India Duncan

04/28/2013

Gerhard Richter – Florence

Gerhard Richter was born In Dresden in 1932. Abstract painting explores the same

concerns, but method of production changes (Nasgaard, pg.106, 1988). Within his years he has

produced a variety of work from paintings to photography that in the end came together. His

artwork embodies a variety of sources- from newspapers and books, and their captions became

part of the work as well. With paint over top of photos he created a world where beginning and

end is unrecognized. With the finished product, he organized them into book form. Gerhard has

produced a book, Florence, which holds small over painted photos of Florence. He turned his

photographs into paintings and paintings into photographs- they are like surrealist dreamscapes

or inscapes- the space within is disrupted by tones, figures. He almost cancels out the

photograph with painting (Nasgaard, pg.106, 1988).

It was difficult for his work to gain recognition because it was bunched together with the

collections of other German; the American categorized the German style as Expressionistic. All

German art of the 1980’s was emotional, gestural, and chromatic use expressed violence.

Though, his work was recognized after the 1980’s (Storr, pg.14, 2002). After, he started to

produce brightly colored abstractions; the paint formed shapes of their own, and fighting the two

dimensional photo underneath. These photos are of still life, landscape (like the landscape of

Florence), skulls, wine bottles, burning candles, and the simple portrait (Storr, pg.15, 2002).

Many thought Gerhard Richter tried to rebel against the different painting styles had over the

years because he could never stick to one style of painting. From 1952-1956 he was a Social

Realist painter then his painting progressed to Abstraction during the 1980’s (Richter, 2013).

It is fascinating to see the similarity in idea and visual outcome of two artists from

different time periods. But, first I will discuss his arrival at making photo books.

Life before over painted photos

In 1945, Richter was given his own camera and learned later how to develop and print

photographic film. Between the years of 1949 and 1951, what led him to merging both mediums

of paint and photography was his apprentice with a sign painter and photographer in Zittau.

Sense 1989 photos have transformed to book form. All of his photo books are modest in

size; it is about 5x5. The photos within Florence were taken by Richter himself in Florence.

The over painted photographs are mid-way between representational depiction and self-guided

painting. “These photos have been elaborately reworked in a variety of ways, with the result that

different levels of reality, illusionistic landscape painting and the materiality of the paint itself

seem to merge inextricably into each other…(Hatje Cantz).”

Interview with Ralph Schon in 1972- painting- understanding the art and process

Ralph asked Richter, “How did you come to adopt this objective way of painting?”

Richter replied, “I think everybody starts out by seeing a few works of art and wanting to do

something like them. You want to understand what you see, what is there, and you try to make a

picture out of it. Later you realize that you can't represent reality at all – that what you make

represents nothing but itself, and therefore is itself reality (Gerhard Richter).”

Photography does not seem to be a spectacular art to Gerhard Richter. Photographs are

only a source that carries his love for painting to greater lengths. Gerhard Richter was asked,

“Why is photography so important in your work?” He replied, “Because I was surprised by

photography, which we all use so massively every day. Suddenly, I saw it in a new way, as a

picture that offered me a new view, free of all the conventional criteria I had always associated

with art. It had no style, no composition, no judgment. It freed me from personal experience.

For the first time, there was nothing to it: it was pure picture. That's why I wanted to have it, to

show it – not use it as a means to painting but use painting as a means to photography.”

Quality of Work

I adore his work- it seems like a new technique within the art world- possibly not the idea,

but process, yes. His images look like one another, which are startling because markings form

into a continuous blur that made me nauseas. From a far the paint looks like smudges, and they

disturb the natural rhythms of the stomach after a while of observing. These painting have a

dream-like quality to them; but a dream that is eerie, and unsettling.

Similar content in our work, Gerhard and I- particularly with his photo book, Florence

Reflections is the title of my photo book. The idea of this project was to take photos of

reflections that I realize merge together three spaces- the outside world-inner-and the space in

between them (me and the object that the reflection is transparent in). For years I have been

noticing such reflections in objects other than the glass mirror and missed the opportunity to

capture these moments. I also noticed that as time descends in a day the reflection changes form

completely- this excited me. My photos are all taken in the mid of day because that is the perfect

time where the three spaces collage overtop of one another to create this world that entices me to

venture in.

Gerhard Richter has the same intentions when it comes to the process and method of

producing his over painted photos. He too is thinking of the finished product as the merging of

two worlds- paint and photo, yet having them fight within that space the camera provides. His

cover is adorned with one of his over painted photos, so he is also keeping the theme continued

throughout the book, internally and externally. But layout is different; the worlds that I create

with camera is structured with the image I deem most spectacular being on one page of a spread

with the other being blank. The other reflections are organized to fill the page of each spread

because they are not well at hiding all of its parts. Gerhard over painted photos are untitled,

which is the case with my work. For me, there is no title because the photos speak of what they

are quite well.

Cited Work

Gerhard Richter < http://www.gerhard-richter.com/quotes/mediums-3/painting-15 > n.d. n.p.

web. 5, May.

Hatje Cantz. < http://www.hatjecantz.de/controller.php?cmd=detail&titzif=00001058&lang=en >

n.d. n.p. web. 5, May.

Nasgaard, Roald, Gerhard Richter, I M. Danoff, B H. D. Buchloh, and Terry A. R. Neff.

Gerhard Richter Paintings. New York, N.Y: Thames and Hudson, 1988. Print.

"Gerhard Richter." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic

Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 06 May. 2013.

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/862046/Gerhard-Richter>.

Storr, Robert, and Gerhard Richter. Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting. New York:

Museum of Modern Art, 2002. Print.