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Abstraktes Foto - Signed Print by Gerhard Richter 1989 - MyArtBroker

Abstraktes Foto
Signed Print

Gerhard Richter

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74 x 100cm, Edition of 50, Photographic print

Medium: Photographic print
Edition size: 50
Year: 1989
Size: H 74cm x W 100cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
Last Auction: March 2021

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Auction Results

Auction Date
Auction House
Location
Return to Seller
Hammer Price
Buyer Paid
March 2021
Christie's New York
United States
£5,505
£6,476
£8,095
December 2020
Sotheby's New York
United States
April 2020
Sotheby's London
United Kingdom
January 2018
Phillips London
United Kingdom
October 2017
Phillips New York
United States
October 2015
Phillips New York
United States
April 2014
Christie's New York
United States
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Track auction value trend

The value of Gerhard Richter's Abstraktes Foto (signed) is estimated to be worth between £5,500 and £8,500. This photographic print, created in 1989, has an auction history of 11 total sales since its entry to the market in April 2004. Over the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £6,476 in March 2021 to £9,634 in December 2020. The average annual growth rate of this work is 3% and the edition size is limited to 50.

Created with Highcharts 11.4.8Apr 2014Jun 2015Aug 2016Sep 2017Nov 2018Jan 2020Mar 2021£4,000£5,000£6,000£7,000£8,000£9,000© MyArtBroker

Meaning & Analysis

Like other works featured in Richter’s Abstract collection, such as Abstraktes Bild (1991) and Abstraktes Bild (P1) (1990), this print foregrounds the end product of the German artist’s loose, experimental approach to painting and composition. A swooping blend of dark grey and white, the print has its origins in Richter’s home-made squeegees. Made by hand by the artist’s two assistants at his studio on the outskirts of Cologne, Germany, these squeegees are adorned with varying hues of oil paint. They are then used to cover a base layer of block colour, applied directly to the canvas. The hues used are always ‘classics’, such cadmium and titanium white: working with earthy tones would diminish a given painting’s dramatic effect, Richter’s assistants have explained.

Referencing a painting completed during the late 1980s, the print was issued during a tumultuous period of the Dresden-born artist’s career. Just a year earlier, in 1988, Richter completed a series of 15 paintings entitled 18 October 1977. Ambiguous in nature, and characteristic of Richter’s signature approach to realism (often dubbed the Richter ‘blur’), the series portrays members of the Rote Armee Fraktion, or Baader Meinhof Gang: a terrorist organisation active in Germany and Europe between 1970 and 1998. The date referenced by the series title – the 18th of October 1977 – marks that on which three founding members of the group were found dead in their cells at Stuttgart’s high-security Stammheim Prison. These images, like many of Richter’s works, caused a storm for their uncompromising treatment of an uncomfortable episode in recent German history.

  • Hailing from Germany, Gerhard Richter has not been confined to one visual style. A testament to versatility and artistic diversity, Richter's work spans from photorealism to abstraction and conceptual art, and his portfolio is rich in varied media. From creating bold canvases to working on glass to distort the lines between wall-based art and sculpture, Richter has honed in on the blur technique to impart an ambiguity on his creations. To this day, Richter is one of the most recognised artists of the 20th century with his art having been presented in exhibitions worldwide. His global impact underscores his legacy as a trailblazer of artistic exploration.

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