Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting -- Robert Storr, Gerhard Richter; Hardcover
Publisher: Museum of Modern Art, New York; 336 pages, (2002)
ISBN: 189102437X
Price: $75.00

RICHTER 858 -- Gerhard Richter.
Edited by David Breskin. Essays by Dave Hickey and Klaus Kertess. An Audio CD of music by Bill Frisell. Includes poetry by Richard Howard, Jorie Graham, Robert Hass, Ann Lauterbach, Dean Young, Brenda Hillman, James McManus, Michael Palmer, Connie Deanovich, David Breskin, Paul Hoover, Edward Hirsch and W.S. Di Piero.
The Shifting Foundation in association with SFMOMA
120 pages (2002), Oversized, with brushed-aluminum slipcase and laminated box, includes CD, 61 reproductions.
ISBN: 0971861005
Price: $125.00

Reviewed by Amy Ione,
PO Box 12748,
Berkeley,
CA USA 94712-3748

ione@diatrope.com

Although the Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting exhibition has now closed, the beautiful catalog that accompanied this retrospective allows those who missed the show to appreciate this versatile artist's work. Well-produced and comprehensive, the book documents his lifelong experimentation with diverse subjects, painterly methods, and visual communication. No doubt it will become a standard sourcebook on this prolific and important German artist. Throughout, New York Museum of Modern Art curator Robert Storr provides an insightful survey of the retrospective and in-depth perspective on Richter's life, influences, and contributions. The publication's value is further enhanced by a revealing interview with the artist and a detailed chronology of his life and work, 138 color illustrations and 165 duotones. [Unfortunately, there is no index.] To be sure, Richter enthusiasts will find the small reproductions do not equal the experience of the show in real time. Still, those who were unable to see the show will welcome the degree to which this lavish catalogue captures some measure of this painter's sensitivity to color, transparency, and form. Leonardo readers will also find much to think about when examining Richter's contributions to visual communication overall.

Most impressive, I believe, is the degree to which this master integrates the tools and ideas of our time into his process. This gives his work a contemporary feel and even paintings such as Lesendo (Reader), 1994 allow us to consider the degree to which technology has impacted even traditional looking paintings. This realistic portrait, executed from a photograph of his wife, has justly been described as Vermeer-like. It is instantly accessible, extraordinarily executed, and brings the word 'beautiful' to mind. His allegiance to photographic images (rather than models) does not result in photorealistic-like images. Instead Richter never lets the viewer forget that the work is a painting and not a realistic copy. The evidence that distinguishes painting and photography is most evident in the way Richter shifts many images out of focus, producing a somewhat blurred effect. It is as if, perhaps, the camera had moved or the hand slipped in the developing process. In a video on his work he explains that the blurring effect first came about when he concluded that the copied image seemed too perfect and, as a result, not quite 'right'.

Equally compelling are the visual qualities that span styles. Whether we are observing blurred of rolls of toilet paper, a portrait, or an abstraction, the paintings excite our senses. The full-size works exhibited at the San Francisco MOMA demonstrated exceptionally well the degree to which he intuitively adopts visual motifs that are frequently studied by perceptual researchers. Some of the illusions are known and can be named (e.g., several of the color charts are scintillating grids). Thus, while he explains these abstractions that evoke Mondrian and De Stijl designs as conceptual ploys, the way the carefully laid out colors dance before us can also be explained cognitively. Knowing this does not at all diminish his intention to spoof the intellectual thrust of narrative painting. To the contrary, I am impressed by the number of visual effects he has intuitively incorporated into his work while experimenting. This linking art and cognition does not seem to be an active consideration, for I have found no indication that he has considered the interplay of perceptual psychology and painterly communication.

Perceptual links are evident in both the successful and less successful pieces. For example, as the curator Rober Storr explains, he included a number of pieces that are not as well known so that the audience would become more familiar with the range of Richter's experimentation. One, in which the mixtures of red and green appear more bitter than alluring, demonstrates that not all of his compositions satisfy our visual sense equally, (nor should they). Richter himself has indirectly talked about this in discussing his early ruminations on what paintings are. Reflecting on his 1972 gray series he said, "When I first painted a number of canvases gray all over . . . I did so because I did not know what to paint, or what there might be to paint . . . As time went on, however, I observed differences of quality among the gray surfaces—and also that these betrayed nothing of the destructive motivation that lay behind them. The pictures began to teach me." (Letter, 1975)

