Gerhard Richter: Early Work, 1951-1972

Edited by Christine Mehring, Jeanne Anne Nugent, and Jon L. Seydl

Born in Dresden in 1932, Gerhard Richter was first educated under the prevailing doctrine of Socialist Realism and retrained after emigrating to West Germany, thus uniquely embodying the division of Germany during the Cold War. This volume brings together new studies of his early career by an international group of scholars.

The authors approach the context from a variety of angles including the social and political histories of a divided Germany, the conflicted development of Soviet Socialist Realism in East Germany, a Cold War visuality integrating pre- and post-resettlement works, the archival dimension of the artist's output in relation to Richter's Atlas, and the artist's involvement in the representation of his work in archives, exhibitions, and catalogues. The essays began as papers delivered at a symposium held at the Getty Research Institute in 2007 in conjunction with the exhibition From Caspar David Friedrich to Gerhard Richter: German Paintings from Dresden at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Christine Mehring is associate professor of Art History and the College at the University of Chicago. Jeanne Anne Nugent is an art historian and curator based in New York. Jon L. Seydl is the Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos, Jr. Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, 1500–1800, at the Cleveland Museum of Art.