For the first time in Dresden, the Gerhard Richter Archive of the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD) is showing a selection of the Overpainted Photographs by Gerhard Richter. Of the 72 works in total that will be on view at the Albertinum from 26 August 2023, 36 come from the holdings of the Gerhard Richter Kunststiftung, founded by the artist in 2019, and 36 from private collections.
Richter's œuvre of the past six decades is characterised by the dialogue and confrontation of representational and abstract pictorial strategies. In no other group of the artist's works do both styles enter into a similar symbiosis as in the small-format Overpainted Photographs.
In 1991, Gerhard Richter commented on the genesis of these works: "Photography has almost no reality, is almost only image. And painting always has reality, the colour can be touched, it has presence; but it always results in a picture - no matter how good or bad. Theory that is of no use. I took little photos that I smeared with paint. That's where something of this problematic came together, and that's quite good, better than what I could say about it."
Richter began these works in 1986. All the formats exhibited are unusually small, around 10×15 cm each. He uses ordinary photographs, mostly taken by himself, as the basis for the pictures. The photographs lack any artistic character. They are snapped motifs of family celebrations and outings, people, landscapes or architecture, including a view of Dresden.
The Overpainted Photographs are closely connected with his painterly work. After the daily work on the large paintings in the studio, Richter pulls the photographs through the still damp paint residues on the squeegee. The result of this action is strongly influenced by chance and surprising new realities emerge. With the declared end of his painterly work in 2017, Gerhard Richter also concludes his work on the Overpainted Photographs.
Richter's œuvre of the past six decades is characterised by the dialogue and confrontation of representational and abstract pictorial strategies. In no other group of the artist's works do both styles enter into a similar symbiosis as in the small-format Overpainted Photographs.
In 1991, Gerhard Richter commented on the genesis of these works: "Photography has almost no reality, is almost only image. And painting always has reality, the colour can be touched, it has presence; but it always results in a picture - no matter how good or bad. Theory that is of no use. I took little photos that I smeared with paint. That's where something of this problematic came together, and that's quite good, better than what I could say about it."
Richter began these works in 1986. All the formats exhibited are unusually small, around 10×15 cm each. He uses ordinary photographs, mostly taken by himself, as the basis for the pictures. The photographs lack any artistic character. They are snapped motifs of family celebrations and outings, people, landscapes or architecture, including a view of Dresden.
The Overpainted Photographs are closely connected with his painterly work. After the daily work on the large paintings in the studio, Richter pulls the photographs through the still damp paint residues on the squeegee. The result of this action is strongly influenced by chance and surprising new realities emerge. With the declared end of his painterly work in 2017, Gerhard Richter also concludes his work on the Overpainted Photographs.
