Full-spectrum: Gerhard Richter's Colour Charts at Dominique Lévy

A new show at Dominique Lévy unveils a series of works from Gerhard Richter's mid-1960s colour-blocking period, which were inspired by a Ducolux paint-sample card from a Düsseldorf hardware store. Pictured: Gerhard Richter with Zehn groβe Farbtafeln (Ten Large Colour Charts), 1966, on the rooftop of his studio at Fürstenwall 204, Düsseldorf. Photography courtesy the artist

(Image credit: TBC)

By Ellen Himelfarb

published 13 October 2015

in Features

Concealed round the back of Dominique Lévy's first-floor Bond Street gallery is a typical photo-painting from Gerhard Richter’s mid-1960s greyscale period. It is out of place in this gathering of the artist’s Colour Charts, a dozen colour-block paintings inspired by a Ducolux paint-sample card from a Düsseldorf hardware store.

But it is the big surprise of this Frieze-season show, curated by Lock Kresler. Kresler has mounted it perpendicular to the wall, like a pub sign, so you can see the reverse: a grid of reds in various shades. Back in 1965 when he painted it, Richter was reacting against Pop by experimenting with non-figurative, non-emotional colour compositions. But the artist harboured second thoughts about revealing such a brazen 'readymade' at that moment. Against the wall it went.

The suite of reds is the first evidence of the Richter most of us know. The following year – in an exhibition at Munich’s Galerie Friedrich & Dahlem that was violently criticised – he would unveil 19 such paintings, starting with 192 Colours, a grid of Ducolux squares 12 down and 16 across. This canvas is the most textural and painterly in the series, as Richter used sweeping brushstrokes with the oils he’d become used to in his work. The others are painted in a more neutral industrial lacquer, yet, says Levy, 'seeing them all together, they way they relate to each other, there’s a musicality. The togetherness is important.'

This is the first exhibition since 1966 to gather so many Colour Charts together in one place. Kresler has even included an original Ducolux chart in a mini-exhibit of source materials. By the 1970s, Richter had abandoned his colour-blocking for a different sort of multi-coloured abstract art. But the Colour Chart series was his entrée, too good to face the wall.

Yellow colour chart — Richter created the works as a reaction to the Pop movement, experimenting with non-figurative, non-emotional colour compositions. Pictured: *Sechs Gelb (Six Yellows)*, 1966. *Courtesy the artist and Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden*

Red colour chart — The suite of reds is the first evidence of the Richter most of us know. Pictured: *Sänger (Singer)*, 1965/1966. *Courtesy the artist and the Collection of Marsha and Jeffrey Perelman  Delfanne*

Multi coloured paint chart — In 1966, Richter revealed *192 Colours* at Munich's Galerie Friedrich & Dahlem, to a wave of aggressive criticism. Pictured: *192 Farben (192 Colours)*, 1966. *Courtesy Elisabeth and Gerhard Sohst Collection*

Small colour chart — This is the first exhibition since 1966 to bring together so many *Colour Charts* in one place. Pictured: *Fünfzehn Farben (Fifteen Colours)*, 1966–1996.

Various colour charts — Curator Lock Kresler has even included an original Ducolux chart in a mini-exhibit of source materials. Pictured: sample card for enamel paint from Ducolux, 1963

INFORMATION

'Gerhard Richter: Colour Charts' is on view until 16 January 2016

ADDRESS

Dominique Lévy
22 Old Bond Street
London, W1S 4PY

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Based in London, Ellen Himelfarb travels widely for her reports on architecture and design. Her words appear in The Times, The Telegraph, The World of Interiors, and The Globe and Mail in her native Canada. She has worked with Wallpaper* since 2006.