Page 31 - The MoMA/ Guggenheim issue of World of Art magazine (2001)

MoMA The Museum of Moder Art New York

Richter completed a startling
In 1988 cycle of fifteen black-and-
white paintings titled October 18, 1977, based on
press photographs of the Baader-Meinhof group—a
band of German radicals turned terrorists who PAGe 24: GerHArd rIcHTer
WIeSeNTAl
died in a Stuttgart prison on that date in tragic and 1985 oIl oN cANVAS 35 5/8” x 37 ½” / 90,5 x 94,9 cm
highly controversial circumstances. This group of THe mUSeUm oF moderN ArT NeW YorK, NeW YorK
paintings marks a turning point in Richter’s career, BeTSY BABcocK, ANd mrS. elISABeTH BlISS
PArKINSoN FUNdS, 1985
which had previously been interpreted as detached ©GerHArd rIcHTer © THe mUSeUm oF moderN ArT
and ironic. The most recent work in this exhibition, NeW YorK, NeW YorK, JoHN WroNN
from the 1990s to the present, including the Moritz
series (2000–01)—which have not been widely
seen in America—reveals a gentle, occasionally PAGe 25: GerHArd rIcHTer
deAd (ToTe)
elegiac sensibility despite the abiding critical 1963 oIl oN cANVAS 34 ¾” x 59 1/6” / 100 x 150 cm
severity of Richter’s painterly identity. PrIVATe collecTIoN. FrANKFUrT
©GerHArd rIcHTer ©Axel ScHNeIder, FrANKFUrT
In every aspect of his varied output, Richter has
assumed a skeptical distance from vanguardists PAGe 26: GerHArd rIcHTer
and conservatives alike regarding what painting mUSTANG SqUAdroN (mUSTANG STAFFel)
should be, choosing instead to test the limits of 1964 oIl oN cANVAS 34 5/8” x 65” / 88 x 165 cm
collecTIoN oF roBerT leHmAN, WASHINGToN, d.c.
what he as an artist can create out of the formal ©GerHArd rIcHTer ©mArK GUleZIAN, TAKomA
conventions and contradictory ideological legacy of PArK, md
the medium. The result, paradoxically, has been the
most thorough dismantling of those conventions
and at the same time one of the most convincing PAGe 27: GerHArd rIcHTer
SelF-PorTrAIT (SelBSPorTrAIT)
demonstrations of painting’s renewed vitality to be 1996 oIl oN lINeN 20 1/8” x 18 1/4” / 51,1 x 46,3 cm
found in late 20th- and early 21st-century art. THe mUSeUm oF moderN ArT NeW YorK,
FrAcTIoNAl ANd PromISed GIFT oF roNAld
S. lAUder ANd commITTee oN PAINTING ANd
After its showing at MoMA, ScUlPTUre FUNdS, 1996
©GerHArd rIcHTer © THe mUSeUm oF moderN ArT
Travel the exhibition will embark NeW YorK, NeW YorK, PAIGe KNIGHT
on a national tour to The Art Institute of
Chicago (June 22–September 15, 2002); the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art (October 11,
2002–January 14, 2003); and the Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
(February 20–May 18, 2003).

The exhibition is
Publication accompanied by a
comprehensive illustrated catalogue featuring an
extensive critical essay by the curator, an interview
with the artist, chronology, exhibition history,
and bibliography. Gerhard Richter: Forty Years
of Paintings contains over 200 color and duotone
reproductions and numerous gatefolds; 336 pages.
It is published by The Museum of Modern Art,
New York, and distributed by D.A.P./Distributed
Art Publishers (see separate release for detailed
information).

This exhibition
Sponsorship is sponsored
by Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder. Generous
support is also provided by Mimi and Peter Haas.
An indemnity has been granted by the Federal
Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The
accompanying publication is made possible by the
Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund. Additional
funding is provided by Leila and Melville Straus
and The Contemporary Arts Council and The
Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art.

WORLD of ART 29