Gerhard Richter: A Life in Painting

by Dietmar Elger, Elizabeth M. Solaro (Translator)

Gerhard Richter is one of the most important and influential artists of the post-war era. For decades he has sought innovative ways to make painting more relevant, often through a multifaceted dialogue with photography. Today Richter is most widely recognized for the photo-paintings he made during the 1960s that rely on images culled from mass media and pop culture. Always fascinated with the limits and uncertainties of representation, he has since then produced landscapes, abstractions, glass and mirror constructions, prints, sculptures, and installations.

           

Though Richter has been known in the United States for quite some time, the highly successful retrospective of his work at the MoMA in 2002 catapulted him to unprecedented fame. Enter noted curator Dietmar Elger, who here presents the first biography of this contemporary artist. Written with full access to Richter and his archives, this fascinating book offers unprecedented insight into his life and work. Elger explores Richter’s childhood in Nazi Germany; his years as a student and mural painter in communist East Germany; his time in the West during the turbulent 1960s and ’70s, when student protests, political strife, and violence tore the Federal Republic of Germany apart; and his rise to international acclaim during the 1980s and beyond.

           

Richter has always been a difficult personality to parse and the seemingly contradictory strands of his artistic practice have frustrated and sometimes confounded critics. But the extensive interviews on which this book is based disclose a Richter who is far more candid, personal, and vivid than ever before. The result is a book that will be the foundational portrait of this artist for years to come.

Genres: Art, Biography

408 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

well written but a little dry, maybe from the translation from german? either way, great if you already know richter's work, probably too boring if you don't. helped to make some connections with his bodies of work i didn't pick up on.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first saw Richter's art at a retrospective in San Francisco about 15 years ago. In November of 2017 at the Chicago Art Institute, I saw a few more. I remembered his paintings taken from photographs of the bodies of members of the Baader Meinhof Group. A band of German terrorists who were active in the sixties. The starkness of the paintings made the subjects grimmer. A lot of Richter's art was the meshing of photography and painting. Elger does a good job reporting the progress of his art and his life. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot about his thinking the drove his art.

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great place to start if you want to understand the man and his art. Methodical and a little dry, it’s nonetheless a great read for Richter fans like me. I loved reading about his early days in the GDR and his transition to the West in the early 60s. His time in Düsseldorf at art school is filled with a cast of inspiring characters Beauys, Luig, Polke, Palermo...

[Chris Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a biography in the usual sense, but a record of art-making and exhibits. Seekers of personal-life info will likely be disappointed.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

engaging bio and beautiful images - makes a great gift

[Mauberley]

x

[Shannon]

Another Xmas gift from Lacey!