Schweizer Alpen II - B1
Schweizer Alpen II - B1
Signed Print
Gerhard Richter
£16,000-£23,000Value Indicator
$35,000-$50,000 Value Indicator
$30,000-$45,000 Value Indicator
¥160,000-¥230,000 Value Indicator
€19,000-€27,000 Value Indicator
$170,000-$250,000 Value Indicator
¥3,180,000-¥4,570,000 Value Indicator
$22,000-$30,000 Value Indicator
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70 x 70cm, Edition of 50, Screenprint
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
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Meaning & Analysis
Issued in 1969 in an edition of 50, this signed print is the work of venerated German visual artist, Gerhard Richter. Part of the Swiss Alps series, it sees Richter turn his hand to the landscape portrait: a cornerstone of German Romantic painters, such as Caspar David Friedrich.
Much like Schweizer Alpen II - A2 and Schweizer Alpen II - B2, this colour serigraph on cardboard print is a bold, hard-edged treatment of the humble landscape painting. Characterised by areas of light and dark, negative space works to create a sense of the sharp, alpine ridges captured by the original photograph after which this image was made. Using broad, gestural strokes and small areas of black paint, Richter breaks up the surface of the landscape, the diagonal orientation of which references an aerial or ‘divine’ view of the world. Difficult to make out, this bewildering topography appears to vacillate between realism and the brush marks product of Richter’s own hand.
Speaking to the profound influence of the West German cultural scene on a young Richter, who had only recently escaped from the Communist East in 1961, the work is rich with echoes of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Combining abstraction and the natural world, its philosophical and art historical remit distances the viewer from the confines of traditional representation, allowing them to explore the fact that contemporary society lacks the spiritual foundation that supported canonical art forms, such as romantic painting. Commenting on the relationship between art and the spiritual, Richter once said: “We have lost the feeling of “God’s omnipresence in nature”. For us, everything is empty.”
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.
