From a Private New York Collection

*Gerhard Richter (German, b.1932 )
Vermalung (Braun) or Inpainting (brown), 1972
oil on canvas
Signed and dated in oil on verso “Richter 72”
Inscribed in red oil on verso “23”
10 1⁄2 x 16 inches

$10,000 – 20,000

One of the most important German artists of the post-World War II period, Gerhard Richter began his career apprenticing as an advertising and stage-set painter before studying at the Dresden Art Academy from 1951 to 1956. Following three years as a master class student at the Academy, Richter emigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany, just two months before the Berlin Wall went up. From 1961 to 1963, he studied under Karl Otto Götz at the Duesseldorf Academy of Arts. In 1962, influenced by Giacometti and Dubuffet, he started with representational paintings based on photographs. His first solo exhibitions were held in 1964, in Munich and Duesseldorf. In 1967 Richter became guest lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg, and in 1971 he was offered a chair at the Academy of Arts in Duesseldorf, which he held until 1996.

The Vermalung, or “inpaintings” series parallels Richter’s journey into abstraction. Many of these works might have started out as figurative images that the artist “painted into” to such a degree that the original figural representation is either partially or completely reworked. The painterly quality evident in this series relies on heavy impasto and thick brushstrokes to emphasize gesture over expression. Paintings done in Richter’s Vermalung technique are grey, red-blue-yellow or as the example here, brown.

PROVENANCE
Wright 20 Auctions, “Important Design,” 20 May 2008, lot 556, sold for $45,600

LITERATURE
Catalog raisonné in progress, no. 325-23, see www.Gerhard-Richter.com for a list of works. Images have been submitted to the website for inclusion.

A tear was made to the center of the work, running horizontally for about 5 1/2 inches. This damage has been repaired on the reverse with small applications of paper and thread. The losses were filled and retouched. The work is not lined, the texture is not affected and in many respects the picture remains visually the same as it was. However, under close examination or ultraviolet examination the damage is clearly visible. (Condition report kindly provided by Simon Parkes, 09/23/14).