GERHARD RICHTER: STRIPS & GLASS AT KUNSTMUSEUM WINTERTHUR
GERHARD RICHTER: STRIPS & GLASS AT KUNSTMUSEUM WINTERTHUR
18 January 2014 – 21 April 2014
After the recent retrospectives of Gerhard Richter ( b. 1932 ), the
Kunstmuseum Winterthur presents an exhibition conceived in collaboration with
the artist with new works coming directly from his Cologne studio, Strip paintings, large-scale lacquer
paintings on glass, and two new glass sculptures.
This is not the first time the Kunstmuseum Winterthur has worked
with Gerhard Richter. In 1999, the museum showed a retrospective of his
drawings and watercolors, and it is the only Swiss museum to own a larger group
of Richter's works, including paintings, two sculptures, and the most extensive
collection of works on paper in any museum.
Richter's new Strip paintings
feature a plethora of extremely fine lines of color; they are not painted by
hand but conceived in a complicated process, determined by chance, and then
digitally produced with an inkjet printer. A striking new stage in Richter's
development, these paintings are irritating and fascinating, with an austerity
that can be intimidating. The first Strips were
shown in galleries in Paris, New York, and Tokyo in 2011 - 2012; now, Richter
has moved on to composed paintings up to ten meters long that are being shown
here for the first time.
Richter began working on small laquer paintings on glass in 2008; a
series of them could already be seen in 2010 in the Kunstmsueum Winterthur's
exhibition " The Nature of Art " They are followed now by
"Flow," a group of works in larger formats that have a strong
landscapelike effect. The clear contours of the lacquer paint, spreading out
behind panes of glass, recall such natural phenomena as patterns on stones. As
with the Strips, the inexhaustible possibilities of the color combinations put
chance into play as a formative factor.
Glass is also the material for two large-scale sculptures that work
with transparency and reflection, reality and appearance. It is no coincidence
that the interlocking panes of glass of Richter's latest sculpture evoke Caspar
David Friedrich's famous painting "The Sea of Ice", once again
emphasizing Richter's close relationship to the German Romantic tradition.
The exhibition catalogue contains texts by Dieter Schwarz and
Robert Storr. Cloth hardcover with dust jacket, 80 pages, 68 single-page and
double-page color illustrations.
http://www.kmw.ch/ausstellungen
STRIP ( 927-8 ) - 2012
Digitaler Druck Montiert Zwischen Aluminium und Acrylglas, 210 x 230 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Digitaler Druck Montiert Zwischen Aluminium und Acrylglas, 210 x 230 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Einblick in Ausstellungsraum Mit Streifenbildern
Foto: Reto Kaumann
Einblick in
Ausstellungsraum Mit Streifenbildern
Foto: Reto Kaufmann
FLOW ( 933-3 ) - 2013
Lack Hinter Glas, Auf Alu-Dibond Montiert, 100 x 200 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Lack Hinter Glas, Auf Alu-Dibond Montiert, 100 x 200 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
FLOW ( 933-3 ) - 2013 DETAIL
Lack Hinter Glas, auf Alu-Dibond Montiert, 100 x 200 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Lack Hinter Glas, auf Alu-Dibond Montiert, 100 x 200 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Einblick in
Ausstellungsraum mit 12 Scheibenim Kunstmuseum Winterthur
12 Scheiben ( 931 ), 2013 Glas / Stahlkonstruktion, mit Flow und Bagdad
Foto: Reto Kauf mann
FLOW ( 933-3 ) - 2013 DETAIL
Lack Hinter Glas, Auf Alu-Dibond Montiert, 100 x 200 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Lack Hinter Glas, Auf Alu-Dibond Montiert, 100 x 200 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
STRIP ( 927-8 ) - 2012
Digitaler Druck Montiert Zwischen Aluminium und Acrylglas, 210 x 230 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Digitaler Druck Montiert Zwischen Aluminium und Acrylglas, 210 x 230 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Einblick in
