Gerhard Richter. Aquarelle und Zeichnungen

For the artist, producing works on paper creates a reflective distance from his painterly oeuvre. It is clearly evident that time and time again Richter returns to watercolours when his oil work moves into a new direction. This is for example apparent when looking at Richter’s abstract pictures. He began to explore different themes and while doing we find the appearance of his first abstract watercolours as well. They are obviously to a different scale and medium but they go to provide a base from which his larger paintings can play off of, and vice versa.

This book is composed of over 100 colour reproductions of Richter’s watercolours, as well as a discussion between the artist and Dieter Schwarz examining the diverse strands within his work.

The book Gerhard Richter. Aquarelle und Zeichnungen was published on the occasion of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Retrospektive at the Albertina in Vienna in 2009.
Unlike in the artist’s previous retrospectives, Gerhard Richter’s graphics are given a prominent place. The exhibited works on paper span a period of 40 years, from 1966 to 2006. This overview shows how Richter’s drawings and watercolours initially focused on the abstract, and also show to what extent they interact with his paintings.

The book includes a foreword by Klaus Albrecht Schröder and an essay by Barbara Steffen.