Gerhard Richter Overpainted Photographs – Art Blart

Exhibition: ‘Gerhard Richter. Overpainted Photographs’ Gerhard Richter Archive at Albertinum at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Exhibition dates: 26th August – 19th November 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
15. April 2015
2015
Oil on colour photography
11.3 x 16.6cm
On loan from the Gerhard Richter Art Foundation
© Gerhard Richter 2023
Foto: Simon Vogel, Köln

The first of two postings on the work of one of my favourite artists, the great Gerhard Richter – this time on his miraculous overpainted photographs, abstractions which hover between one medium and the next, thither and yon.

“Richter began these works in 1986. All of the formats exhibited are unusually small, each being about 10 x 15cm. The basis for his pictures was ordinary photographs, most of which he took himself and had developed in a conventional photo lab. The photos are not artistic in any way. They are snapshots of family celebrations and trips, people, landscape or architecture, including a view of Dresden. The Overpainted Photographs are intimately linked to Richter’s artistic works. Every day, after working on his large-format paintings in his studio, Richter dragged the photographs through the remaining wet paint on the squeegee. The result depended heavily on chance, and surprising new realities were formed.” (Press release from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden)

Creative juxtapositions enlighten these new realities: the smeared stalagmite of green and yellow paint in 8. Juni 2016 (8) (2016, below) echoes the vertiginous mountainous landscape beyond; curtains of paint in 4. March 2003 (2003 ,below) hide sunbathing bodies whilst echoing the breaking waves in the background; and coloured skeins rain down on a tower in 29.1.2000 (Firenze) (2000, below) portending its destruction.

These active interventions, action photo-paintings, gestural abstractions are spontaneous in form and intelligent in conception. They combine elements of both mediums to create interstitial spaces, spaces that promote an evolution in the way in which we conceive of space,1 a world of liquid transformations realised through shifts between photo and picture, reality and presence, memory and awareness – a coexistence between a conscious and unconscious way of perceiving which sustains the mystery of the object… and the world.

Bravo!

Dr Marcus Bunyan

1/ Adapted from Kovac, Tom. “Curve Gallery,” in van Schaik, Leon (ed.,). Architectural Design. Vol. 72. No. 2. (‘Poetics in Architecture’). London: John Wiley and Sons, 2002, p. 60.

Many thankx to the Albertinum at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

In 1991 Gerhard Richter commented on the creation of these works:

“Photography has almost no reality; it is almost a hundred per cent picture. And painting always has reality: you can touch the paint; it has presence; but it always yields a picture – no matter whether good or bad. That’s all theory. It’s no good. I once took small photographs and then smeared them with paint. That partly resolved the problem, and it’s really good – better than anything I could ever say on the subject.”

Text from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden website

“What works for me about the series is the balance between the paint and the photograph beneath it. There are works in the series where the two seem to work together and others where they fight for primacy. The act of adding paint is a simple gesture but somehow Richter uses it to add a layer of complexity to the image. We are left with hints about the photographs and can, to an extent, imagine the gestures used to obscure them – certainly the texture of the paint offers clues – but piecing together the evidence provides a tantalisingly incomplete picture. For me, the work is all the stronger for that.”

Ann Jones. “Veils of abstraction,” on the Image Object Text website 22/09/2012 [Online] Cited 12/10/2023

Installation views of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Overpainted Photographs at Albertinum at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden showing in the bottom image at left, 8 March 2000 (Firenze) (below); at second right bottom, 13.5.07 (below); at at top right, 14.5.07 (below)
© Gerhard Richter 2023, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Foto: Klemens Renner

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
8 March 2000 (Firenze)
2000
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
13.5.07
2007
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
14.5.07
2007
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

The exhibition at Albertinum shows a selection of Gerhard Richter’s Overpainted Photographs for the first time in Dresden. 36 of the selected works come from the holdings of the Gerhard Richter Kunststiftung, founded by the artist in 2019; 36 additional works are loans from private collections.

Gerhard Richter’s oeuvre from the past six decades is shaped by a dialogue and a confrontation between figurative and abstract visual strategies. In no other workseries by the artist do the two styles enter into a symbiosis like the one in the small-format Overpainted Photographs. Richter began these works in 1986. All the formats exhibited are unusually small, each approximately 10 × 15cm.

In 1991 Gerhard Richter commented on the creation of these works:

“Photography has almost no reality; it is almost a hundred per cent picture. And painting always has reality: you can touch the paint; it has presence; but it always yields a picture – no matter whether good or bad. That’s all theory. It’s no good. I once took small photographs and then smeared them with paint. That partly resolved the problem, and it’s really good – better than anything I could ever say on the subject.”

Standard photographs usually taken by the artist himself and developed at an ordinary photo lab serve as the foundation for these works. The shots themselves are entirely lacking in artistic quality. They are snapshot motifs of family celebrations and excursions, people, landscapes, or architectures, including a view of Dresden.

