Sammlung Murken. Zeitgenössische Malerei und Plastik

Murken Collection: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture

Leopold Hoesch MuseumDürenGermany

12 March 1989 - 23 April 1989

Townscape M8 (Grey)

Stadtbild M8 (grau)
Townscape M8 (Grey)

1968 85 cm x 90 cm Catalogue Raisonné: 170-8

Oil on canvas

The paintings Townscape M1 up to Townscape M9 [CR: 170/1-9] constitute Gerhard Richter's first series dealing with townscapes. In 1968 Gerhard Richter received the commission to paint a Milan cityscape, which resulted in the creation of Cathedral Square, Milan [CR: 169]. In the course of his preoccupation with the city of Milan as a motif, he also created the paintings Townscape M1 to M9.

Gerhard Richter initially produced one large-scale painting on one canvas, which he later cut into nine almost identically square pieces. The original painting is based on an aerial photograph, which survives on sheet 119 of Richter's Atlas. With Milan Cathedral at its centre, the source photograph allows for the localisation of the individual parts of the picture: Townscape M8 depicted what was presumably a detail taken from the same source photograph and was painted over with grey paint later.

Transforming the aerial photograph into paint, Gerhard Richter enlarged it without adding missing details. Thus, black, white and grey colour patches are liberally applied onto the canvas in a pastose manner.

The original painting's format of 275 x 290 cm was designed to be viewed from a greater distance. The dismantling of the painting into nine smaller formats means the beholder must stand closer in order to view them. What could have, from a distance, been recognised as an aerial image of a city disintegrates into abstract lines and areas when seen close-up.

The series Townscapes M1 up to M9 illustrates Gerhard Richter's engagement in the process of abstraction: starting from a concrete depiction, which was enlarged at first and then cropped, the final image can barely be traced back to the source photograph. The numbering of the single parts of the painting, which do not relate in any way to their initial positions in the original large format, also suggests that any kind of identification is less important to Richter than the painterly process of abstraction.

Notes prepared by editorial team

Related publication(s)

Title
Author
Date
Gerhard Richter. Werkverzeichnis 1993-2004
Zweite, Armin
2005

Publisher

Richter Verlag, Düsseldorf in association with D.A.P Distributed Art Publishers, New York, NY

Details

Hardback, 323 pages

ISBN

9783937572208, 978-3937572208

Category

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This catalogue raisonné records Richter’s works in the years 1999-2004.

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.

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Gerhard Richter, Maler
Elger, Dietmar
2002

Publisher

DuMont, Köln

Details

Hardback, 420 pages

ISBN

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Category

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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.

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Gerhard Richter: Abstrakte Bilder
Wilmes, Ulrich / Buchloh, Benjamin H. D. / Söntgen, Beate / Stemmrich, Gregor
2008

Publisher

Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit

Details

Hardback, 160 pages

ISBN

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Category

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The book was published on the occasion of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Abstrakte Bilder at Museum Ludwig, Cologne and Haus der Kunst, Munich. The exhibitions were dedicated to Gerhard Richter’s abstract pictures, which form approximately one third of his œuvre.

However, this publication is not an overview of the development of his abstract works, but rather singles out selected large format works for discussion. These works, executed between 1986 and 2006, show a similar complexity that originates from a multitude of layers of paint.

Edited by Ulrich Wilmes, with text contributions by Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Beate Söntgen and Gregor Stemmrich.

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1986
Gerhard Richter. Large Abstracts
Wilmes, Ulrich / Buchloh, Benjamin H. D. / Söntgen, Beate / Stemmrich, Gregor
2008

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Details

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ISBN

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Category

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The book was published on the occasion of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Abstrakte Bilder at Museum Ludwig, Cologne and Haus der Kunst, Munich. The exhibitions were dedicated to Gerhard Richter’s abstract pictures, which form approximately one third of his œuvre.

However, this publication is not an overview of the development of his abstract works, but rather singles out selected large format works for discussion. These works, executed between 1986 and 2006, show a similar complexity that originates from a multitude of layers of paint.

Edited by Ulrich Wilmes, with text contributions by Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Beate Söntgen and Gregor Stemmrich.

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Gerhard Richter. Paintings
Rorimer, Anne / Zacharopoulos, Denys
1987

Publisher

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Details

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1999

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Gerhard Richter, 18. Oktober 1977. Eine Kunst-Monographie
Hemken, Kai-Uwe
1998

Publisher

Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M.

