Following World War II, Western painting went in completely new directions.
A young generation of artists turned their backs on the dominant styles of the interwar period: Instead of figurative representation or geometric abstraction, painters in the orbit of Abstract Expressionism in the US and Art Informel in Western Europe pursued a radically impulsive approach to form, color, and material.
As an expression of individual freedom, the spontaneous artistic gesture gained symbolic significance. Large-scale color-field compositions created a meditative space for ruminating the fundamental questions of human existence. The exhibition and catalogue examine the two sister movements against the background of a vibrant transatlantic exchange, from the 1940s through to the end of the Cold War.
This lavishly illustrated volume brings together works by more than 50 artists, amongst them Alberto Burri, Jean Dubuffet, Helen Frankenthaler, K. O. Goetz, Franz Kline, Lee Krasner, Georges Mathieu, Joan Mitchell, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Judit Reigl, Mark Rothko, Hedda Sterne, Clyfford Still, and Jack Tworkov.
In the 19th century, numerous photographers chose the same motifs as Impressionist painters: the forest of Fontainebleau, the cliffs of Etretat or the modern metropolis of Paris. They, too, studied the changing light, seasons and weather conditions. From its inception, photographers pursued artistic ambitions, as evidenced by their experimentation with composition and perspective, by means of various technical procedures. Until the First World War, the relationship between photography and painting was characterized both by competition and mutual influence. The exhibition and catalogue examine these interactions and illuminate the development of the new medium from the 1850s to its establishment as an autonomous art form around 1900.
Les tableaux peints par Gerhard Richter dans les années 1960 ont quelque chose de bizarrement inquiétant en ce qu'ils illustrent un événement sans percer son mystère.
Ressemblant à des instantanés pris au hasard, ils trouvent pour la plupart leur origine dans des reportages sur des escrocs, empoisonneurs ou victimes de naufrages publiés dans la presse à scandale. D'autres, au contraire, se basent sur des publicités datant de l'époque du « miracle économique » et reflètent ce qui ressemblait alors au bonheur : voitures rapides, pays exotiques, glamour des stars de cinéma.
Gerhard Richter s'est servi pour ces oeuvres de photos publiées dans des magazines tels que Stern ou Quick, qu'il a agrandies au format de tableaux. A partir de ces photos, d'autant plus expressives que les images étaient encore relativement rares dans les années 1960, il a su créer les "images d'une époque". Il les a complétées avec des objets quotidiens comme devaient le faire également Warhol et Lichtenstein, libérant ainsi la peinture des normes traditionnelles.
L'oeuvre de Gerhard Richter célèbre la renaissance de la peinture grâce à l'esprit du pop art et du mouvement Fluxus. Son objectif est d'extraire la dimension universelle de ce qui est particulier à une époque déterminée - objectif encore affirmé dans le cycle 18 octobre 1977, dont le présent ouvrage éclaire les sources. Uwe M.
Schneede a rassemblé cinquante oeuvres de Gerhard Richter dans le livre Images d'une époque.
Cet ouvrage qui replace les oeuvres de l'artiste dans leur contexte d'origine est ainsi le premier à établir un parallèle entre les tableaux de Richter et les photos sur lesquelles ils se basent.
This collection of sixteen large-scale paintings, commissioned 1975 by the East German government, holds a mirror up to the social and political aims of former East Germany before the onset of reunification. The Palace of the Republic was opened in 1976 to house East Germany's parliament and to provide a cultural and historical center for the public to enjoy. During its construction, the government commissioned sixteen artists to create paintings in response to the question, "Are Communists allowed to dream?" With the fall of the wall and reunification, the paintings were removed from public view in 1990. The palace itself was demolished in 2006. This volume accompanies the first public exhibition of the paintings since 1995 and sheds new light on the East German government's understanding of art and its idea of self-representation.
