I found the Gerhard Richter retrospective at Met Breuer to be extremely enlightening. Met Breuer was able to curate a show that spoke to the breathe and reach of Richter’s technique and skill without seeming overwhelming. The scale was impressive but beautifully sparse, pieces respectfully spread between adjacent rooms and floors, the architecture even lending itself to Richter’s forms. The exhibition covered a myriad of interests showing sculpture, photography, drawings, paintings, ect.. As someone largely unfamiliar with his work I was shocked by some of the media he was able tackle that had slipped from mass consciousness.
I was aware of his large abstract pieces such as “Birkenau” and their connection to the Sonderkommando photographs but had never seen the photos themselves. The inclusion of these photographs was a detail I appreciated greatly. The piece descriptions, additions such as these photographs and the work itself all supported each other to form layers upon layers of context, leaving the viewer with an extremely strong perceptive on the life and work of Gerhard Richter.
Personally I found myself extremely charmed by his foggy landscape paintings. I had no prior knowledge about these paintings so to spot them in the exhibit was a treat. To find something so delicate and well considered associated with the chaos and trauma of Richter’s abstraction was extremely impactful to me. Specifically his depictions of snow and icecaps made me pause for an extended period of time.
In conclusion I found this exhibit to be filled with well positioned and vast in its accumulation of objects and context.
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