拍品專文
Kleiner Frauenkopf, 1966, exemplifies Gerhard Richter's early photo-realistic painting. The source material for this blurred, distorted portrait of a woman can be found among the first photos in Atlas, the artist's "picture archive", now in the collection of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich. As in many of these early paintings, including Ema, Nude Descending a Staircase and Lovers in the Forest, a certain sensuality and even eroticism plays a central role in the present work, intensified by the soft flowing contours brought about by the blurring of the image. Similar to Ema, however, the erotic aspect is softened somewhat by the graceful, elegant pose of the model.
Nevertheless, Richter has continually stressed that the image is of little interest to him. The goal of the German artist's photo-realist compostitions is not to reproduce a photograph or emphasize a particular theme. His works therefore fluctuate both conceptually and visually between realism and abstraction: "All that interests me is the grey areas, the interlockings. If I had any way of abandoning the object as the bearer of this structure, I would immediately start painting abstracts." (Gerhard Richter in: Gerhard Richter: The Daily Practice of Painting. Writings 1962-1993. Hans-Ulrich Obrist, London 1995, p. 37).
Kleiner Frauenkopf is one of Richter's earliest portraits, a theme which would become one of the most consistent and significant in the artist's oeuvre, culminating in the famous 48 Portraits of important historical personalities conceived for the German Pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 1972. As in this monumental series of portraits of famous men, the model for present work was chosen more for her posture and formal qualities than for any personal traits or characteristics. The model is insignificant, only the pose is of interest. The choice of the subject was based to a large extent on its banality and relates to Richter's similar selection of images of cars, chairs and family snap-shots as the inspiration of his photorealist paintings. Richter writes: "By painting from photos I was relieved of the obligations to choose and construct a subject. Admittedly, I had to choose the photographs but I was able to do this in a manner which avoided acknowledgement of the subject, namely through motifs which were less eye-catching and not of their time." (Ex. cat. Gerhard Richter, Tate Gallery, London 1991, p. 118).
Nevertheless, Richter has continually stressed that the image is of little interest to him. The goal of the German artist's photo-realist compostitions is not to reproduce a photograph or emphasize a particular theme. His works therefore fluctuate both conceptually and visually between realism and abstraction: "All that interests me is the grey areas, the interlockings. If I had any way of abandoning the object as the bearer of this structure, I would immediately start painting abstracts." (Gerhard Richter in: Gerhard Richter: The Daily Practice of Painting. Writings 1962-1993. Hans-Ulrich Obrist, London 1995, p. 37).
Kleiner Frauenkopf is one of Richter's earliest portraits, a theme which would become one of the most consistent and significant in the artist's oeuvre, culminating in the famous 48 Portraits of important historical personalities conceived for the German Pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 1972. As in this monumental series of portraits of famous men, the model for present work was chosen more for her posture and formal qualities than for any personal traits or characteristics. The model is insignificant, only the pose is of interest. The choice of the subject was based to a large extent on its banality and relates to Richter's similar selection of images of cars, chairs and family snap-shots as the inspiration of his photorealist paintings. Richter writes: "By painting from photos I was relieved of the obligations to choose and construct a subject. Admittedly, I had to choose the photographs but I was able to do this in a manner which avoided acknowledgement of the subject, namely through motifs which were less eye-catching and not of their time." (Ex. cat. Gerhard Richter, Tate Gallery, London 1991, p. 118).