Sale: 425 / Post War / Contemporary Art, June 12./13. 2015 in Munich Lot 870

 

870
Gerhard Richter
Snow White, 2005.
Acrylic
Estimate:
€ 40,000 / $ 42,800
Sold:
€ 77,500 / $ 82,925

(incl. surcharge)
Snow White. 2005.
Acrylic paint and pencil over offset print on light board, twice laminated on backing board.
Butin 132. Signed, dated 'Nov 05' and numbered in lower margin. From an edition of 100 copies. 22.5 x 31.9 cm (8.8 x 12.5 in). Backing board: 44,5 x 54 cm (17,6 x 21,2 in).
Offset print by Sun M. Color Co., Ltd., Kyoto. Published by Wako Works of Art, Tokyo. The offset print is based on a photography of the oil painting 'Abstraktes Bild" from 2004, of which two different details were used for this edition, in some cases they were rotated before the overpainting. [JS].

While abstract works from the late 1970s and 1980s, such as the painting 'Vögel' (catalog raisonné 509, 1984), hint at figurative associations through title and enigmatic codes, Richter completed his detachment from any concreteness whatsoever in his abstract works from the 1990s. Richter began to work the canvas with the squeegee and did not only ban any figurative associations but also the artist's signature, the characteristic stroke of the brush, from his work. This way he transfers the concealing blur, which had already characterized his figurative works, to his abstract oeuvre. The intellectually conceived application of the paint trails away into a seemingly incidental color veil through the treatment, behind which the original composition is just hinted at. Just as it is the case with the paintings, the squeegee technique also has an effect of disguise and alienation of the motif in this work. This way Richter's strange creations become arresting accounts of the unknown.



870
Gerhard Richter
Snow White, 2005.
Acrylic
Estimate:
€ 40,000 / $ 42,800
Sold:
€ 77,500 / $ 82,925

(incl. surcharge)