Gerhard Richter: 100 Abstract Pictures

A new artist’s book, created by Gerhard Richter, that explores abstraction and chance in art and writing “The 100 Abstract Pictures shown here originated about five years ago, when I poured enamel paints on a fifty-by-fifty centimeter glass plate. The paints then flowed into one another without completely mixing. Thus they produced countless ephemeral abstract pictures, which I captured in photographs. These pictures are juxtaposed in the book with text formations that were generated at random.” —Gerhard Richter, 2023 With a career spanning more than sixty years, the renowned painter Gerhard Richter is one of the greatest artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Debuting alongside Richter's first exhibition at David Zwirner, featuring new abstract works created between 2016 and 2022, this book celebrates his continued dedication to experimentation and innovation. An artwork of its own, this intimate volume inspires both close looking and a beautiful interpretation of abstraction.

Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) was born in Dresden, Germany. He studied art at the Dresden Hochschule für Bildende Künste from 1951 to 1956, with mural painting as his main course. In 1959, he visited documenta II, held in Kassel, Germany, an experience that inspired him to alter his artistic trajectory. After his escape from East Germany in 1961, he completed a second course of study at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. Since the 1960s, Richter’s critically acclaimed and hugely popular work has been the subject of major museum retrospectives worldwide, and features in public and private collections internationally. Gerhard Richter lives and works in Cologne, Germany.