Gerhard Richter: October 18, 1977

by Robert Storr

A Museum of Modern Art Book Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) is one of the most highly regarded of contemporary artists, and his series of 15 paintings known as October 18, 1977, is one of the 20th century's most famous works on a political theme. It commemorates the day on which three young German radicals, members of the militant Baader-Meinhof group, were found dead in a Stuttgart prison; they were pronounced suicides, but many people suspected that they had been murdered. Richter's paintings, created 11 years after this traumatic event, are among the most challenging works of the artist's career. These hauntingly powerful images, derived from newspaper and police photography, are now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and will be on view beginning in September 2000 as part of the MoMA2000 series of exhibitions. In this book, Robert Storr provides necessary political background to the series, but his approach is art historical, offering insight into the complexities of "history painting" in the modern era. ROBERT STORR is curator in the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Painting and Sculpture. His previous books, also available from Abrams, include Modern Art Despite Modernism, Tony Smith, and Chuck Close. 85 illustrations, 65 in full color, 9 x 111/2"

Genres: Art

128 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

Robert Storr is an American curator, critic, painter, and writer.

Reviews

[Christine Canepa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this one rainy winter weekend at Orr, and was hands-down delighted that the weather was perfectly calibrated to the tone of my reading material. For anyone interested in Richter, painting, radical left-wing movements of the 1970's and the failures thereof, modern European history, or just great stories, the book is divided into 4 meaty chapters on the aforementioned topics. Super engaging and highly informative!

"Fun" fact: Badder-Meinhof trained went to Palestine to train in PLO in guerilla tactics, but were asked to leave because the palestinians didn't appreciate the German girls sunbathing topless.

[sophie fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

i had to write this for a paper i don’t want to write. the book was fine.

[k · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great MOMA show a few years ago. I got this book and the catalog there. Richter is brilliant and these paintings, a series he did of the Baader-Meinhof group and their murder (suicides) in German prisons was stark and powerful. This is a wonderful essay by the great Robert Storrs.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richter explores the color gray with a cool mechanistic physical touch, manipulating the paint with a dry lyricism fitting for his elegiac studies of the doomed Baader-Meinhof collective. Haunting.