This review is from: Gerhard Richter: Panorama: A Retrospective (Hardcover)
For those who have been following the changing style of Gerhard Richter's art over the last half century this retrospective exhibition catalogue will not only inform but amaze with the breadth of works included. The book GERHARD RICHTER: PANORAMA began with the mighty exhibition at the Tate in London and has since been on tour throughout Europe. The works of Richter, best known to the public, are his majestic landscapes - at times in mixed media, but always stupefying in their size and the references to history while being at the same time resources of the study of light that many artists reference in their work.
PANORAMA is just that - the works included in this generously illustrated book include the artist's photo-paintings, abstracts, seascapes, landscapes, portraits, still lifes of candles, skulls and clouds, works created form glass and mirror, sculptures, drawings and photographs. Of particular interest to the followers of Richter are the many new paintings (approximately thirty or so) not seen in monographs before this book. While Richter's works speak volumes on their own, this monograph includes some very fine essays by Achim Borchardt-Hume, Dorothée Brill, Rachel Haidu, Christine Mehring, and Camille Morineau which add insights to the master's works and evolution as he changes his subject matter and approach and media. The book is edited by Nicholas Serota and Mark Godfrey and every stage in the artists life is studied and documented with fine examples of his work.
Not only does this book offer a solid retrospective of the career and artistic development of one of our finest artists, it also, in tandem, chronicles an important history in social changes in Europe and throughout the world: the change from Socialism to democracy. Many fell that Gerhard Richter was a key figure in liberating painting from the legacy of Socialist Realism (in Eastern Germany) and Abstract Expressionism (in Western Germany and throughout Europe). A scholarly work as well as a genuinely important survey of an artist's life to date. Grady Harp, October 11