1932 -
German
Goldberg Variationen
oil on vinyl record
on verso signed, editioned 67/100 and dated 1984
11 5/8 x 11 5/8 in, 29.5 x 29.5 cm
Estimate: $70,000 - $90,000 CAD
Sold for: $58,000
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Galerie Roger Bellemare, Montreal
Acquired from the above by a Private Collection, Montreal, 2011
By descent to the present Private Collection, Quebec
LITERATURE
H. Butin & S. Gronert, Gerhard Richter: Editionen 1965-2004, 2004, another variant reproduced page 205
H. Butin, S. Gronert & T. Olbricht, Gerhard Richter: Editions 1965-2013, 2014, another variant reproduced 229
T. Olbricht (ed.), Gerhard Richter: Unikate in Serie/Unique Pieces in Series, 2017, another variant reproduced page 146-147
EXHIBITED
Dallas Museum of Art, Two xTwo xTen: Celebrating Ten Years of Two by Two for Aids and Art, 2008-2009, another variant exhibited
Kunsthaus Villa Jauss, Oberstdorf, Wege in der Gegenwart: Gerhard Richter, 2009, another variant exhibited
Municipal Gallery of Athens, The George Economou Collection Part II, 2011, another variant exhibited
Galerie Springer & Winckler, Berlin, Gerhard Richter: Das Prinzip des Seriellen, 2012, another variant exhibited
me Collectors Room, Berlin, Gerhard Richter: Editionen 1965-2011, 2012, another variant exhibited
60 Wall Gallery, Deutsche Bank, New York, The Sight of Sound, 2012, another variant exhibited
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Gerhard Richter: Edizioni 1965-2012 dalla Collezione Olbricht, 2013, another variant exhibited
Weserburg, Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Art in Music. Werke aus der ACT Art Collection, 2015, another variant exhibited
Folkwang Museum, Essen, Gerhard Richter: Die Editionen, 2017, another variant exhibited
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, Art & Vinyl: Artists and the Record Album from Picasso to the Present, 2018, another variant exhibited
me Collectors Room, Berlin, Gerhard Richter: Abstrakte Werke aus der Olbricht Collection, 2020, another variant exhibited
This work is a unique oil painting on a phonograph long play record of Glenn Gould's recording of Bach's The Goldberg Variations (CBS, 1982). It is from the edition of 100 unique variants (there were also 20 artist's proofs numbered in Roman numerals). It is framed within a plexiglass frame measuring 20 x 20 inches. This work comes with hanging hardware.
Gerhard Richter’s Goldberg Variationen (1984) demonstrates his distinctive approach to abstraction through the physicality of paint and process. Using his signature squeegee technique, Richter drags vivid bands of blue, yellow, white and red pigments across the surface of a vinyl record, creating layered, unrepeatable formations. The composition is structured by a loose horizontal division where the colors meet, while traces of the record’s original black surface intermittently emerge beneath the paint. The work captures both gesture and resistance, as the pigments are pushed, blended, and redistributed, preserving a record of movement that emphasizes the tension between control and chance.
The choice of a phonograph record as support reflects Richter’s ongoing engagement with music, specifically a 1982 recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations performed by Glenn Gould, whose interpretations were renowned for their precision and clarity. Richter’s sustained engagement with this piece informed the work conceptually, as he grappled with the paradox of perfection in Gould’s performance, at once compelling and disquieting. This tension resonates in the painting itself, where structured composition meets unpredictability, and where repetition and variation unfold visually rather than sonically.
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