The Overpainted Photographs are closely linked to his painterly oeuvre. After his daily work on the large paintings in the studio, Richter pulled these photographs through the remaining wet paint on the squeegee. In this way, the result of this action is strongly determined by coincidence and surprising new realities emerge. With the declared end of his painterly work in 2017, Gerhard Richter also concluded work on the Overpainted Photographs.

Text from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden website

Installation views of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Overpainted Photographs at Albertinum at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
© Gerhard Richter 2023, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Foto: Klemens Renner

As a Dresden first, the Gerhard Richter Archiv, run by Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden is exhibiting a selection of Gerhard Richter’s Overpainted Photographs. Of the 72 works on show in the Albertinum, 36 are from the holdings of the Gerhard Richter Kunststiftung, a foundation established by the artist in 2019, and 36 from private collections.

Richter’s oeuvre of the past six decades is marked by interacting and opposing representational and abstract artistic strategies. In his small-format Overpainted Photographs, these two styles develop a symbiosis that is stronger than in any of the artist’s other groups of works.

In 1991, Gerhard Richter described how the works came about: “Photography has almost no reality; it is almost a hundred per cent picture. And painting always has reality: you can touch the paint; it has presence; but it always yields a picture – no matter whether good or bad. That’s all the theory. It’s no good. I once took some small photographs and then smeared them with paint. That partly resolved the problem, and it’s really good – better than anything I could ever say on the subject.”

Richter began these works in 1986. All of the formats exhibited are unusually small, each being about 10 x 15cm. The basis for his pictures was ordinary photographs, most of which he took himself and had developed in a conventional photo lab. The photos are not artistic in any way. They are snapshots of family celebrations and trips, people, landscape or architecture, including a view of Dresden.

The Overpainted Photographs are intimately linked to Richter’s artistic works. Every day, after working on his large-format paintings in his studio, Richter dragged the photographs through the wet paint left on his doctor blade. The result depended heavily on chance, and surprising new realities were formed. In 2017, Gerhard Richter announced his retirement from painting, and at the same time the end of his work on the Overpainted Photographs.

A catalogue is being published to accompany the exhibition. Dietmar Elger: Gerhard Richter. Overpainted Photos, published by Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Buchhandlung Walther & Franz König, Cologne, 2023, 120 pages, 77 colour illustrations, 3 b&w illustrations. ISBN 978-3-7533-0538-7

Press release from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
8. Juni 2016 (6)
2016
Oil on colour photography
16.9 x 12.7cm
On loan from a private collection
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
8. Juni 2016 (8)
2016
Oil on colour photography
16.75 x 12.6cm
On loan from the Gerhard Richter Art Foundation
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Installation view of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Overpainted Photographs at Albertinum at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden showing at top left, 26. Nov 2014 (below); at top second right, 25. Jan 2015 (below); at top right, 15. April 2015 (top of posting); at bottom second left, 28. Dec 2014 (below); and at bottom right, 28.7.15 (2) (below)
© Gerhard Richter 2023, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Foto: Klemens Renner

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
26. Nov 2014
2014
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
25. Jan 2015
2015
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
28. Dec 2014
2014
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
28.7.15 (2)
2015
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Installation view of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Overpainted Photographs at Albertinum at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden showing at left, 4.12.06 (below); at at right, 21.2.08 (below)
© Gerhard Richter 2023, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Foto: Klemens Renner

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
4.12.06
2006
Oil on colour photography
12.5 x 16.6cm
On loan from a private collection
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
21.2.08
2008
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
11.2.98
1998
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Installation view of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Overpainted Photographs at Albertinum at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden showing at left, 28. April 2015 (below); at second left, 29. April 2015 (below); and at right, 14.7.15 (3) (below)
© Gerhard Richter 2023, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Foto: Klemens Renner

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
28. April 2015
2015
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
29. April 2015
2015
Oil on colour photography
16.7 x 12.6cm
On loan from the Gerhard Richter Art Foundation
© Gerhard Richter 2023
Foto: Simon Vogel, Köln

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
14.7.15 (3)
2015
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
29.1.2000 (Firenze)
2000
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
4. March 2003
2003
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
20.6.05
2005
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
MV. 92
2011
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
MV. 98
2011
Oil on colour photography
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
MV. 133
2011
Oil on colour photography
10.1 x 15.1 cm
© Gerhard Richter 2023

Albertinum
Tzschirnerplatz 2
01067 Dresden

Opening hours:
Daily 10 – 18, Monday closed

Albertinum website

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Exhibition: ‘Overpainted Photographs’ by Gerhard Richter at Centre de la Photographie, Geneva

Exhibition dates: 20th February – 12th April 2009

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
9.4.89
10.1 x 14.8cm
Oil on colour photograph

There is something unsettling in Richter’s serendipitious interventions. Using his own prosaic 10 x 15cm colour photographs that have been commercially printed as the basis of the works, Richter overlays the surface of the photograph with skeins of paint that disturb the reflexivity of each medium. Dragging the photograph through the paint or using a palette knife to apply layers of colour, the surfaces of paint and photograph no longer exist as separate entities. The process produces punctum like clefts rent in the fabric of time and space. If the intervention is judged unsuccessful the result if immediately destroyed.

