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The exhibition 'Gerhard Richter: Künstlerbücher 1966–2013'
presents Richter's artist's books in their entirety for the first time.
The exhibition includes all the books that were created over the period of 50 years
that will be included in Hubertus Butin's and Stefan Gronert's new catalogue raisonné.
In addition we show a selection of ephemera and preparatory studies
that have only rarely been exhibited.
We, the auction house Bonhams, are delighted to showcase this exhibition
and to make this little-known part of Richter's oeuvre accessible to the public.
Gerhard Richter is one of the best-known international contemporary painters
whose work is celebrated in major retrospectives all over the world.
However, the artist's books that Richter has been producing since the 1960s
form a lesser-known part of his oeuvre.
Even though the artist's books accompany his entire oeuvre to the present day,
in recent years they have gained in significance, becoming a focal point in Richter's artistic practice.
The artist's books are fascinating
because they not only provide an insight into the creative process
and Richter's own reception of some of the works,
but they also allow a glimpse into Gerhard Richter's private life.
Artist's books are commonly referred to as independent artworks
featuring a book as subject of the artistic concept.
According to Lucy Lippard's rather laconic definition,
artist's books are whatever the artist declares an artist's book to be.
Artist's books have a long tradition.
One can even say that they date back to the Middle Ages,
when text and fine arts were united in illuminated manuscripts.
Several centuries later, in the 1960s, the artist's book reached its heyday.
Nowadays despite Amazon and e books, or perhaps because of them,
artist's books, beautifully designed books, are experiencing a renaissance.
All of Gerhard Richter's artist's books are made in a traditional book format.
However, he employs a variety of different visual techniques within this format
including: the fragmenting of text,
the arrangement of text at random,
the integration of a drawing and painting directly onto covers.
'Polke/Richter – Richter/Polke' from 1966 was Gerhard Richter's first artist's book.
The book represents an exception as it is his only artist's book
created in cooperation with another artist.
It shows Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter at a time of close friendship,
collaborative exhibitions and projects as well as their first achievements.
In the mostly humorous photographs the artists stage a family idyll.
This ironic look at 'petit bourgeois' happiness
features in Gerhard Richter's work throughout the 1960s.
The text consists of fragments of the comic 'Perry Rhodan'
and notes by the artists about their own lives.
Thus with this book, the deconstruction and fragmentation of text,
an approach that will become important in Gerhard Richter's artist's books becomes apparent.
There are also some books where the artistic influence seems to be smaller.
For example: 'Sarah Bernhardt'.
'Sarah Bernhardt' is the first catalogue raisonné of Gerhard Richter's prints.
The catalogue published when Gerhard Richter was awarded
the 'Goslarer Kaiserring' is another example.
One can only speculate about why Richter recognises these catalogues as editions,
but it seems likely that they mark important episodes within his oeuvre.
Most drawings can be understood as independent artworks,
without any direct reference to paintings or other group of works.
This is not the case with Richter's artist's books
as they quite often refer to paintings or groups of works.
It is apparent that Richter is taking certain ideas up again.
Examples include the painting 'Halifax' from 1978
that is followed by a total of 4 editions;
the book 'November' – 'November' is a series of works on paper
and the artist's book 'Sindbad' which features paintings behind glass of the same title.
Overpainting plays a decisive role in Richter's oeuvre
and it can also be found within Richter's artist's books.
Overpainting appears in three variations in Gerhard Richter's books:
there are overpainted photographs that are enclosed within the artist's books,
such as in 'Wald II' or in one of the 'Halifax' editions.
Furthermore, there are overpainted covers,
such as the ones of the books 'Eis' from 1981 and 'War Cut II' from 2004.
Additionally, there are reproductions of overpainted photographs
in books such as 'Sils' and 'Obrist'.
There are two different editions of the artist's book 'Eis':
an early edition from 1981 and a later one from 2011.
In 1981 Richter created two variations;
one of them is a lacquered version
where the whole cover is painted with varnish.
The content of the book is formed of black-and-white photographs
of a trip to Greenland Richter embarked on in 1971.
The second variation of this early edition features a printed cover;
the content of the book is the same:
black-and-white photographs of the trip to Greenland.
In the later edition of 2011, Richter revisits the topic.
However, the book now features colour instead of black-and-white photographs.
The photographs are juxtaposed with a text from 'Brockhaus'
that was published in 1871 – a hundred years prior to Richter's trip to Greenland.
When combining text and image Richter proceeds in different ways.
One example is the beautiful book 'Sindbad', published only recently.
In Sindbad the complete story of Sinbad the Sailor is juxtaposed
with paintings behind glass of the same title 'Sinbad'.
Another example is 'War Cut' from 2004.
In 'War Cut', detailed photographs of an abstract painting from 1986
are juxtaposed with newspaper clippings from the 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'
dating from 20 and 21 March 2003, at the beginning of the Iraq War.
The typography of the newspaper clippings was homogenised
and the source of the texts made unrecognisable.
At first, texts and images were arranged at random
and were partly revised later on.
In contrast to the clippings from the 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung' in the German and French edition,
the English edition features clippings from 'The New York Times' of the same dates.