1999.198 Gerhard Richter, Family (Familie)


GENERAL DESCRIPTION  
In 1962, Gerhard Richter began to create paintings based on photographs. He applied slight manipulations—such as a notable blurring effect—when he executed the paintings. The differences between the original image and the reproduction introduce psychological depth and complicate the notion of photographs as truthful. Certain paintings and source images became editioned prints, a practice rooted in Richter’s interest in mass production. His portraits are drawn from diverse sources, including media images and personal photographs of his family members. The portraits are exercises in representation in which the inconsistencies between appearance and reality obscure the viewer’s assumptions about both the image and the subject. Richter’s work straddles subjectivity and objectivity, authorship and anonymity, evasion and confrontation, and its power often rests in these contradictions.

Excerpt from
  • Label text, From Düsseldorf to Dallas: Postwar German Art in the DMA Collection, 2018.

NOTES
Streamlined process: did not get object file. No provenance or geography research. CLC, 12/2018. 

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers

Cultures

Geography 

Process/materials

Historical periods

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RELATED OBJECTS 

PROVENANCE 

AUDIO ASSETS 

VIDEO ASSETS

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES 
  • Guggenheim~Find out more about Richter and his various projects. 
  • Dallas Museum of Art~Review the 2018 exhibition From Düsseldorf to Dallas: Postwar German Art in the DMA Collection. 

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS

TEACHING IDEAS

RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1999.198

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General Description
 
In 1962, Gerhard Richter began to create paintings based on photographs. He applied slight manipulations—such as a notable blurring effect—when he executed the paintings. The differences between the original image and the reproduction introduce psychological depth and complicate the notion of photographs as truthful. Certain paintings and source images became editioned prints, a practice rooted in Richter’s interest in mass production. His portraits are drawn from diverse sources, including media images and personal photographs of his family members. The portraits are exercises in representation in which the inconsistencies between appearance and reality obscure the viewer’s assumptions about both the image and the subject. Richter’s work straddles subjectivity and objectivity, authorship and anonymity, evasion and confrontation, and its power often rests in these contradictions.

Excerpt from
  • Label text, From Düsseldorf to Dallas: Postwar German Art in the DMA Collection, 2018.

Fun Facts

Archival Resources

Web Resources
 
  • Guggenheim~Find out more about Richter and his various projects. 
  • Dallas Museum of Art~Review the 2018 exhibition From Düsseldorf to Dallas: Postwar German Art in the DMA Collection. 

Notes
Streamlined process: did not get object file. No provenance or geography research. CLC, 12/2018. 

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers

Cultures

Geography 

Process/materials

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS 

PROVENANCE 

AUDIO ASSETS 

VIDEO ASSETS

rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1999.198
tags
#draft
#completed
%Archived
painting (visual works): AAT: 300033618
*Contemporary Art
@Courtney
%ProvenancePending
#routed
%copyedited_Heather
subjects (content of works): AAT: 300404126
portrait: AAT: 300015637
photographs: AAT: 300046300
objects: AAT: 300312158
mass production: AAT: 300066040
families: AAT: 300055474
prints (visual works): AAT: 300041273
screen printing: AAT: 300053281
Richter_Gerhard: ULAN: 500003003
truth: AAT: 300068765
editions: AAT: 300121294
National Socialism: AAT: 300055524
blur: AAT: 300263272
appropriation (imagery): AAT: 300180375
representations: AAT: 300069747
fascism: AAT: 300055523
source file
object_notes_1_a-0113.xml.nores