluable insight into Richter's working process, this encyclopedic new edition - which completely revises and updates the rare, out-of-print 1997 edition and includes 147 additional plates - features 780 multi-image panels, each reproduced full page and in full colour.

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 that are based on photographical source images. The paintings and photographs, which were predominantly taken from magazines and advertisements of the era, are confronted with each other; Richter’s selective process is illuminated and categorised here.

Letters, which Richter wrote to his artist friends Helmut Heinze and Wieland Förster, can also be read for the first time in this publication, along with photographs of Richter’s studio at the time, and give a strong impression of his work in this period.

The cycle October 18, 1977 completes the works from the 1960s since its creative process refers to the earlier works. A comprehensive examination of the source material that lead to these paintings of members of the terrorist group Red Army Faction has also been carried out.

Contributions by Ortrud Westheider, Uwe M. Schneede, Dietmar Elger, Hubertus Butin and Dietmar Rübel.

At 864 pages, this monumental and comprehensive publication maps the ideas, processes, life and times of Gerhard Richter. Conceived and closely edited by Richter himself, Atlas cuts straight to the heart of the artist's work, collecting more than 5,000 photographs, drawings and sketches that he has compiled or created since the moment of his creative breakthrough in 1962. The images closely parallel, year by year, the subjects of Richter's paintings, revealing the orderly but open-ended analysis that has been so central to his art. Offering invaluable insight into Richter's working process, this encyclopedic new edition - which completely revises and updates the rare, out-of-print 1997 edition and includes 147 additional plates - features 780 multi-image panels, each reproduced full page and in full color.

The catalogue Gerhard Richter. Atlas displays 783 plates of Gerhard Richter’s Atlas. Atlas is a collection of photographs, newspaper cuttings and sketches, which the artist compiled and then arranged on single sheets beginning in the mid 1960s. The plates, which often contain templates for his paintings, reflect different stages of Richter’s life and work.

With text contribution by Helmut Friedel.

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 that are based on photographical source images. The paintings and photographs, which were predominantly taken from magazines and advertisements of the era, are confronted with each other; Richter’s selective process is illuminated and categorised here.

Letters, which Richter wrote to his artist friends Helmut Heinze and Wieland Förster, can also be read for the first time in this publication, along with photographs of Richter’s studio at the time, and give a strong impression of his work in this period.

The cycle October 18, 1977 completes the works from the 1960s since its creative process refers to the earlier works. A comprehensive examination of the source material that lead to these paintings of members of the terrorist group Red Army Faction has also been carried out.

Contributions by Ortrud Westheider, Uwe M. Schneede, Dietmar Elger, Hubertus Butin and Dietmar Rübel.

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.
Besides an evaluation of numerous letters and material from the Gerhard Richter archive, the book includes conversations with the artist as well as several of his contemporaries. Dietmar Elger, director of the Gerhard Richter Archive, describes Richter’s daily studio routine and his creative process. Thanks to detailed background information, this book contributes to an understanding of Richter’s art in connection with his life.

This English translation of the biography Gerhard Richter, Maler by Dietmar Elger, published in 2009, was slightly revised for the Anglophone reader.

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.
Besides an evaluation of numerous letters and material from the Gerhard Richter archive, the book includes conversations with the artist as well as several of his contemporaries. Dietmar Elger, director of the Gerhard Richter Archive, describes Richter’s daily studio routine and his creative process. Thanks to detailed background information, this book contributes to an understanding of Richter’s art in connection with his life.

This edition of the biography Gerhard Richter, Maler published in 2008 was slightly revised to include details of more recent events in Richter’s life.

Gerhard Richter. Portraits is the first publication that focuses solely on Richter’s portraits, many of which have now gained both recognition and veneration across the globe.

In his essay, Stefan Gronert discusses the position of the portrait in the artist’s oeuvre. He begins by looking at Richter’s early black and white pictures, then moving on to his more recent colour charts. The artist has explored this subject through various media, including painting, graphic reproduction, drawings, photography and film. Research conducted for this publication unearthed portraits in the artist’s archive that were hitherto unknown; now published in this monograph for the first time.
In his essay, Hubert Butin examines some of these newly discovered works; in particular focusing on Richter’s portrait photography of the 1960s.
 

Gerhard Richter. Portraits is the first publication that focuses solely on Richter’s portraits, many of which have now gained both recognition and veneration across the globe.

In his essay, Stefan Gronert discusses the position of the portrait in the artist’s oeuvre. He begins by looking at Richter’s early black and white pictures, then moving on to his more recent colour charts. The artist has explored this subject through various media, including painting, graphic reproduction, drawings, photography and film. Research conducted for this publication unearthed portraits in the artist’s archive that were hitherto unknown; now published in this monograph for the first time.

In his essay, Hubert Butin examines some of these newly discovered works; in particular focusing on Richter’s portrait photography of the 1960s.

This catalogue raisonné records Richter’s works in the years 1993-2004.

In his work, Gerhard Richter calls into question painting's boundaries, and the labels applied to painting and theories connected with them. In his pictures based on photographs - blurred overpaintings, grey paintings, and landscape and abstract compositions - he makes clear that nothing perceived by our senses can ever be found in a picture. The outer world is not portrayable and the inner one resists any comparison. While his painted works based on photographs illustrate painting's superiority, his glass works - glass panes, paintings on glass, mirrors and sculptures - question the interaction of viewer and picture and, like the paintings, offer a window onto the world. This publication takes account of all the important stages of Richter's oeuvre.