(Dis)Figuration of Memory In, Around, and Beyond Gerhard Richter's Atlas: Between Photography, Abstraction, and the Mnemonic Construction
Gerhard Richter’s Atlas is a collection of photographs and sketches that the artist started to assemble in 1961. This article aims to demonstrate that Holocaust imagery plays a unique and irreplaceable function in Atlas, creating paths throughout the project and pointing towards some of Richter’s mo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
| Published: |
International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art (RIHA)
2018-10-01
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| Series: | RIHA Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://www.riha-journal.org/articles/2018/0200-mesquita-duarte |
| _version_ | 1827613099965808640 |
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| author | Mesquita Duarte, Miguel |
| author_facet | Mesquita Duarte, Miguel |
| author_sort | Mesquita Duarte, Miguel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Gerhard Richter’s Atlas is a collection of photographs and sketches that the artist started to assemble in 1961. This article aims to demonstrate that Holocaust imagery plays a unique and irreplaceable function in Atlas, creating paths throughout the project and pointing towards some of Richter’s most important ideas and contexts within which his pictorial work comes into being. The article places particular emphasis on the photographs assembled in panels 807 and 808 of Atlas, which are the basis for Richter’s series of abstract paintings entitled Birkenau paintings, from 2014. The article argues the importance of this series, making a case for a different interpretation of Atlas’s dynamics, and pointing out alternative ways of addressing the tensions between photography and painting – and, in particular, figuration and abstraction – that pervade Richter’s practice. The themes concerning Richter’s position on photography and the role played by the medium in the pictorial exploration of the traumatic past are thoroughly discussed in the article, generating new insights into the concept of the historical image in the work of the German artist. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:33:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-65a3d5f85c22437a9413a471e37ea4df |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2190-3328 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:33:53Z |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art (RIHA) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | RIHA Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-65a3d5f85c22437a9413a471e37ea4df2023-12-02T18:51:51ZdeuInternational Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art (RIHA)RIHA Journal2190-33282018-10-010200(Dis)Figuration of Memory In, Around, and Beyond Gerhard Richter's Atlas: Between Photography, Abstraction, and the Mnemonic ConstructionMesquita Duarte, MiguelGerhard Richter’s Atlas is a collection of photographs and sketches that the artist started to assemble in 1961. This article aims to demonstrate that Holocaust imagery plays a unique and irreplaceable function in Atlas, creating paths throughout the project and pointing towards some of Richter’s most important ideas and contexts within which his pictorial work comes into being. The article places particular emphasis on the photographs assembled in panels 807 and 808 of Atlas, which are the basis for Richter’s series of abstract paintings entitled Birkenau paintings, from 2014. The article argues the importance of this series, making a case for a different interpretation of Atlas’s dynamics, and pointing out alternative ways of addressing the tensions between photography and painting – and, in particular, figuration and abstraction – that pervade Richter’s practice. The themes concerning Richter’s position on photography and the role played by the medium in the pictorial exploration of the traumatic past are thoroughly discussed in the article, generating new insights into the concept of the historical image in the work of the German artist.https://www.riha-journal.org/articles/2018/0200-mesquita-duarteGerhard RichterAtlasPhotography and AbstractionLandscape PaintingHistoric Memory |
| spellingShingle | Mesquita Duarte, Miguel (Dis)Figuration of Memory In, Around, and Beyond Gerhard Richter's Atlas: Between Photography, Abstraction, and the Mnemonic Construction RIHA Journal Gerhard Richter Atlas Photography and Abstraction Landscape Painting Historic Memory |
| title | (Dis)Figuration of Memory In, Around, and Beyond Gerhard Richter's Atlas: Between Photography, Abstraction, and the Mnemonic Construction |
| title_full | (Dis)Figuration of Memory In, Around, and Beyond Gerhard Richter's Atlas: Between Photography, Abstraction, and the Mnemonic Construction |
| title_fullStr | (Dis)Figuration of Memory In, Around, and Beyond Gerhard Richter's Atlas: Between Photography, Abstraction, and the Mnemonic Construction |
| title_full_unstemmed | (Dis)Figuration of Memory In, Around, and Beyond Gerhard Richter's Atlas: Between Photography, Abstraction, and the Mnemonic Construction |
| title_short | (Dis)Figuration of Memory In, Around, and Beyond Gerhard Richter's Atlas: Between Photography, Abstraction, and the Mnemonic Construction |
| title_sort | dis figuration of memory in around and beyond gerhard richter s atlas between photography abstraction and the mnemonic construction |
| topic | Gerhard Richter Atlas Photography and Abstraction Landscape Painting Historic Memory |
| url | https://www.riha-journal.org/articles/2018/0200-mesquita-duarte |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mesquitaduartemiguel disfigurationofmemoryinaroundandbeyondgerhardrichtersatlasbetweenphotographyabstractionandthemnemonicconstruction |