In 5.Juli.1994 (below) blood red fingers of paint strain upwards as they invade the solidity of a dour suburban home, echoing the invading trees branches at top right of picture. In 11.2.98 (below) green paint slashes across the mouth and forehead of a woman in a floral dress, her eyes seemingly bloodshot and pleading stare into the distance to the left of our view, the silent scream strangled in her throat by the vibrations of paint. These are the instantaneous responses of the artist to the photograph, a single mood expounded in irreversible gestures, the actions of the painter’s hand disturbing the indexical link of the photograph and it’s ability to be ‘read’ as a referent of the object it depicts. Richter’s interventions challenge the concept of momentary awareness and offer the possibility of a space between, where the image stands for something else – access to Other, even a contemplation of the sublime.

“The colour of paint applied corresponds or contrasts the tonalities of the underlying photograph but link the two through formal relationships of the layers … Often a tense relationship, the results run the gamut of the surreal to the beautiful to the disturbed. It is all the more surprising that each in its perceived completeness was in essence accomplished by chance and trial and error.”1

“Richter’s painterly gestures bounce off the [photographs] content in peculiar ways, sometimes interacting with it, sometimes overlaying it and sometimes threatening to eclipse it altogether. The final effect is to cause both photography and painting to seem like incredibly bizarre activities, disparate in texture but often complicit in aspiration.”2

I love the violence, the sometimes subversive, sometimes transcendental ‘equivalence’ of these images: where a Steiglitz cloud can stand for music, where a Minor White infrared photograph posits a new reality, Richter offers us an immediacy that destroys the self-reflexive nature of everyday life. His spontaneous musings, his amorphous worlds, his bleeds and blends crack open the skin of our existential life on earth. Here, certainly, are ‘the clefts in words, the words as flesh’.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

“Gerhard Richter: Overpainted Photographs,” on the 5B4 blog, February 9, 2009 [Online] Cited 13/06/2022
Hatje Cantz. “Gerhard Richter: Overpainted Photographs,” on the Artbook website Nd [Online] Cited 13/06/2022

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
11.4.89
10 x 15cm
Oil on colour photograph

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
11.3.89
10 x 14.9cm
Oil on colour photograph

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
5.Juli.1994
10.2 x 15.2cm
Oil on colour photograph

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
11.2.98
10 x 14.7cm
Oil on colour photograph

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
22.2.96
9.6 x 14.7cm
Oil on colour photograph

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)
11.Febr.05
10.1 x 14.9cm
Oil on colour photograph

The exhibition presents 330 of Richter’s largely unknown overpainted photographs, a technique he has been using since 1982.

The exhibition UERBERNALTE FOTOGRAFIEN / PHOTOGRAPHIES PEINTES (OVERPAINTED PHOTOGRAPHS) at the Centre de la photographie Geneva (CPG) presented a side of the work of Gerhard Richter largely unknown up till now. Only a few collectors and gallerists close to the artist were aware of the practise that Gerhard Richter, one of the most important artists of our times, had developed systematically since 1982. It is only because of this exhibition that more than 1000 of his over-painted photographs will enter into his catalogue raisone. The CPG presents approximately 330 of them in this show.

“By placing paint on photographs, with all their random and involuntary expressiveness, Gerhard Richter reinforces the unique aspect of each of these mediums and opens a field of tension rich in paradoxes, as old as the couple – painting / photography – which has largely defined modern art.”

Text from Centre de la Photographie website

Gerhard Richter is justly famed for the photorealism of his early canvases, but it is less well known that he has also painted directly onto photographic prints. These (mostly small-format) pieces were reproduced in books as early as the first Atlas, but practically all of the works themselves are housed in private collections and rarely exhibited in public. Overpainted Photographs gathers this body of work, which unites the labor of the hand with the work of mechanical reproduction to produce a kind of art as conceptually rich as Richter’s better-known paintings, neutralizing the expressive powers of each medium to reach an indifference to their potency. In an overture to Duchamp’s “degree zero” found objects, the original photographs are frequently bland in content – an empty office, a ball, a beach scene or tourist snapshot – and Richter’s painterly gestures bounce off that content in peculiar ways, sometimes interacting with it, sometimes overlaying it and sometimes threatening to eclipse it altogether. The final effect is to cause both photography and painting to seem like incredibly bizarre activities, disparate in texture but often complicit in aspiration. This monograph offers a unique opportunity to savour what had previously been a neglected but copious aspect of Richter’s work.

Text from the Amazon website

“The public scenes, whether on the beach or the ski slope or children’s theatre, are beset with sudden surges of colour that tend to resemble interventions of the sky or elemental forces, more than the moods of a decorative or ornamental painter annotation. Sometimes they seem like catastrophic visions. Blood-red snowflakes dance above the white fern. The photo shows skyscrapers in the urban morning sun – and the oil paint adds to the sulpherous fire that pours over the city from the sky”

Botho Strauss in Gerhard Richter: Overpainted Photographs (Hardcover)