Seestück I
Seestück I
Signed Print
Gerhard Richter
£5,500-£8,500
$10,500-$16,000 Value Indicator
$10,000-$16,000 Value Indicator
¥50,000-¥80,000 Value Indicator
€6,500-€10,000 Value Indicator
$60,000-$90,000 Value Indicator
¥1,190,000-¥1,830,000 Value Indicator
$7,500-$11,500 Value Indicator
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42 x 40cm, Edition of 150, Lithograph
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Meaning & Analysis
Seestück I is a signed 1969 lithographic print by German artist Gerhard Richter. Issued in a limited edition of 150, it presents an archetypal example of Richter’s photorealistic approach to painting: a so-called ‘photo painting’ of a thalassic landscape scene. It is part of the Atlas series.
Marking a departure from the non-referential exploration of formal artistic concerns seen in works such as Schattenbild I (1968) and Schattenbild II (1968), and Richter’s ‘shadow paintings’ more generally, Seestück I constitutes an important meeting between the acclaimed German artist and another cornerstone of the contemporary: landscape painting. Depicting a cold, grey sea and an horizon line, with this image Richter reminds the viewer that abstraction is as much a product of the natural world as that of technology. Resembling a photograph, this piece is stunning in its granular detail, and a foremost example of the artist’s ‘blur’ technique.
The work’s indeterminacy constantly refers us to photographic technologies; yet the minutiae of Richter’s brushstrokes, barely visible yet hauntingly palpable, evoke not only a desire to record life as it is, but to create a unique, singular image that could only be produced by the human hand. Commenting on his ‘blur’ technique, Richter once said: ‘I blur things so that they do not look artistic or craftsmanlike but technological, smooth and perfect. I blur things to make all the parts a closer fit. Perhaps I also blur out the excess of unimportant information.’