Sammlungsblöcke: Stiftung Froehlich
The Froehlich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol
Bank Austria KunstforumViennaAustria
20 May 1997 - 17 August 1997
If one looks at the large-format square townscapes [CR: 171, 175–177-3, 249–251], specific features of the artistic execution can be discerned.
In Townscape Madrid [CR: 171] streets, trees and buildings are clearly structured and easily recognisable. Some townscapes which were painted a little later on, such as Townscape Paris [CR: 175], Townscape D [CR: 176] and versions of Townscape F [CR: 177/1-3] and Townscape PL [CR: 249–251], appear to have been painted more quickly and less precisely; many details vanish due to the gestural and pastose application of paint. In Townscape Paris in particular, it is difficult to distinguish streets from houses.
Because of the missing details, the large-format cityscapes recall aerial photographs of post-war bombed-out cities – a parallel which Gerhard Richter himself draws in retrospect: "When I look back on the townscapes now, they do seem to me to recall certain images of the destruction of Dresden during the war."1
Gerhard Richter's artistic examination of figuration and abstraction in the townscapes also seems to play with distances: from afar the pictures can easily be identified as cityscapes, however, should the beholder move closer to the painting, the depiction dissolves into expanses and strokes of white, grey and black.
The artist plays with the viewer's urge to identify what is depicted, and it seems as if Richter himself tries to fathom when the image ceases to be recognisable.
Richter describes his preoccupation with bird’s-eye views of cities as "abandonment of the concept of interesting content and illusionistic painting; a spot of paint should be a spot of paint, and the motif needn't have a message or allow for interpretation."2 Nevertheless, in this series Gerhard Richter does not completely depart from his originally concrete motifs, as underlined by the choice of the descriptive title Townscape.
1 Comments on some works, 1991 in: Gerhard Richter: Text. Writings, Interviews and Letters 1961–2007, Thames & Hudson, London, 2009, p. 262
2 'Work Overview', 1968 in: Gerhard Richter: Text, p. 53
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: Atlas der Fotos, Collagen und Skizzen, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, 1989
- Gerhard Richter: Atlas der Fotos, Collagen und Skizzen, Museum Ludwig, 1990
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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 1962–1985, Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1986
- Gerhard Richter. Bilder 1963–1986, Kunsthalle Bern, 1986
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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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- La Biennale di Venezia: 50. Esposizione: Pittura 1964–2003. Da Rauschenberg a Murakami, Museo Correr, 2003
- La Biennale di Venezia: 52. Esposizione, 2007
- La Biennale di Venezia: 47. Esposizione, 1997
- La Biennale di Venezia: 41. Esposizione, Giardini, 1984
- La Biennale di Venezia: 49. Esposizione, 2001
- La Biennale di Venezia: 39. Esposizione, Giardini di Castello, 1980
- La Biennale di Venezia: 38. Esposizione, 1978
- La Biennale di Venezia: 36. Esposizione, German Pavilion, 1972
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Published on the occasion of the opening of the Museum of New Art, ZKM Karlsruhe on 04.12.1999
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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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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, 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.
Issue
Publisher
Details
ISBN
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Notes
This catalogue was published on the occasion of the exhibition "Gerhard Richter: Painting After All", 4 March 2020 - 5 July 2020, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and 14 August 2020 - 19 January 2021, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
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This artwork is shown or mentioned in the following videos:
2 Exhibitions
2 related publication(s)
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- The Froehlich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, Tate Gallery, London, UK, 1996
- The Froehlich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, Kunsthalle Tübingen and Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Tübingen and Stuttgart, Germany, 1996
- The Froehlich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria, 1996
- The Froehlich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 1996
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Exhibitions
- The Froehlich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, Tate Gallery, London, UK, 1996
- The Froehlich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, Kunsthalle Tübingen and Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Tübingen and Stuttgart, Germany, 1996
- The Froehlich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 1996
- The Froehlich Foundation: German and American Art from Beuys to Warhol, Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria, 1996