Gerhard Richter
German, born 1932
24-3-86
INV-7348
Gerhard Richter
German, born 19321986
oil paintings (visual works)drawings (visual works)
Date
1986
Medium
Oil paint over a silver gelatin print
Dimensions
79.7 × 99.5 cm (31 7/16 × 39 3/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by Adele and Willard Gidwitz
By applying pigment to the surface of a photograph, Gerhard Richter questions the objective reality that it seems to document. Through strokes of paint, we see glimpses of the view lying underneath and recognize the rhythmic pattern of a rippling water surface. However, the acrylic paint interferes with our perception of an illusory three-dimensional space. The painterly, multicolored impasto, juxtaposed against the smooth, finished, monochromatic image, draws attention to the photograph as a two-dimensional reproduction, stressing the photograph's artifice.
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