Gerhard Richter. Images of an Era

Author Schneede, Uwe M. / Butin, Hubertus / Elger, Dietmar / Rübel, Dietmar / Westheider, Ortrud
Date 2011
Publisher Hirmer Publishers, Munich copublished by Heni Publishing, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY and Paris
Details Hardback, 214 pages
ISBN 9783777450018
Language English

Gerhard Richter. Images of an Era was published on the occasion of the exhibition at Bucerius Kunstforum in Hamburg in 2011. Both the exhibition and the catalogue focus on Richter’s paintings of the 1960s that are based on photographical source images. The paintings and photographs, which were predominantly taken from magazines and advertisements of the era, are confronted with each other; Richter’s selective process is illuminated and categorised here.

Letters, which Richter wrote to his artist friends Helmut Heinze and Wieland Förster, can also be read for the first time in this publication, along with photographs of Richter’s studio at the time, and give a strong impression of his work in this period.

The cycle October 18, 1977 completes the works from the 1960s since its creative process refers to the earlier works. A comprehensive examination of the source material that lead to these paintings of members of the terrorist group Red Army Faction has also been carried out.

Contributions by Ortrud Westheider, Uwe M. Schneede, Dietmar Elger, Hubertus Butin and Dietmar Rübel.