Beschreibung:

Δ 13 Gerhard Richter Abstraktes Bild (767-2) signed, dated and numbered 'Richter 1992 767-2' on the reverse oil on canvas 62.2 x 62.2 cm (24 1/2 x 24 1/2 in.) Painted in 1992.
Provenance Marian Goodman Gallery, New York The Manilow Collection, Chicago (acquired from the above) Sotheby's, New York, 10 November 2010, lot 364 Richard Green Gallery, London Private Collection, U.S.A (acquired from the above in 2011) Acquired from the above by the present owner Literature Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ed., Gerhard Richter Catalogue Raisonné: 1962 - 1993, Vol. III, Ostfildern-Ruit, 1993, no. 767-2, n.p. (illustrated) Dietmar Elger, Gerhard Richter Catalogue Raisonné, vol. 4: 1988-1994, Ostfildern, 2015, no. 767-2, p. 459 (illustrated) Catalogue Essay Painted in 1992, Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild is filled with colour and movement. While greens and greys appear to dominate the composition, smouldering flickers of warm yellow and red peek through, adding a dynamism that is accentuated by the vertical and horizontal striations through which Richter has dragged paint across the canvas. These elements demonstrate the alacrity with which Richter had perfected the use of the ‘squeegee’ as a tool for painting: adapted from the wipers used by window cleaners, it was only in the mid-1980s that the artist began to apply paint with them. They have since become an almost iconic aspect of his work, even featuring in films showing Richter at work. From a purely visual point of view, the squeegee creates complex, kaleidoscopic surfaces that are filled with seductive texture and detail. Often applying wet paint to a dried surface, Richter is able to drag the paint in a manner that creates a marbled effect; at the same time, the glimmer of colours from previous layers adds a sense of density and complexity to the composition. Richter’s practice of allowing the paint to dry in between his interventions with the surface serves a more practical, or conceptual purpose, in that it grants him a fresh perspective on each sally. In this way, he is able to revisit his canvas in an analytical manner, working in such a way as to remove any overly evocative or even tentatively figurative elements from the composition. Richter’s abstract paintings are intended to be precisely that: abstract paintings. He works hard to remove any hint of a motif, forcing the viewer to look again and again at his work in order to seek understanding. While the lack of any legible element may seem frustrating, it also forces the viewer to open his or her mind, or interpretative faculties, appreciating each and every detail of the painted surface in the quest for elements to read. The lack of a motif in Abstraktes Bild fits with Richter’s outlook, itself coloured by his own experiences under various ideological realms in the twentieth century - Nazism, Socialism, Capitalism. He has removed any overt design, instead permitting the painting to suggest itself and evolve: 'No ideology. No religion, no belief, no meaning, no imagination, no invention, no creativity, no hope - but painting like Nature, painting as change, becoming, emerging, being-there, thusness; without an aim, and just as right, logical, perfect and incomprehensible’ (Gerhard Richter 1985, quoted in H.-U. Obrist (ed.), Gerhard Richter The Daily Practice of Painting. Writings and Interviews 1962-1993, trans. D. Britt, London, 1995, p. 121). While this was already the case in Richter’s earlier abstract paintings, the use of the squeegee allowed him to tap into this notion of an ever-shifting, self-formulating order all the more eloquently. As Dietmar Elger has written: 'For Richter, the squeegee is the most important implement for integrating coincidence into his art. For years, he used it sparingly, but he came to appreciate how the structure of paint applied with a squeegee can never be completely controlled. It thus introduces a moment of surprise that often enables him to extricate himself from a creative dead-end, destroying a prior, unsatisfactory effort and opening the door to a fresh start. 'It is a good technique for switching off thinking,' Richter h