The exhibition by Gerhard Richter at the Tate Modern is an unforgettable. I knew that before, since this is the first major retrospective on the German painter, but confirmation has not been without its surprises. Memorable because the Richter magnitude has the space to unfold despite the limitations that an exhibition such as the Tate inevitably brings.
The exhibition has an educational trend, chronologically correct, but withdraws or has not been able, where possible, to explode at some explosive issues inherent in the art of Richter.
I make four examples:
the first is in the second room, when the relatonship etween “Herr Heyde” (1965) and “Tante Marianne” (1965) is not valued. The first painting, in fact, shows the arrest of chief of eugenics policy during the Nazi regime, while the second is the reproduction of an image in which Richter’s child is held in the arms of Aunt Marianne, a victim of that very policy. The paintings are on display at a short distance, but as if among them there was no direct relationship.
In the seventh room, however, are exposed “Kerze” (1982) and “Schadeli” (1983). The editors, in their presentation of the room, say that we are in front of a sincere meditation on the “vanitas.” Yet the two paintings are juxtaposed and are placed in non-strategic points (in the catalog instead of the two images are touching).
The catalog shows a series of paintings of 1995 relating to the birth of the last son of Richter: moving a series of eight images that are a great hymn to motherhood. Well, they are not on display. I imagine there will be in Berlin or in Paris. Too bad not having seen them live.
Last: the painting “September” (2005) in the last room is exposed as one of the others as if it were not one of the most daring challenges with which Richter has been compared in the last ten years.
Here is the things that I liked:
The first room with the first “official” painting (CR: 1), an image taken from a table found on the magazine Domus. A framework has within himself the destiny of Richter’s whole work.
The extraordinary “Neger (Nuba)” (1964) a photopainting taken from a photo of Leni Riefenstahl which is the first color in the exhibition.
The fact that the editors insist on much reflection “work” that plays on the Richter painting and its relationship with the critical work of Duchamp.
The triptych of the three great clouds “Wolken” (1970).
Some abstract paintings chosen are truly mind-boggling as that of 1997 (CR :849-2).
And finally, the most dramatic room is dedicated to the cycle “Oktober” in 1989. For strength, skill and historical significance.
One last thing: what strikes me most reading the interviews Richter is his insistence to emphasize its anti-ideological orientation that, at times, appears to turn ideological. His willingness to go against the tide always led him, paradoxically, to play the role of champion of the art form during the last century has been given up for dead many times: painting. His highlight the limits (as in combat with the Annunciation by Titian) led him to discover its borders and at the same time the value of contemporary media. The fact that even today, eighty years, Richter continued to paint and invent new things (see the current exhibition in Paris) demonstrates that this research work is not finished yet.