Ausstellungsraum Mit Streifenbildern
Foto: Reto Kaufmann
STRIP (927-1), 2012
Digitaler Druck, Montiert Zwischen Aluminium und Acrylglas, 105 x 230 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Digitaler Druck, Montiert Zwischen Aluminium und Acrylglas, 105 x 230 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
KUNSTMUSEUM WINTERTHUR
FLOW (933-7), 2013
Lack Hinter Glas, Auf Alu-Dibond montiert, 105 x 210 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Lack Hinter Glas, Auf Alu-Dibond montiert, 105 x 210 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
DIRECTOR DIETER SCHWARZ ( LEFT SIDE )
Einblick in
Ausstellungsraum Mit 12 Scheiben im Kunstmuseum Winterthur
12 SCheiben ( 931 ) - 2013, Glas / Stahlkonstruktion und Flows
Foto: Reto Kaufmann
STRIP ( 927-3 ) -
2012
Digitaler Druck, Montiert Zwischen Aluminium und Acrylglas, 105 x 230 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Digitaler Druck, Montiert Zwischen Aluminium und Acrylglas, 105 x 230 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Einblick in Ausstellungsraum
mit Kartenhaus im Kunstmuseum Winterthur
Saal mit Kartenhaus 7 Scheiben ( 932 ) - 2013 und Strips
Foto: Reto Kaufmann
SCHEIBEN ( 931 ) - 2013
Glas- / Stahlkonstruktion - 300 x 700 x 175 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
Glas- / Stahlkonstruktion - 300 x 700 x 175 cm
© Gerhard Richter, Köln 2013
GERHARD RICHTER TO NOVEMBER: WORKS ON PAPER FROM THE COLLECTION
18 January 2014 – 27 July 2014
GERHARD RICHTER TO NOVEMBER: WORKS ON PAPER FROM THE COLLECTION
18 January 2014 – 27 July 2014
The press viewing will be at the same time as the viewing for the
exhibition Gerhard Richter: Strips
and Glass
In 1999, the Gerhard Richter retrospective of drawings and
watercolors curated by Dieter Schwarz and organized by the Kunstmuseum
Winterthur was shown at several European museums. In connection with the
preparations for that exhibition, a unique collection of Richter's works on
paper was established; over the last few years, it has been the basis for a
variety of Richter exhibitions, including shows at the Albertina and the
Louvre. Now the whole collection will be presented in Winterthur for the first
time.
The Winterthur collection includes drawings since the 1960s, as
well as watercolors and oil paintings on paper or on photographs. Recently, the
early 1957 cycle Elbe and
the cycle November, created in 2008, have been added; they echo each other in
surprising ways. Also two inkjet printed Strips on paper have been acquired;
alongside the more traditional drawings in the proper sense, they substantially
extend the museum's collection of Richter's works on paper. These two Strips,
in which the order of lines and colors has been left entirely to chance, are
among Richter's first works in this format. They correspond with the first pencil
drawing in
the collection, a 1966 work in which chance also takes the place of
conscious shaping by the artist.
Richter's drawings are not studies for paintings; they are
independent works that are close to the paintings in mood and musicality. This
cabinet exhibition offers an alternative perspective on Richter's work.
Upon the opening of this exhibition, Richter donated an extensive
set of 35 previously unknown drawings to the Kunstmuseum Winterthur. This new
donation can now be seen for the first time as part of this exhibition.
GERHARD RICHTER 10.11.1995, 1995
Ölfarben auf Papier, H: 41.8, B: 29.7
Kunstmuseum Winterthur
GERHARD RICHTER - 4.12.1995, 1995
Ölfarben auf Papier
Kunstmuseum Winterthur
GERHARD RICHTER:
STREIFEN & GLASS
EXHIBITION BOOK
GERHARD RICHTER IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: REAL & TANGIBLE
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
"Well, after this century of grand proclamations and terrible
illusions, I hope for an era in which real and tangible accomplishments, and
not grand proclamations, are the only things that count."
