Dieter Schwarz - Böcker

Gerhard Richter describes himself as a "classical painter," and the exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris aims to showcase the complete evolution of his career, spanning over six decades. It will highlight both the continuities and disruptions in his work, which includes not only painting but also exquisite drawings, over-painted photographs, and sculptures. Located in Frank Gehry's iconic building in Bois de Boulogne, the exhibition will be organised chronologically, allowing visitors to appreciate the unique characteristics of each piece. Trained in Dresden, Richter is interested in historical genres of painting and seeks to reinterpret them in the context of contemporary times, revealing beauty and ethical issues through seemingly conventional subjects. He has also explored various painting techniques, creating works that range from quiet and refined to those bursting with energy, reflecting his physical engagement in the creative process.

This highly anticipated catalogue, accompanying Gerhard Richter’s first exhibition with David Zwirner, presents Richter’s last paintings along with his recent explorations in drawing, printing, and sculpture. ---------- “[His last paintings] can feel almost like exquisite texts to be read. . . . Their freshness and spontaneity feels like a new beginning.” — Roberta Smith, The New York Times ----------- Known for his abstract and realist paintings, Gerhard Richter has pursued a diverse and influential practice characterized by a decades-long commitment to the medium and its formal and conceptual possibilities. This remarkable book celebrates the breadth of Richter’s newest bodies of work and archives a historical moment in the artist’s career. Full-color plates and installation views showcase a selection of the artist’s final works on canvas—made just before he announced his retirement from oil painting in 2017—alongside an expansive suite of new drawings made with ink, graphite, and colored pencil on paper, a remarkable series of chromatic inkjet prints titled mood, and a stunning glass sculpture that debuted at the exhibition in New York. A newly commissioned essay by Dieter Schwarz, one of the foremost experts on Richter’s oeuvre, illustrates the artist’s path toward his newest bodies of work, revealing the creative process behind his iconic practice.

An extensive look at Robert Ryman’s formative work from the early 1960s, as well as his last series of paintings. In the 1960s, Robert Ryman began to firmly establish the broad parameters of his radical and inventive practice. While he initially gained recognition for work he made in the late 1960s and early 1970s, his earlier paintings have remained less widely seen. This publication includes representative works of all facets of Ryman’s painterly practice during this time—influenced by his career as a jazz musician—including his use of thick impasto brushstrokes on both stretched and unstretched canvas; heavily or sparsely worked paintings in both small and large formats; and a group of rarely seen works on raw linen, each featuring one or several seemingly complete, independent compositions. Many of these works feature subtle suggestions of colorful underpainting that leave an outsized effect on the viewing experience, while in other works Ryman’s assertive use of green, red, and blue intensifies the visual presence of the various white tones. Revealing the breadth of Ryman’s work, this catalogue also includes a selection of drawings, many of which were made concurrently with the early works, as well as his last paintings. The final canvases demonstrate the inexhaustible and probing nature of Ryman’s singular approach to painting over his five-decade career. The details reveal the visual presence of various white tones, creating an interplay between color and absence and dimensionality that characterizes much of Ryman’s oeuvre.