Gerhard RICHTER

(1932)

Other possible identifications: after, manner

Biography

Born in 1932 in Dresden, Gerhard Richter moved to West Germany in 1961 where he started painting his first Photopaintings, works made from existing images (his own photos or press or amateur shots) which he transformed into pictorial objects.Resembling blurred photographs, these canvases were quickly noticed on the international scene.In 1972 he represented Germany at the 36 th Venice Biennale with 48 portraits based on photos of famous men.Like Andy Warhol, Richter “mechanized” his production, making canvases from “ready-made” images and using the “scraping” technique. In the 1980s, his first abstract works – invariably titled Asbtraktes bild – added a new dimension to the colorfields of American Abstract Expressionism (Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, etc.). In the early 2000s, his traveling exhibition Forty Years of Painting (curator: Robert Storr) was highly acclaimed at the MoMA. He subsequently became one of the most important painters of his generation and his prices rocketed. Between 2011 and 2018, 23 of his works fetched sums above the $20 million threshold. One of them, acquired in 1999 for $607,500 (Abstraktes bild, Sotheby’s, 18 May 1999) resold for $46.3 million at Sotheby’s in 2015.

Born in 1932 in Dresden, Gerhard Richter moved to West Germany in 1961 where he started painting his first Photopaintings, works made from existing images

(his own photos or press or amateur shots) which he transformed into pictorial objects.Resembling blurred photographs, these canvases were quickly noticed on the international scene.In 1972 he represented Germany at the 36 th Venice Biennale with 48 portraits based on photos of famous men.Like Andy Warhol, Richter “mechanized” his production, making canvases from “ready-made” images and using the “scraping” technique. In the 1980s, his first abstract works – invariably titled Asbtraktes bild – added a new dimension to the colorfields of American Abstract Expressionism (Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, etc.). In the early 2000s, his traveling exhibition Forty Years of Painting (curator: Robert Storr) was highly acclaimed at the MoMA. He subsequently became one of the most important painters of his generation and his prices rocketed. Between 2011 and 2018, 23 of his works fetched sums above the $20 million threshold. One of them, acquired in 1999 for $607,500 (Abstraktes bild, Sotheby’s, 18 May 1999) resold for $46.3 million at Sotheby’s in 2015.

Auction results

All auction results	6,397
Print-Multiple	3,201
Painting	2,035
Photography	868
Drawing-Watercolor	175
Sculpture-Volume	84
Tapestry	28
Objects	4
Furniture	2
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7 results for other identifications

Artworks up for public auction

Print-Multiple	4

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ArtMarket® Insight contents

Works by Old Masters, Impressionists, Modern artists and Contemporary artists were all on offer in prestige sales that ended a few days ago most of which defiantly ignored traditional classifications. Christie’s had a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton and a painting by Monet, while Sotheby’s offered three sculptural Alfa-Romeos by Franco Scaglione alongside a work by Richard […]

Kicking off the season of German art fairs, Art Karlsruhe (13-16 February 2020) will be opening the doors of the city’s vast exhibition center for the 17th time since 2004. The fair, which focuses on artistic creation from the 20th century, has stabilized its position in Europe, with over 50,000 visitors to each of the […]

In Artprice’s fortnightly series of auction rankings identifying the Art Market’s primary trends – this week’s Friday Top article looks at the top 10 results hammered by Phillips during the first quarter of 2019. Richter, Lichtenstein, Kippenberger, Basquiat, Brown, Wool and Kaws … Phillips is increasingly taking a leading position on the Contemporary Art market […]

Every other Friday, Artprice posts a “Top” ranking that provides insight into the Art market’s major trends. This week, we look at the artists who have generated the best auction results in Post-War and Contemporary Art so far this year. The prestige sales held during February and March this year highlight four works which each […]

With the value of sterling contracting against the dollar over the last two years in reaction to Brexit, buying art in London has become slightly more attractive for a market whose principal language is the dollar. While Sotheby’s is claiming that its latest Impressionist & Modern Art sale attracted the most international list of registered […]