Jindřich Nosek (NoJin)
Gerhard Richter
PainterKnown for:
photorealist and abstract painting; the squeegee technique
Education:
Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (1951-1956); Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (1961-1963)
Gerhard Richter fled East Germany for the West in 1961 and developed a practice deliberately split between photorealist gray-scale paintings - blurred reproductions of newspaper and family photographs - and pure abstract work made by dragging a squeegee across wet paint. He has refused to privilege either mode, treating their coexistence as a statement about the impossibility of a single pictorial truth. His Abstraktes Bild (809-4) sold for £30.4 million at Sotheby's in 2012.
Gerhard Richter's Gear List(1)
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Connection note
Richter's oil paint is purchased in bulk cans and strained through muslin by his assistants. He applies it with a custom Perspex squeegee, wide-headed brushes, and palette knives. Specific paint brand not publicly documented.
Product description
Oil paint — pigment suspended in a drying oil, typically linseed — has been the dominant painting medium since the fifteenth century. It dries slowly, allowing extended blending, and produces a rich, luminous surface. Available from dozens of manufacturers at student through professional grades.
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Last updated March 20, 2026