One of the most important artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, Gerhard Richter’s practice oscillates between figurative and abstract approaches to painting and intentionally defies stylistic categorization. Sinbad is Richter’s first series to allude to the collection of Middle Eastern folk tales collectively titled One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights); it was followed in 2010 by the Aladdin series. The small works in Sinbad—each presented behind glass and arranged into 49 diptych pairs—explore chance, materiality, and abstraction.

Sinbad was first exhibited at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, in 2008.  A limited-edition catalogue, published by Walther König to commemorate the exhibition, was released in 2011.

About:

Gerhard Richter (b. 1932, Dresden, Germany) is an artist living and working in Cologne, Germany. From 1952-57, Richter studied art at the Kunstakademie, Dresden, from 1952-57, and the Staatliche Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, Germany, under Karl Otto Götz, from 1961-64. Richter’s first solo show was held at the Möbelhaus Berges, Düsseldorf, in 1963. In 1967, Richter won the Junger Westen art prize from the city of Recklinghausen, Germany. In 1972, Richter’s work was chosen to represent Germany at the Venice Biennale. That same year, he participated in Documenta 5 in Kassel, where he showed again in 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, and 1997. The artist gained recognition in the United States in 1973 with a show at the Reinhard Onnasch Gallery, New York, NY. In 1976, his first retrospective took place at the Kunsthalle Bremen and covered works from 1962 to 1974. Richter had a major exhibition in 1978 at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, entitled Abstract Paintings, which traveled to the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, in 1979. Ever since, Richter has simultaneously produced abstract and photorealistic painted works, as well as photographs and glass pieces, thus undermining the concept of the artist’s obligation to maintain a single cohesive style. Richter was awarded the Arnold-Bode-Preis at Documenta 7 (1982), Oskar Kokoschka Prize in Vienna (1985), Wolf Prize from the Wolf Foundation in Israel (1994) and Praemium Imperiale in Japan (1997). In 1988, the artist was given his first North American retrospective, which was co-organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL. The exhibition traveled to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA. Since then, solo exhibitions of Richter’s work have also been organized by the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (1989), Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom (1991), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (1994), Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany (1997), Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo, Sweden (1999), Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany (2002), Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2002), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. (2003), Kunst Museum Bonn, Germany (2004), National Museum of China, Beijing (2008), and National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2009).

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