Gerhard Richter: Rock (694), 1989
Often, it takes weeks until Gerhard Richter is finally satisfied with one of his abstract paintings – until there is no danger of him reworking the canvas, until he feels it needs nothing more. As difficult as it may be for him to express this moment in words, when it finally arrives, he seems to know it with absolute certainty.
If you look at the canvas from a slight distance from the side, you’ll notice it has several layers indicative of the work’s long creative process. But the origin of the work, the very first layer, has long disappeared. Richter begins with a ground of several colours applied with a broad brush across the canvas. For the next layers, he often uses a kind of squeegee – a narrow bladed tool around two meters long fitted with a wooden handle. He applies the paint to his signature squeegee and then drags it with the colour across the canvas. The new colour covers the layers below or blends into them.
Richter can influence various aspects of this process, including the direction of movement, its speed, and the pressure he applies, but the result is always partially a question of chance. After each application of paint, Richter steps back to consider the composition’s momentary state. The painting has to assert itself, stand up to the artist’s critical eye – and if it doesn’t, then he overpaints it again.
Rock dates from 1989. This is one of Richter’s few Abstract Paintings not only given a serial number, but also a title. At the centre of its vibrant structure, you can discern a certain stability, perhaps a sort of rock-like formation. Kerstin Küster, a member of the team at the Gerhard Richter Archive, suspects this work might be a commentary on Germany’s reunification – something Richter anticipated very early on, even shortly after he fled East Germany for the West in 1961.
Further Media
How Rock entered the Albertinum collection
Rock is one of Gerhard Richter’s largest squeegee paintings. Kerstin Küster tells how the work entered the Albertinum collection:
“Rock" is special as it has been in the Albertinum since 2002, though on permanent loan and not as part of the collection. Originally, Richter donated Rock for a charity auction on 30 November 2002 to raise funds for the SKD – the Dresden State Art Collections– which had been severely damaged when the River Elbe flooded in 2002. With some museums inundated with water, the SKD clearly needed to construct flood-proof storage facilities. Against this background, together with the directors of other museums, Martin Roth, then the SKD director, set about contacting artists to ask them to donate works for an auction. The proceeds were earmarked for the various building projects. In cooperation with Sotheby’s, the auction was held in Berlin’s National Gallery on 30 November 2002.
Gerhard Richter’s painting was one of the largest in the sale. Fortunately, at the end of the auction the painting’s new owner approached Martin Roth to suggest the work should remain in the Albertinum on permanent loan. Since Gerhard Richter had donated the painting to the Albertinum in the first place, the owner said, it ought to stay here on permanent loan – which has led to us affectionately calling it ‘solid as a rock’.
Martin Roth also had the idea of setting up the Gerhard Richter Archive in Dresden – and similarly envisaged rooms permanently dedicated to showing Richter’s works. Gerhard Richter, who was born in Dresden, supported the project. In 2004, he made a large collection of his works available, and the Richter Archive was established here in 2006.
Together with the works the SKD has acquired and private loans, our collection now offers one of the most comprehensive overviews of Gerhard Richter’s oeuvre.
- Material & Technique
- Oil on canvas
- Museum
- Gerhard Richter Archiv
- Dating
- Köln 1989
- Inventory number
- Leih-Nr. L 169