Sammlung Murken. Zeitgenössische Malerei und Plastik
Murken Collection: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture
Leopold Hoesch MuseumDürenGermany
12 March 1989 - 23 April 1989
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
This artwork is based on an image included in Atlas:
This artwork was shown in the following exhibitions::
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- Gerhard Richter, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, 2005
- Gerhard Richter, K20 Grabbeplatz, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2005
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 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, Haus der Kunst, 2009
- Gerhard Richter. Abstrakte Bilder, Museum Ludwig, 2008
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. Bilder 1962–1985, Museum moderner Kunst/Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, 1986
- Gerhard Richter. Bilder 1962–1985, Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1986
- Gerhard Richter. Bilder 1963–1986, Kunsthalle Bern, 1986
- Gerhard Richter. Bilder 1962–1985, Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1986
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Exhibitions
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: Panorama, Tate Modern, 2011
- Gerhard Richter: Panorama, Neue und Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2012
- Gerhard Richter: Panorama, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, 2012
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- Sammlung Murken. Zeitgenössische Malerei und Plastik, Städtische Galerie, 1989
- Sammlung Murken. Zeitgenössische Malerei und Plastik, Leopold Hoesch Museum, 1989
- Sammlung Murken. Zeitgenössische Malerei und Plastik, Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, 1988
- Sammlung Murken. Zeitgenössische Malerei und Plastik, Museum Wiesbaden, 1989
- Sammlung Murken. Zeitgenössische Malerei und Plastik, Städtisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, 1988
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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.
In 2009 September was gifted to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In making a valuable contribution to the understanding of a significant work by one of the world’s foremost artists, this publication demonstrates how vital painting and its readings can be for engaging with the complexities of major events in the world today.
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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 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. 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: Over Schilderen, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), 2017
- Gerhard Richter: Frühe Bilder, Museum Wiesbaden, 2018
- Gerhard Richter: Über Malen - Frühe Bilder, Kunstmuseum Bonn, 2017
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- Monochrome: Painting in Black & White, National Gallery, 2017
- Black & White. Von Dürer bis Eliasson, Museum Kunstpalast, 2018
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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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- Gerhard Richter, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, 2005
- Gerhard Richter, K20 Grabbeplatz, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2005
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.
This artwork is shown or mentioned in the following videos:
2 Exhibitions
1 related publication(s)
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Exhibitions
- Murken Collection: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Städtisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany, 1988
- Murken Collection: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Städtische Galerie, Regensburg, Germany, 1988
- Murken Collection: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren, Germany, 1988
- Murken Collection: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Oldenburg, Germany, 1988
- Murken Collection: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany, 1988