Gerhard Richter 80

Gerhard Richter was born on 9 February 1932 in Dresden, the son of a Nazi. He grew up in East Germany but fled communism and moved to the West in 1961.

Always an ardent observer, Richter's work reflects the world around him and his themes vary accordingly. From Red Army Faction terrorists to boarding a flight bound for New York on the morning of 11 September 2001, Richter's world finds its way into his work.

Shy by nature, the artist rarely talks about his art and shuns the celebrity hype that has accompanied his career. He is not impressed by the extravagant prices his art fetches, which he considers to be "as absurd as the financial crisis."  That rare statement from Richter, came last year when his painting "Candle" was auctioned for 12 million Euros.

Art or kitsch?

Critics describe Richter's paintings as serene. Indeed, at first glance they can even appear motionless.  His painting "Candle," was inspired by a photo. Here he utilizes a technique that combines fresh paint with a dry brush, to create a blurred image. Taking a candle as a motif for a picture is not new, but, despite this or perhaps because of this, it still intrigues Richter.

The Director of Cologne's Museum Ludwig, Kasper König, is an expert on Gerhard Richter's work. He said on one side, the candle represents kitsch, and on the other, it is symbolic of civilization - life, light, color, progress and transience.

Inspired by photos

Gerhard Richter left his hometown of Dresden in 1961 and moved to the West, where he settled in Dusseldorf and studied at the city's Art Academy.  Surrounded by Nazi art as a child and then experiencing the overwhelmingly propaganda-based art of the former GDR in his youth, the young artist had little motivation to continue painting.

Consequently he hung newspaper photographs next to his canvas and painted them. Initially he copied the black and gray compositions of the original photo, but later, changed his technique and worked with color, often blurring the images.

"Ema", painted in 1966, is an important work that today belongs to Cologne's Museum Ludwig. Here Richter uses one of his own photos for the first time.  "It is a nude and absolutely not pornographic," says Kasper König, who has directed two major exhibitions of Richter's works.

Nude painting reinterpreted

In the 60s, nude paintings had little appeal to artists. Many felt that there was little left to say after the work of Marcel Duchamp in the early 1900s. Richter felt differently. He was inspired by Duchamp's renowned painting "Nude Descending a Staircase," and created a Polaroid photo of his wife Ema, naked and descending the stairs at their home in Düsseldorf.

Richter blurred the photographic image with paint thus making the picture anonymous and giving it once again a private character.  "It was very innovative to be working with a Polaroid camera at that time," says König.

This pivotal work was one that saw Gerhard Richter becoming a much sought-after artist and exhibiting in galleries and museums the world over. In 1971 he became a professor at the Dusseldorf Art Academy.

Confronting German history

Gerhard Richter has created around 1000 works over the last fifty years. Among the most controversial of these was his "Stammheim cycle" from 1988, a series of 15 works painted in a mixture of black, grey and white.

One work titled "October 18, 1977" is in reference to the day prisoners of the Red Army Faction - a terrorist organization from the 70s - were found dead in their cells. Utilizing faint images from photographs, Richter includes a youthful portrait of the renowned terrorist Ulrike Meinhof, the interior of a prison cell, a man hanging in a cell and the burial of the RAF prisoners in Stuttgart.

Although, it was a controversial time in German history, few could understand why the RAF topic interested Richter so much.  New York's Museum of Modern Art purchased the 15 paintings of the cycle in 1995, for 3 million US dollars.

The cathedral window

The 113-square-foot window in the south transept of the Cologne cathedral is possibly Richter's greatest coup.  The design incorporates 11,500 small squares of stained glass that depending on where the sunlight is coming can,  project dancing points of light throughout the cathedral. The vibrant colors range from royal blue to orange to violet.

Barbara Schock-Werner, the architect responsible for the continual restoration work on the Cologne Cathedral, recalls how Gerhard Richter responded to her proposal to create the window.

"He simply said, I can give it a try," said Schock-Werner who, like so many, is thrilled with the effect created by the small panes of color. "The window has exceeded our expectations. Some days the effect is so dazzling, it's almost unbearable. "

A unique present

Today Gerhard Richter's work is one of the most sought after on the art market. Collectors at auctions have been known to pay several million Euros for his work.

For Museum Ludwig Director, Kasper König, Richter is symbolic of just how irrational the art world can be.  "People like Richter's art and even buy works they haven't seen." Indeed, many do see the work as an investment.

For his 80th birthday Gerhard Richter has requested no gifts. But Barbara Schock-Werner, has none-the-less come up with something very special. She will present the artist with a stone from the Cologne cathedral for his garden.

"It is a piece of a buttress, which has a very special form. The unique surface is representative of the entire history of the cathedral."

Author: Sabine Oelze / bos

Editor: André Leslie