Pyramide

Identification of Pyramide by Gerhard Richter

The work titled Pyramide is an creation by the artist Gerhard Richter. It emerged in 1966, a year of significant transition. This specific piece was produced for a multiples group show held in Karlsruhe. The object exists as number five within a limited edition of ten.

The artist’s hand meets the photographic surface to form this singular object. It is a black and white photograph on photographic canvas mounted on panel. The image carries the weight of a specific moment in the mid-sixties. It remains a quiet presence from that era.

Composition and Visual Elements

A black and white photograph forms the core of this work. The image is a signed photographic print that captures a specific, quiet geometry. Light and shadow define the edges of the forms, creating a vision that feels dreamlike. The clarity of the original subject is softened by a deliberate blurring technique. This distortion pulls the viewer away from the literal and into a space of uncertainty.

The composition relies on the tension between the sharp details of the photographic medium and the smeared, gestural marks of the artist. These marks do not merely sit upon the surface; they interact with the underlying image to disrupt its stability. The resulting visual field is one of shifting boundaries. It is a study in how a fixed moment can be made to dissolve.

Technique and Material Support

The work exists as a black and white photograph on white photo canvas, mounted firmly onto a panel. It is a physical intersection of media, where the mechanical precision of the photographic print meets the tactile presence of the artist's hand. The surface carries the weight of the image through the grain of the canvas.

Richter applies paint directly onto the surface of the photograph. He achieves a specific blurred effect by dragging a dry brush over wet paint. This motion pulls the pigment across the photographic layer, disrupting the clarity of the image. The brush leaves behind a streak of movement that softens the edges of the captured scene.

The resulting texture is a marriage of the smooth, technological surface of the print and the irregular, gestural marks of the brush. It is a quiet collision of the fixed moment and the sweeping stroke. The paint settles into the weave of the canvas.

Provenance and Collection History

The history of this work moves through private hands and significant holdings. It was once part of the Gerald Fineberg Collection. From there, it traveled to a private collection in New York. The current owner acquired the piece in 2010.

The object remains on loan from the Olbricht Collection. It rests in a quiet space of stewardship. The paper and canvas hold their place through these transitions of ownership.

Related Works and Editions

The existence of this work is defined by its multiplicity. It belongs to a limited edition of ten, supplemented by three artist's proofs. This specific iteration is a fragment of a larger 1966 series, a small edition titled Pyramid. The numbers on the reverse mark its place within this controlled sequence, a quiet registry of its own production.

Scholarly records trace its lineage through various catalogues. It appears in the literature of the early 1970s, specifically within a collection of graphics focused on the aesthetics of Capitalist Realism in Berlin. The work is also documented in a comprehensive catalogue of editions spanning from 1965 to 2004. These entries anchor the object within the artist's systematic output of multiples and graphic works.

The print remains a fixed point in a history of reproductions. It is a singular instance of a specific moment in 1966. The ink and canvas hold their place in the archive. A shadow of the original remains.