Gerhard Richter

Konrad Fischer Gallery, Düsseldorf
Private Collection
Sale: Phillips de Pury & Co., New York, Contemporary Art Part I, 17 May 2007, Lot 45
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Munich, Städtlische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Gerhard Richter, 1973, no. 8, illustrated
Friedrichshafen, Kunstverein, Zeppelin Museum, Gerhard Richter: Paintings, 2001
Düsseldorf, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Paintings/Abstract, 2001

Dietmar Elger,  Ed., Gerhard Richter Bilder: Paintings 1962-1985 Catalogue Raisonné, Cologne 1986, no. 339/2, illustrated
Angelika Thill, Ed., Gerhard Richter Catalogue Raisonné 1962-1993, Vol III, Ostfildern-Ruit 1993,  no. 339-2, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although they are brighter and more vivid in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals two very faint and stable hairline cracks running diagonally towards the right side, two further hairline cracks running diagonally across the bottom left corner, and another short, unobtrusive hairline crack in the top right corner. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals that the cracks have been stabilised in places. Spots of minor retouching are visible at the top and right edges of the right corner, with another at the top edge of the left corner.
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Rot-Blau-Gelb is a magnificent example of Gerhard Richter’s Inpaintings series, a richly textured examination of the sensuous possibilities of the brushstroke and the boundless potential of colour theory. A key precursor in terms of style and technique to the powerfully imposing Abstraktes Bilder that he began to create from 1987, the Inpaintings allowed Richter full scope to experiment and discover new directions in his art. Composed solely of the primary colours – red, blue and yellow – the canvas pulsates with a visceral energy drawn from the forceful, almost hostile, sweeps of the brush. In Richter’s masterful hands the paint surface seemingly becomes a three dimensional plane composed of layers of chromatic striations that twist and turn in an endless convoluted dance, every tone a unique variation formed by the inter-mingling of the primary colour.

Painted in 1973, Rot-Blau-Gelb was created during a period of intense artistic experimentation for the artist, a time which Klaus Honnef referred to as “the break in style as a stylistic principle” (Exhibition Catalogue, Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Gerhard Richter Paintings, 1988, p. 74). From the mid-1960s Richter became increasingly determined to find an alternative mode that he could pursue parallel to the photo-realist style of painting that had already achieved him artistic recognition. His first attempts to work without the stimulus of a photographic motif were a series of images of curtains, rendered in rippling monochrome, closely followed by paintings of tubes, then doors, all in tones of grey. Yet the artist was still dissatisfied, seeking a more drastic means of creative innovation. It was the revelation of the sight of an artist’s colour chart in 1966 – seen many times previously on visits to the Dusseldorf paint store where he regularly bought supplies, but only now taken as a source of artistic inspiration – that was to provide the impetus he needed, resulting in the introduction of new geometrical forms and variations of colour into his works. The sheer variety of Richter’s paintings during this period is truly astounding; not only did he continue to produce photo-realist works, working from his own photographs, as well as the immense Colour Chart paintings,  but he also produced a series of cityscapes based on aerial images , a few of which hover on the edge of complete abstraction. These years of frantic artistic experimentation can be said to have culminated with the production of the Inpaintings, a series which at last allowed Richter to give full rein to his creative impulses.

The earliest Inpaintings were executed in greys, but by 1973 Richter was fully glorying in the potential of bold colours. It was the unmitigated power of primaries that moved the artist to create some of his most exciting and visually arresting works, following a commission from BMW to create three vast canvases – one each in red, blue and yellow - to adorn the foyer of their headquarters in Munich. Inspired by the visual power and potential of these vibrant colours when projected on such a large scale, Rot-Blau-Gelb enabled Richter to work with primaries at a smaller, more intimate level.  The paint was first applied in evenly spaced areas on the canvas, without following any pre-arranged form or pattern; the artist was then able to unleash the creative potential of the brush, allowing the sweeping strokes to unite the patches of paint in extraordinary combinations of colour and texture. The techniques involved anticipated the dramatic use of the squeegee to distribute the paint around the canvas surface within the remarkable Abstrakte Bilder which have become, in many respects, the cornerstone of Richter’s later work.

Richter himself described the energetic artistic processes that led to the creation of the Inpaintings: “The different hues and forms develop with the continual movement of the brush, bringing forth an illusive spatiality without my having to invent forms and signs: the brush moves along a given path from colour spot to colour spot, first mediating, then more or less destroying, and mingling until there is nothing left untouched, until there is almost a hodgepodge, an equal expanse of interwoven form, space, and colour” (The artist cited in Ibid. p. 78). The concepts of ‘destroying’ and ‘mingling’ are indeed apposite to Rot-Blau-Gelb; the destruction of the pure areas of red, yellow and blue, the sacrifice of which yet leads to the birth of an entirely new visual hue, coupled with an innovative language of form and texture. Rot-Blau-Gelb is a visual feast, one which encourages the eye to linger in pursuit of myriad colour tones. It is also a bravura exercise in the handling of the brush; a joyful discovery of the potential of the paint surface, that ultimately allows the artist to gloriously transcend the limitations of the two dimensional canvas.