For this task I chose to look at Gerhard Richter’s 48 Portraits. He completed a series of 48 photographs, and 48 paintings (1972) to which were almost identical. In order to ‘limit the significance of the particular individuals portrayed’ including Albert Einstein and Oscar Wilde, he made the images all black and white, the subjects were all wearing smart attire and were all positioned on the page so that only the head and neck of the subject is included. The paintings created were deliberately soft-looking in order to resemble an un-focused camera and were completed for the German Pavilion at the 1972 Venice Biennale following the artist’s nomination as Germany’s representative. The series is often switched around and rearranged depending on where they are being installed.

Richter often softens and blurs the paintings in order to suggest that something (often the emotion) within the subject is missing or ‘lost in translation’, leaving a ghost-like, hallow figure. The process of blurring the images is a very natural practice and often creates an unexpected result each time. This links very closely to abstract expressionism, in which the paintings look very quick and involve fast, brash, brush marks. Richter however, uses a very particular technique to which he wets the canvas and uses a dry paint brush to apply the paint meaning that the brush marks are often invisible, looking more like a digitally altered photograph than a painting. Due to this, Richter is very difficult to pin down into one category as he works as both an abstract artist and a realistic artist, combining painting and photography.

48 Portraits 1971-98  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/AR00025

https://brooklynrail.org/2015/02/art/demystifying-gerhard-richters-gestural-abstraction-painting-in-the-gap-between-abstract-expressionism-and-pop-art
http://www.tate.org.uk/search?q=gerhard+richter+48+portraits
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17540763.2014.933399?journalCode=rpho20
https://www.gerhard-richter.com/en/art/paintings/photo-paintings/portraits-people-20/48-portraits-5860
https://www.gerhard-richter.com/en/exhibitions/la-biennale-di-venezia-36-esposizione-267
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_Biennale