Indeed, as the retrospective communicates, what his paintings have taught him has resulted in an oeuvre we can all admire. Claiming the fourth position in a recent BBC poll of the most influential people in the art world, and the only painter in the top ten, this virtuoso has repeatedly has asserted his commitment to painting. Perhaps it is because he views painting as a "daily practice" that his work seems to merge contemporary art with history. His range has also compelled researchers to re-evaluate painting as his methods bring us face-to-face with how historical issues have been framed. For example, as noted above, many of his most alluring paintings are copied from photographs. Yet the resulting marks defy the idea of mimesis, which is often distained in historical literature as superficial imitation. Instead of appearing to be well copied, the canvases show compelling, incredibly captivating painted surfaces. Indeed Richter's sensitivity to painterly evocation highlights that these pictures are not simply skillful reproductions. The carefully chosen photographs are generally blurred and their less than concise depictions are difficult to precisely translate, particularly when he turns to political source images. Slices of history the images best articulate the tensions a painting can include. One early work introduces his Uncle Rudi in a Nazi uniform (Onkel Rud, 1965), compelling us to think about the work from competing perspectives since his relative was a Nazi. His later news-photo-based images in the provocative series, "October 18, 1977" depict the mysterious deaths in prison of several members of the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group. Black, white, and blurry, these shocking pictures similarly defy easy characterization. Indeed they compel us to reconcile a reproduction's ability to present conflicting visual, political, and social overtones.

Viewers of the retrospective in San Francisco were treated to a smaller show "858" that was not available to New York viewers. This series, documented in Ricther 858, simiilarly defies all talk about the obsolescence of painting, talk which began in force with the invention of photography. This extraordinary suite of pictures was completed in 1999, soon after his return to work after a silence caused by a stroke. Although pricey, at $125, the catalogue of the show is an exceptional production. All eight paintings of the suite are shown at more than half-scale, and also, quite untraditionally, presented unbound on heavy paper in a pocket at the back of the book. This allows enthusiasts to mix, match, and re-present the work for themselves outside the confines of the printed volume. Forty details from the paintings are also reproduced in large-format, accompanied by the poems and texts by a number of nationally known poets and critics. Additionally, a double gatefold opens to show all eight paintings in panoramic view.

Born in 1932, one year before Adolf Hitler came to power, Gerhard Richter's childhood coincided with the rise and fall of the Third Reich. His artistic education was within the academic system of Communist East Germany, where he learned to paint murals espousing socialist themes. No doubt during this period he developed some sensitivity to the malleability of pictures', what they mean, and the ways in which they can influence those who engage with them. It was a visit to documneta II, an exhibition in Kassel (in 1959) that broadened his perspective on painting. Viewing the styles of Jackson Pollock and Bill Fontana, the young artist was opened to the ways abstraction, and the ways sensitivity to surface and process can enhance a painter's work. He escaped to Dusseldorf in 1961 where he continued his training and began to produce the paintings that we now associate with him. His writings, published interviews, and tapes such as Victoria von Flemming's Meine Bilder sind klüger als ich (My Pictures are More Clever Than I, 1992) reveal that his compulsion is, and has always been, with how painting works, as matter and medium, signifier and artifact. This allows him to honor illusionistic concepts as much as abstract composition and, I believe, the varied compositional results communicate his respect for painting, and for doing it well. The abstracts, in particular, have an inner intensity that speaks to his facility with layering, texture, blurring, scraping, and intuitive composition. Clearly, Richter, now 70, brings an unusual and varied background to his success.

In summary, Gerhard Richter's work is not to be missed. The Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting catalog shows why the American section of the International Association of Art Critics voted this retrospective the best monographic museum show in 2001 and 2002. Throughout the publication one is introduced to the breadth of his work, his far-reaching styles, and his virtuosity. Richter 858 superbly documents the eight abstract paintings that comprise this small series. [The 858 catalogue had a small print run of less than 3,500 and, because it was so difficult to produce the first time, will never be re-issued.] Both publications confirm that Richter's work deserves the accolades it receives. Overall, as both books demonstrate, Gerhard Richter's work demonstrates that all painting is not anachronistic. His range is compelling, as is his virtuosity. Vacillating between abstraction and representational form, the power of Richter paintings effectively communicates that he is correctly compared to the masters.
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