At the turn of the millennium, Richter was increasingly focussed on his Abstract Paintings, with three paintings of his young son Moritz [ CR: 863/1-3 ] notable exceptions to this trend. Transparency, translucency, opacity and reflection were still clearly subjects with which the artist was engaging at this time, almost a decade since his last concerted period to have addressed them. Eight Grey [CR: 874/1-8] in 2001 heralded a number of works the following year that brought glass to centre stage. Works such as Pane of Glass [ CR: 876-1 ], 4 Standing Panes [ CR: 877-1 ] and 7 Standing Panes [ CR: 879-1 ] demonstrated an interest in pushing wall-based works into the realm of the sculptural.
2002 was also a significant year for Richter due to his major retrospective exhibition Forty Years of Painting at MoMA in New York. Curated by Robert Storr, the exhibition featured 190 works, and accompanied by a seminal catalogue, was one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of Richter's works of his career. It was also the exhibition that confirmed Richter's status as one of the leading artists in the world, and was described by Storr in his introduction as "long overdue" in the United States.2
In 2003 Richter embarked on a small but substantially sized series of paintings entitled Silicate [ CR: 885/1-4 ] inspired by an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 12 March 2003 about the shimmering qualities of certain insects' bodies.3 The resulting four large paintings are perhaps the most overtly biological of the abstract works in Richter's oeuvre, suggestive of cell formations and genetic sequences seen under the microscope.
Richter's next significant – and in some ways unexpected – departure came in the form of a single work depicting the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York of September 11, 2001, entitled simply September [ CR: 891-5 ], 2005. In a 2010 publication about the painting written by Robert Storr, the author asks: "what is the meaning of a single, small, almost abstract depiction of one of the most consequential occurrences in recent world history? "4 Depicting the explosion of United Airlines Flight 175 as it hit the South Tower, Storr's essay describes how Richter's painting raises and encapsulates many of the complex geo - political issues that the attacks provoked, as well as the horrendous realities of those whose lives were taken away or affected by them. The painting, whilst it carries an overwhelming sense of the enormity and significance of the event, avoids spectacularizing it, instead evoking an existential numbness, sadness and incomprehension. Described by critic Bryan Appleyard for The Sunday Times as " the closest you will get to a great 9/11 work " he goes on to assert that " It reclaims the day, leaving it exactly where it was, exactly when it happened. "5
The following year, 2006, saw the creation of one of Richter's most significant cycles of Abstract Paintings, Cage [ CR: 897/1-6 ]. These six, large-scale canvases, described by Sir Nicholas Serota as " magisterial "6 were named after the American avant-garde composer John Cage, whom Richter had never personally met but whose work had long held a resonance with his own. In a conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist – one of the leading interlocutors of Richter's work since the 1990s – Richter said that he had been listening to the music of Cage whilst working in his studio at the time.7 In an interview with Jan Thorn-Prikker in 2004, Richter stated, " That's roughly how Cage put it: 'I have nothing to say and I am saying it.' I have always thought that was a wonderful quote. It's the best chance we have to be able to keep on going. "8 The concluding line in Robert Storr's 2009 publication devoted to the series, Cage – Six Paintings by Gerhard Richter, references the Cage quote, stating: "In his own idiom, and for his own reasons, [ the Cage paintings ] are Richter's beautiful way of saying nothing, and as such, of once more declaring his uncompromising independence. "9 Having been shown alongside the Bach paintings at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, in 2008, the Cage paintings have since been exhibited at Tate Modern, London.