Details

Softcover, 172 pages

ISBN

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Gerhard Richter. 36. Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione tedesco = 36. Biennale in Venedig, Deutscher Pavilion = 36. Biennale in Venice, German Pavilion
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1972

Publisher

Museum Folkwang, Essen

Details

Hardback, 154 pages

Category

Solo Exhibitions

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Editor

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Details

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ISBN

978-2844265746, 284426574X

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2012

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Editor

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Details

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Category

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Storr, Robert
2010

Publisher

Tate Publishing, London

Details

Softcover, 96 pages

ISBN

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Category

Monographs

In this publication, eminent American scholar and curator Robert Storr offers an authoritative consideration of September, Richter’s 2005 painting made in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center of 11 September 2001, asking “what is the meaning of a single, small, almost abstract depiction of one of the most consequential occurrences in recent world history?”

Opening with a vivid personal account of being in New York that day and paying particular attention to the role of the media, Storr deftly explores the geo-political context of the attacks, capturing the effects of the atrocity on a deeply human level while navigating the complex web of political, social, religious and cultural factors that it embodied and the discourse it has provoked.

Along with an erudite analysis of the creation of the painting, Storr’s treatise develops by means of an insightful study into the themes of terrorism, murder, violence and war in Richter’s oeuvre, from the bombing of cities during World War II to the controversial cycle of paintings October 18, 1977 (1988) depicting West German terrorists, the Baader-Meinhof group.

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2016

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Notes

Corrected and extended new edition.

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.

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

Publisher

University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

Details

Hardback, 408 pages

ISBN

9780226203232

Category

Monographs

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.

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Gerhard Richter. Catalogue Raisonné. Volume 2: 1968-1976, nos. 198 - 388
Elger, Dietmar
2017

Publisher

Hatje Cantz, Berlin

Details

Hardback, 656 pages

ISBN

9783775719797

Category

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Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Arnulf Rainer. Sammlung Frieder Burda = Collection Frieder Burda
Poetter, Jochen / Brehm, Margrit / Möckel, Birgit
1996

Publisher

Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit

Details

Hardback, 311 pages

ISBN

3893228608

Category

Group Exhibitions

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Gerhard Richter. Portraits
Gronert, Stefan / Butin, Hubertus
2006

Publisher

Hatje Cantz, Ostildern-Ruit

Details

Hardback, 224 pages

ISBN

9783775717243

Category

Monographs

Exhibitions

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.
 

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Gerhard Richter: Über Malen / Frühe Bilder
2017

Publisher

Hirmer Verlag, München

Editor

Schreier, Christoph / Kunstmuseum Bonn

Details

Softcover, 128 pages

ISBN

9783777428970

Category

Solo Exhibitions

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Il bordo del mondo: La forma sguardo nella pittura di Gerhard Richter
Garbin, Emanuele
2011

Publisher

Marsilio, Venezia

Details

Softcover, 219 pages

ISBN

9788831711128

Category

Monographs
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Monochrome: Painting in Black and White
Packer, Lelia / Sliwka, Jennifer
2017

Publisher

National Gallery Company Ltd, London

Details

Softcover, 240 pages

ISBN

9781857096132

Category

Group Exhibitions

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Gerhard Richter in der Dresdener Galerie. Schriften des Gerhard Richter Archiv Dresden ; Bd. 7
Elger, Dietmar
2010

Publisher

Sandstein Verlag, Dresden

Details

Softcover, 47 pages

ISBN

9783942422222

Category

Monographs

Notes

Series 'Schriften des Gerhard Richter Archiv Dresden ; vol. 7'

Gerhard Richter in der Dresdener Galerie is the 7th volume from the publications of the Gerhard Richter Archive Dresden.

On the occasion of the re-opening of the Albertinum in 2010 the artist himself curated two rooms of the museum. Whereas the first room is dedicated to thirteen paintings from the years 1963 to 2000, the second room presents the work 9 Upright Standing Panes [CR: 879-3], as well as the series of reverse glass paintings Aladdin [CR: 913/1-42].

Text by Dietmar Elger.

...
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Unconsolable Contemporary: Observing Gerhard Richter
Rabinow, Paul
2017

Publisher

Duke University Press, Durham

Details

Softcover, 163 pages

ISBN

9780822370017

Category

Monographs
More Details
Gerhard Richter. Catalogue Raisonné 1993–2004
Zweite, Armin
2005

Publisher

Richter Verlag, Düsseldorf in association with D.A.P Distributed Art Publishers, New York, NY

Details

Hardback, 324 pages

ISBN

9783937572215, 393757221X

Category

Solo Exhibitions

Exhibitions

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.

...
More Details

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