Haggadah (P2)

Akin to other works in Richter’s Abstract collection, such as Abstraktes Foto and Abstraktes Bild (P1), this print is a vibrant, metallic work product of the artist’s deconstructive approach to composition and painting. Imbued with a visual sense of Richter’s dynamic, multi-directional mark-making, the print is marked by a central column of green, yellow, and dark blue colour. Flanked by monochromatic areas of paint that speak to Richter’s careful and staged creative process, this work is an unmistakable example of the visual artist’s defiance towards artistic tradition. Non-representational in its remit, the work also speaks to the exciting creative zeal that results from the artist’s freeing departure from his ‘Atlas’ - a monumental dossier comprising images of all kinds that has often served as a photographic reference point for Richter’s representational works.

Despite Richter’s prescriptive use of ‘classic’ paints, such as titanium white and cadmium, Haggadah (P2) has a rich earthiness that references the artist’s complex, multi-layered œuvre. Equivalent to a conceptual musing on the nature of art itself, the piece’s title references the Haggadah - a Jewish text used during the Passover Seder, an annual religious feast marking the beginning of the homonymous Jewish festival. The Haggadah series, after which the print was made, was first painted in 2006 - the same year in which Richter completed his world-famous Cage paintings.