Author Description

Though Gerhard Richter is one of the most accomplished and best-known contemporary German artists, and his paintings are widely exhibited, his collectorís editions have attracted relatively little public attention. This catalogue raisonné, compiled through intensive research over a period of many years by art historian Hubertus Butin, Richter's former assistant, documents the full range of graphic and photographic editions as well as the artistís books, multiples and editions in oil realized by the artist between 1965 and 2004. This publication presents four-color illustrations of each and every one of these collector's editions. The illustrations, accompanied by basic texts, shed new light on the significance of Gerhard Richter's editions within the context of his complete oeuvre. Richterís painting reflects the influence of his interest in photography, and a closer look at his collector's editions reveals, in a somewhat different way, the extent to which Richter's art is based upon visual reproductions of reality. Through his reflections on the various pictorial motifs as well as the media and technical processes involved in his work, the artist has succeeded in introducing new information to the body of materials that aim to document his production.