Beschreibung:

Gerhard Richter U.L. 1985 oil on canvas 82 x 67 cm (32 1/4 x 26 3/8 in.) Signed, numbered and dated 'Richter 1985 579-3' on the reverse.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Private Collection, Bern Marian Goodman Gallery, New York C & M Arts, New York Property From An Important California Collection, 2005 London, Christie's, Contemporary Art Evening Sale, 11 October 2012, lot 13 Acquired from the above sale by the present owner Literature J. Harten & D. Elger, Gerhard Richter Bilder 1962-1985, Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf 1986, no. 579-3, p. 333 (illustrated) B. Buchloh, Gerhard Richter Werkübersicht/Catalogue Raisonné, vol. III: 1962-1993, Ostfildern-Ruit 1993, no. 579-3 (illustrated) M. Hierholzer, Gerhard Richter in: Deutschland/Germany, February 1998, p. 65 (illustrated) M. Thibaut, Mit Vernunft und Zurückhaltung, in: Handelsblatt, 19, 20, 21 October 2012, p. 76 D. Elger, Gerhard Richter Catalogue Raisonné, vol. 3: 1976-1987, Ostfildern-Ruit 2013, p. 463, no. 579-3 (illustrated) Catalogue Essay Gerhard Richter first engaged with the beginnings of geometric abstraction in his colour chart works carried out in the late 1960’s. Returning to them in the early 70’s he integrated chance into his choice of palette rather than constraining his selection to the industrial paint charts from which he started. In this decade he also began his painting technique referred to as ‘Vermalung’, or ‘Inpainting’. This method involves the reworking of figurative painting to such an extent that most or all of the original image is eradicated. The inspiration for this transformation can be seen to lie in the artist’s interest in the ‘Art Informel’ movement, which denoted an improvisatory methodology and a highly gestural technique. The subsequent canvases feature a think impasto with clearly visible, sweeping and impulsive brushstrokes. Alongside his American contemporaries including Willem de Kooning Mark Rothko and Cy Twombly Richter was testing the perimeters and possibilities offered by minimalism and abstraction: ‘From 1968 through 1976 the monochrome preoccupied him, but by the latter part of the decade it became apparent to him that there was no way he could paint himself out of the gray corner he had been led into by the example of minimalism and his own anti-expressive inclinations.’ (Robert Storr, Forty Years of Painting, p.68) His most celebrated breakthrough occurred in 1977, in the execution of the Abstraktes Bild series; colourful, bold paintings that feature a variety of surface textures and techniques. His development of abstraction carried on to dominate his oeuvre through the 1980’s. In 1985, when this particular lot was created, Richter was revelling in his period of highest critical acclaim and attention. The title of the lot itself refers to one of the renowned art historians who wrote about Richter during this period. U.L., in fact, comprises its name from the initials of the curator Ulrich Loock, who was particularly interested in the artist's work. Loock was one of the collaborators in the organisation of the retrospective carried out in the year after the painting's completion, and was also one of the authors of the artist’s catalogue of oeuvres. The work is one out of four that share this quality of academic and critic muse as dedication (the second being B.B., in reference to Benjamin Buchloh the art writer, the third, C.B., to Coosje Van Bruggen and the fourth to Denys Zacharopoulos, who was one of the contributing writers in the Catalogue formation along with Loock himself). U.L. is an aptly detailed and critical investigation into perception, space, form and colour. The multilayered surface permits glimpses into different layers of medium, expression and interpretation, allowing the viewer to see into the artist’s mind and creative process. The canvas presents a logical progression from his previous Photorealist interest, mainly explored in the early 80’s. The reveal of the smooth, photo-realist blue segment in the left section of the painting confirms this conceptual and technical backdrop, looking into the reduction of forms and t