Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter Souvenir 1995 Oil on canvas 21 x 21 cm. On support card 42.5 x 34.5 cm. Framed under glass. Signed and numbered verso on edition label on frame. Edition 43 of a 64-part work. Edition Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London. Dietmar Elger, Gerhard Richter, Catalogue Raisonné, Vol.4, 1988-1994, Ostfildern 2015, cat.rais.no.681-24 Hubertus Butin et.al. (ed.), Gerhard Richter, Editionen 1965–2013, Ostfildern-Ruit 2014, cat.rais.no.84 Provenance Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco (label verso); private collection, Hong Kong To the editions „Souvenir“ and „Miniatures“, painted in 1995 and 1996, Hubertus Butin explains in „Gerhard Richter, Unikate in Serie“: „The 64 copies of each of the two editions are based on oil paintings, which had already received separate catalogue raisonné numbers (CR of the paintings: 813-1 and 767-6). However, the artist transformed the multi-colored images into editions by cutting the canvases into small squares, individually mounting them on card and then having them framed. After this fragmentation, each copy shows a different section and distinct motif. Despite the slightly brutal handling of the canvas by cutting it with a carpet knife, all images show an aesthetically delicate structure that seems to want for nothing. While „Souvenir“ is based on a purely squeegeed structure, „Miniatures“ shows both squeegeed and scraped off areas, revealing underlying paint layers; this results in an increased penetration of the different layers.“ (Hubertus Butin, Gerhard Richter, Unikate in Serie, Cologne 2017, S.111)