The daily practice of painting

Gerhard Richter, born in Dresden in 1932, is one of the foremost painters of his generation. A great deal has been written about the bewildering heterogeneity of his work over the past 30 years, his seemingly willful and defiant movement between abstract and figurative modes of representation and his use of a variety of methods of applying paint to canvas. And Richter himself is the master of the paradoxical statement. Although he has emphasized that he is foremost a painter and has never been a theorist, throughout his career he has issued provocative and memorable statements. Over seven years in preparation, this book makes available a selection of Richter's texts, many translated for the first time. These texts come from all periods of his career, beginning with a letter he wrote to a film company promoting the first group show of German Pop Art in 1963, in which he was a participant. There are public statements about specific exhibitions, private reflections drawn from personal correspondence, answers to questions posed by critics, and excerpts from journals discussing the intentions, subjects, methods, and sources of his works from various periods. The writings are accompanied by 87 biographical illustrations from the artist's personal collection.