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The book Grau ohne Grund: Gerhard Richters Monochromien als Herausforderung der künstlerischen Avantgarde is based on a doctoral thesis, that concentrates on Gerhard Richter’s monochrome pictures. Beginning with Kazimir Malevich, monochromes by other artists are also analysed and comparatively juxtaposed with Richter’s.
Gerhard Richter’s unique position, which differs a great deal from the artistic avant-garde, is also highlighted. In particular, the work Eight Grey (2002) [CR: 878/1-8] is closely examined, and the formation of Richter’s monochrome works is traced along the context of his œuvre.

 

In her academic paper Petra Goebel looks at Gerhard Richter’s south transept window for the Cologne Cathedral [CR: 900] in an art historical context.
Goebel analyses the tradition of gothic stained glass painting and also highlights the programme of the Cologne Cathedral’s windows. The paper examines how the south transept window fits into Gerhard Richter’s œuvre. The artist’s reference to earlier works is considered, as is the significance of glass as a medium.

Petra Goebel researches the artist’s approach, which, looking into historical stained glass windows, led to an abstract solution. With the aid of the principle of chance, Gerhard Richter created a contemporary stained glass window that blends into the historical environment of the sacred building.

This documentary film about Richter’s Cologne Cathedral Window by Corinna Belz was released in 2007 in association with the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Gerhard Richter Archiv. Entitled Das Kölner Domfenster [The Cologne Cathedral Window], the documentary was made over a period of two years, following the many stages of the project’s development, from the creation of glass samples based on medieval recipes to the computer generation of numerous random sequences, from the approval of the designs to the unveiling of the final window. Featuring a variety of interviews, including with Dr. Barbara Schock-Werner, Architect of Cologne Cathedral, Günter Hettinger, Stained glass restorer at the cathedral workshop, Cologne, programmer Klaus Hagemeister, and Gerhard Richter himself, Belz’s film offers considerable insight into the process of undertaking this major commission. The film, in German with English and French subtitles, is accompanied by a documentary from 1969 by Hannes Reinhardt entitled In the Studio: Gerhard Richter [In der Werkstatt: Gerhard Richter], in German, French and English.