In 2007 Richter completed arguably his largest commission – a major stained glass window for Cologne Cathedral to replace a window that had been destroyed during World War II. He had been invited to undertake the commission back in 2002 and had devoted considerable time to developing and completing the project in the following five years. In notes prepared for a conference in July 2006, Richter wrote:
At the turn of the millennium, Richter was increasingly focussed on his Abstract Paintings, with three paintings of his young son Moritz [ CR: 863/1-3 ] notable exceptions to this trend. Transparency, translucency, opacity and reflection were still clearly subjects with which the artist was engaging at this time, almost a decade since his last concerted period to have addressed them. Eight Grey [CR: 874/1-8] in 2001 heralded a number of works the following year that brought glass to centre stage. Works such as Pane of Glass [ CR: 876-1 ], 4 Standing Panes [ CR: 877-1 ] and 7 Standing Panes [ CR: 879-1 ] demonstrated an interest in pushing wall-based works into the realm of the sculptural.
2002 was also a significant year for Richter due to his major retrospective exhibition Forty Years of Painting at MoMA in New York. Curated by Robert Storr, the exhibition featured 190 works, and accompanied by a seminal catalogue, was one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of Richter's works of his career. It was also the exhibition that confirmed Richter's status as one of the leading artists in the world, and was described by Storr in his introduction as "long overdue" in the United States.2
In 2003 Richter embarked on a small but substantially sized series of paintings entitled Silicate [ CR: 885/1-4 ] inspired by an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 12 March 2003 about the shimmering qualities of certain insects' bodies.3 The resulting four large paintings are perhaps the most overtly biological of the abstract works in Richter's oeuvre, suggestive of cell formations and genetic sequences seen under the microscope.
Richter's next significant – and in some ways unexpected – departure came in the form of a single work depicting the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York of September 11, 2001, entitled simply September [ CR: 891-5 ], 2005. In a 2010 publication about the painting written by Robert Storr, the author asks: "what is the meaning of a single, small, almost abstract depiction of one of the most consequential occurrences in recent world history? "4 Depicting the explosion of United Airlines Flight 175 as it hit the South Tower, Storr's essay describes how Richter's painting raises and encapsulates many of the complex geo - political issues that the attacks provoked, as well as the horrendous realities of those whose lives were taken away or affected by them. The painting, whilst it carries an overwhelming sense of the enormity and significance of the event, avoids spectacularizing it, instead evoking an existential numbness, sadness and incomprehension. Described by critic Bryan Appleyard for The Sunday Times as " the closest you will get to a great 9/11 work " he goes on to assert that " It reclaims the day, leaving it exactly where it was, exactly when it happened. "5
The following year, 2006, saw the creation of one of Richter's most significant cycles of Abstract Paintings, Cage [ CR: 897/1-6 ]. These six, large-scale canvases, described by Sir Nicholas Serota as " magisterial "6 were named after the American avant-garde composer John Cage, whom Richter had never personally met but whose work had long held a resonance with his own. In a conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist – one of the leading interlocutors of Richter's work since the 1990s – Richter said that he had been listening to the music of Cage whilst working in his studio at the time.7 In an interview with Jan Thorn-Prikker in 2004, Richter stated, " That's roughly how Cage put it: 'I have nothing to say and I am saying it.' I have always thought that was a wonderful quote. It's the best chance we have to be able to keep on going. "8 The concluding line in Robert Storr's 2009 publication devoted to the series, Cage – Six Paintings by Gerhard Richter, references the Cage quote, stating: "In his own idiom, and for his own reasons, [ the Cage paintings ] are Richter's beautiful way of saying nothing, and as such, of once more declaring his uncompromising independence. "9 Having been shown alongside the Bach paintings at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, in 2008, the Cage paintings have since been exhibited at Tate Modern, London.
