GERHARD RICHTER
b. 1932, GermanyGerhard Richter is celebrated worldwide as one of the most important artists of his generation, with a career spanning from the 1960s to the present. His diverse and influential practice has been characterised by a decades-long commitment to painting and its formal and conceptual possibilities.
In his work, the dual modes of representation and abstraction fundamentally question the way in which we relate to images. Richter has probed the relationship between painting and photography, engaging a variety of styles and innovative techniques in a complex repositioning of genres such as abstraction, still life, landscape painting, history painting, and chance-based practices. Richter’s vast oeuvre, which also includes objects, installation, drawing, and photographic documentation, is grounded in deeply nuanced investigations of history, memory, and representation.
Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) was born in Dresden, Germany. He studied art at the Dresden Hochschule für Bildende Künste from 1951 to 1956, with mural painting as his concentration. In 1959, he visited documenta II, held in Kassel, Germany, an experience that inspired him to alter his artistic trajectory. After his escape from East Germany in 1961, he completed a second course of study at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. There, he united with his fellow students Sigmar Polke, Konrad Lueg, and Manfred Kuttner to collectively form the short-lived ‘Capitalist Realism’ group.
From 1964 onward, Richter had many solo exhibitions in renowned commercial galleries in Europe, among them the Galerie Schmela in Düsseldorf (1964); Galerie Friedrich & Dahlem, Munich (1964, 1966); City-Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich (1966); Galleria La Tartaruga, Rome (1966); Wide White Space, Antwerp (1967); Galerie Heiner Friedrich, Munich (1967); Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Cologne (1968); and Galleria del Naviglio, Milan (1969).
Courtesy David Zwirner
Current Exhibitions at David Zwirner
Works at David Zwirner
Exhibiting Elsewhere
Works Elsewhere
Gerhard Richter in Ocula Magazine
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