Mao (Butin 10)

Based on a 1967 newspaper photograph, Richter's haunting image of Mao is one of the defining portraits from the artist's early Capitalist Realism phase. Working primarily from newpaper and magazine photographs, Richter and fellow artist Sigmar Polke converted the imagery destined for popular consumption into ironic criticisms of contemporary German consumer culture. The artist's choice of collotype here lends the image a ghostly quality, whilst also re-enforcing a sensibility for inexpensive 'non art' which could be disseminated to a wide audience. Although published in a larger edition, an example of the rare signed version of Mao has not appeared on the market since 2006, and in total only 5 have been offered at auction since 1991. Examples from the larger unsigned edition can be found in the permanent collections of New York's MoMA and the Dallas Museum of Art.