The Easel

21st April 2020

Painting After All: Authors Sheena Wagstaff and Brinda Kumar on the Gerhard Richter Book and Exhibition

Curators of the Gerhard Richter show in New York explain Richter’s belief in painting. He has a “deep-seated mistrust” of photography. It cannot capture a sense of realism and is “ultimately not about truth in any direct way”. Painting, in contrast “has more of a singular presence and relevance to our actual living moment. After everything that has happened to humankind … painting is still there as evidence of our collective endurance”.

Visions of the implausible

When this show was mounted in Paris, it mystified. It mystifies in New York, too. Lecqueu trained as an architect and moved to Paris just before the French Revolution. His perfectionist, grandiose designs “fizzled”, his career as well. He also produced equally meticulous, “unnerving” erotic drawings. Where does this leave us? “[T]he appeal of his art is, in fact, its impossibility. A little of Lequeu goes a long way.”