Vija Celmins & Gerhard Richter: Double Vision

Edited with text by Brigitte Kölle. Text by Juliane Au, Hubertus Butin, Johanna Hornauer, Vija Celmins, Gerhard Richter

Contemplating perception and representation with two titans of photorealism

This publication brings together for the first time the work of New York–based artist Vija Celmins (born 1938) and Colgone-based painter Gerhard Richter (born 1932) in a transatlantic dialogue that reveals surprising connections. Their works have been paired together at the Hamburger Kunsthalle in an exhibition spanning over 60 paintings, drawings, prints and objects. This study offers comparisons between some of the artists’ most notable works, including Celmins’ To Fix the Image in Memory and Richter’s Seascape (Sea Sea). In addition to their thematic similarities and the fact that both have worked with photographic models throughout their careers, Celmins and Richter share an interest in the most elementary conditions of representation. This revelatory pairing invokes questions of reality, visibility and the nature of perception itself.