In 2007 Richter completed arguably his largest commission – a major stained glass window for Cologne Cathedral to replace a window that had been destroyed during World War II. He had been invited to undertake the commission back in 2002 and had devoted considerable time to developing and completing the project in the following five years. In notes prepared for a conference in July 2006, Richter wrote:
In early 2002, the master builder of the cathedral suggested that
I develop a glass design for the southern window. The guiding principle was the
representation of six martyrs, in keeping with the period. I was, of course,
very touched to have such an honour bestowed upon me, but I soon realised I
wasn't at all qualified for the task. After several unsuccessful attempts to
get to grips with the subject, and prepared to finally concede failure, I
happened upon a large representation of my painting with 4096 colours. I put
the template for the design of the window over it and saw that this was the
only possibility.10
Several months later, Richter began work on a model with test
patterns and a number of design concepts. He settled on a design in which
11,000 mouth-blown squares measuring 94 x 94 millimetres each were to be used,
with half of these selected randomly by a computer programme, and the other
half a mirror image of these. As well as an evolution of his Colour Charts and
Colour works of the 1960s and 70s, the Cologne Cathedral Window [
CR: 900 ] was also informed by his Glass Window, 625 Colours [ CR: 703 ] of 1989. The
resulting window is a remarkable accomplishment, both real and tangible, and
has been documented extensively in a film by Corinna Belz released in 2007.11
In 2008, Richter embarked on a significant body of colourful abstract work entitled Sinbad [ CR: 905 ]. Comprising 100 small paintings in enamel on the back of glass, Sinbad is the first series of works by Richter to allude to The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ) and was followed in 2010 by Aladdin [ CR: 913 ]. That the artist was clearly thinking a lot about the Middle East is illustrated by the related series Baghdad [ CR: 914 ], 2010 and Abdallah [ CR: 917 ], 2010. Taking up some of the brighter palettes he had explored in the abstract works of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sinbad is a rich, joyous journey through colour and abstraction.
One of Richter's most recent new avenues for the exploration of abstraction and colour takes the form of stripes. A work entitled Strip [ CR: 920 ], 2011, consisting of a digital print on paper mounted between aluminium and Perspex, presents dozens of long horizontal stripes of varying thickness spanning a width of three metres. It is a tantalising taste of what is still to come from one of the world's most prolific and respected living artists, whose insatiable desire to explore the languages and possibilities of painting and image-making continues to keep him at the forefront of developments in contemporary art today. To coincide with Richter's 80th birthday, in October 2011 a major retrospective entitled Gerhard Richter: Panorama opened at Tate Modern, London, before touring to the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, in 2012.
Prepared for www.gerhard-richter.com by Matt Price with assistance from Carina Krause, 2010-11. The text would not have been possible without the scholarship and guidance of Dietmar Elger.
In 2008, Richter embarked on a significant body of colourful abstract work entitled Sinbad [ CR: 905 ]. Comprising 100 small paintings in enamel on the back of glass, Sinbad is the first series of works by Richter to allude to The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ) and was followed in 2010 by Aladdin [ CR: 913 ]. That the artist was clearly thinking a lot about the Middle East is illustrated by the related series Baghdad [ CR: 914 ], 2010 and Abdallah [ CR: 917 ], 2010. Taking up some of the brighter palettes he had explored in the abstract works of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sinbad is a rich, joyous journey through colour and abstraction.
One of Richter's most recent new avenues for the exploration of abstraction and colour takes the form of stripes. A work entitled Strip [ CR: 920 ], 2011, consisting of a digital print on paper mounted between aluminium and Perspex, presents dozens of long horizontal stripes of varying thickness spanning a width of three metres. It is a tantalising taste of what is still to come from one of the world's most prolific and respected living artists, whose insatiable desire to explore the languages and possibilities of painting and image-making continues to keep him at the forefront of developments in contemporary art today. To coincide with Richter's 80th birthday, in October 2011 a major retrospective entitled Gerhard Richter: Panorama opened at Tate Modern, London, before touring to the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, in 2012.
Prepared for www.gerhard-richter.com by Matt Price with assistance from Carina Krause, 2010-11. The text would not have been possible without the scholarship and guidance of Dietmar Elger.
If you would like to read more information and see more painting
from Gerhard Richter please click above link of Gerhard Richter web page.
