Onkel Rudi (Uncle Rudi)

The artwork depicts Richter’s uncle, Rudi (Rudolf) Schönfelder, in full Wehrmacht dress uniform, in front of what looks like a concrete wall. Richter’s uncle was killed on the Western front in 1944, when Richter was twelve. The artwork engages with the themes of family and memory while displaying Richter’s signature technique of blurring the image by dragging a dry brush over the wet paint.

The artwork is a classic example of how Richter works with found imagery such as family snapshots and applies the paint directly to the photographic surface. The artist commented in this context: “It became clear to me that, although absurd and epigonic, copying a photo helped me to convey something new. It was of particular importance to me to disassociate myself from art made in the service of leftist politics… It was important that the viewer was not hit with some message or other in my works… For me it wasn’t at all about politics or family but rather about the banality and ambiguity of the source material.”