Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Welcome to Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
We are delighted to be able to present a substantial selection of Gerhard Richter's oeuvre;
from March to mid September. This exhibition is a matter of great importance to me.
In recent years, Gerhard Richter has had several major retrospectives.
The first was in New York, and this was followed by the European retrospective
that took place in Berlin and London.
Some works haven't been shown for quite a while.
Since I have only been at the museum since 1st of November, it was most important to me
to position Gerhard Richter more prominently in Cologne and at the Museum Ludwig,
and to present all the works we own in a new light.
In the background, you can see '48 Portraits' from our collection;
there are also two or three further works in our collection.
Gerhard Richter enriched the exhibition with works from his own collection or from this area.
It has become an interesting presentation that is a distillation of his painterly practice:
from the early work 'Elbe' (1957),
realised when he had just finished university in Dresden,
up to abstract works that were created two to three years ago.
Peter and Irene Ludwig bought the first works by Gerhard Richter as early as 1969:
they were 'Ema (Nude on a Staircase)' from 1966
and 'Five Doors' from 1967. The latter is currently not on view.
Two to three years after they had been completed they became part of the collection.
The building of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne was inaugurated in 1986/87.
Prior to that the museum was located in a different building together with the Wallraff-Richartz-Museum.
From the very beginning, the Richter paintings were part of the identity of the museum.
In the context of Pop Art, in particular the American and British Pop Art, which the Ludwigs became famous for,
Richter's works fit well into the presentation and the collection.
'48 Portraits' was Richter's contribution to the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1972.
Peter Ludwig acquired it around that time.
I spoke to Richter about it, but he couldn't remember
if the decision was made while he was still working on the paintings in 1971/72
or directly after they were exhibited in the summer of 1972.
I would not claim to know how to install this work on the wall.
I only requested that it should be hung on this very wall.
I have always been interested in showing it in six rows
– as it emphasises the work's verticality rather than the horizontality –
so that one feels overwhelmed by this encyclopaedic knowledge of the world that is presented here.
Richter and his assistants decided the specific aspects of how the works should be installed.
I believe he has tried different options.
It is very interesting to see the rotation of the heads:
how they look to one side first and then to the other,
the way the portraits were positioned was a purely formalistic decision.
This is a characteristic of Richter's practice.
It is striking that no artists are included.
Instead there are obscure scientists, writers such as Kafka – only men.
To some extent, it is an encylopaedic knowledge of the postwar era;
compendium into which Richter tries to position himself.
One can't avoid reading this work in relation to Richter's biography, as his personal encyclopaedia.
However there are some pitfalls to avoid
as some obscure figures are brought into play
which lead to a dead end with regard to interpretation.
Richter shows a rigidly conceptual approach throughout his oeuvre,
but on the other hand there is a complementing ironic aspect that breaks the rigidity.
Doubting abstraction, doubting every single image creation, is at the centre of Richter's struggle;
any kind of absoluteness crumbles.
I think, with regard to content, this work is constructed similarly to the abstractions:
as a controlled matter of chance.
Gerhard Richter is noted for the wonderful, pixelated window he created for the Cologne Cathedral.
When the sun shines through it,
all the colours are projected onto the floor of the cathedral.
It is interesting that a similar abstract effect can also be found
in figurative church windows from the 19th century or from medieval times.
Looking at the painting that hangs next to 'Farm' ('Farm' is a house in Sils in Switzerland)
one can see that the abstraction in this case is different.
This abstraction relates more to the composition of an image, its architecture.
Abstraction and figuration, the two opposites that shaped the 20th century before post modernism,
become invalid for Richter in the way that he constructs the pictures
as figurative or abstract ones or in terms of colour.
I would argue that this work is more about the reflective mode of defining a painting,
questions related to the painterly practice, than about the principle of chance, e. g. in the cathedral.
In my opinion, it is about escaping the historicity of the cathedral
when he choses the path of abstraction and chance disregarding any historical or artistic order.
I am standing in front of two works from the Ludwig Collection,
'11 Panes' from 2003 and 'Ema' from 1966.
'Ema' is the painting that was included in the collection with the help of Zwirner as early as 1969.
It is remarkable that both works show a debate with Marcel Duchamp
who was also an important figure for Richter.
This picture shows Richter's wife Ema on the staircase of his house in Düsseldorf,
we show Betty on the right hand side, making it almost like a 'family corner'.
Richter always says that this picture was created
on the basis of his preoccupation with Duchamp's 'Nude Descending a Staircase'.
The Duchamp painting was initially presented on the staircase of a collector in San Francisco.
I told Richter that it is important to see Ema while walking up the staircase.
This way 'Ema' forms an extension of the stairs
and therefore recreates and commemorates the space of Duchamp,
even though it is not a domestic staircase.
When I spoke to Richter about it, he confirmed what he said in earlier interviews:
he could not believe that Duchamp had the impudence to create the last painting
and wanted to create the counter image.
Again I think, this is an homage and differentiation at the same time.
The figure of 'Ema' has an auratic quality;
when he painted her that summer she was pregnant with Betty.
This glow – it sounds lofty, but I think it is also crucial –
the aura of a pregnant woman, the promise of life and transcendence
(although there can't be any transcendence found in this ordinary staircase)
these are the aspects that collide here.
The '11 Panes' refer to Marcel Duchamp's Large Glass
that is on view in Philadelphia as part of the Arensberg Collecion.
It clearly shows the reflection of the movement of the viewer.
Also, the work was created for this museum.
It is an allusion to Duchamp but at the same time
there is also the aspect of reflection – one thinks of the grey inpaintings,
the abstract works and works featuring clinical ready-made surfaces.
Behind me you see 'Elbe' from 1957.
Richter had just graduated and created this work in a print course.
It was missing for many years after Richter had given it to a friend,
only to be rediscovered at the end of the 1980s or the beginning of the 1990s.
This edition is a facsimile Richter thought was important to be shown.
This work was also part of the Tate retrospective in London.
On the first sheets, which are ordered chronologically,
one can see small figures without arms; they are incapable of action in a way.
The works are reminiscent of landscapes, but they are actually abstract formations
created by applying black paint with a roller.
They are an anticipation of the squeegee
he used from the late 1980s to create his abstract works.
This work was given to the Museum Ludwig by Richter as a permanent loan;
it is also featured on the cover of the MoMA catalogue.
In my opinion this shows the full range of his work.
'Elbe' is like a time capsule comprising most of his oeuvre.
One can see how the work has evolved.
Thinking of artists such as Christopher Wool,
it becomes apparent how much 'Elbe' anticipates the controlled element of chance,
the manipulation of visual means in order to achieve a certain result
that showed intentionality at first but could not be planned.
I think, this is crucial for how Richter proceeded as a whole.
Richter has turned away from associations of landscapes;
he doesn't want the abstractions to be read as formations of landscape or nature.
In 'Elbe' this hybrid status is evident, which is why it is an important work.
The second edition that is on view here is entitled 'November'.
'November' is an atmospheric metaphor for autumn
as it implies certain continuity even though the works were created in a short period of time.
The sheets are dated in a similar way to a diary;
they are about continuity and movement, unfolding, development and abstract formations.
What Richter presents is just like painting that creates itself.
But all the dates are fake.
For this show, he grouped the calm works together
he arranged the works according to formal criteria,
ignoring the dates which would allow linearity and provide chronology.
'November, Elbe and others' was the title we agreed on
and that outlines the scope of the whole exhibition.
It is a factual and unemotional title, something that was important to both of us.
We decided to use this title also for the invitation card.
Despite it being an edition rather than a unique work,
I think, it is essential to understanding Richter's artistic practice.