Vija Celmins | Gerhard Richter
Double Vision

12.05.2023 - 27.08.2023

A major double show at the Hamburger Kunsthalle will bring together for the first time the work of two of the most internationally renowned artists of their generation: Vija Celmins (b. 1938 in Riga) and Gerhard Richter (b. 1932 in Dresden). The transatlantic dialogue promises to reveal some surprising parallels – not only shared themes and the use of photographic templates but also an interrogation of the elementary conditions of representation. What is reality, what is representation? And how can human perception, how can seeing itself, be made visible? Vija Celmins’s impressive paintings and drawings are all too rarely exhibited in Europe, and the Hamburger Kunsthalle would like to contribute to greater public awareness of her work. At the same time, juxtaposing such a strong female position with the work of Gerhard Richter, so often presented as a singular phenomenon, provides an opportunity to look at his oeuvre with a fresh eye.

The exhibition will comprise some 60 paintings, drawings, prints and objects by the two artists, who live in New York and Cologne, respectively. The spectrum ranges from works dealing with everyday objects, to an engagement with war and migration, and onward to philosophical reflections on art. Fascinatingly realistic seascapes await discovery, along with studies on the colour grey and a wide variety of reflections and duplications that explore the reality of the image. A direct dialogue between the works of Celmins and Richter enables a comparative view, with small interspersed chapters shedding light on key aspects of their practice.

The duo exhibition brings together outstanding international loans from the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland; the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; the Museum MMK für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main; the Herbert Foundation, Ghent; the Nationalgalerie Berlin; the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; and many more.

This broad selection offers viewers the unique opportunity to see several major works by the two artists side by side, for example Vija Celmins’s »Heater« (1964), »To Fix the Image in Memory« (1977–82) and »A Painting in Six Parts« (1986–87/ 2012–16), and Gerhard Richter’s »Schärzler« (1964), the large installation »4 Panes of Glass« (1967), »Seascape (Sea-Sea)« (1970) and »Mirror, Blood Red« (1991). Deceleration, fixation, specification and proximity are the essential modes shaping Celmins’s art. They stand in sharp contrast to Richter’s agitation, volatility, blurring and distance. And yet these two divergent approaches betray a common interest, something that Vija Celmins and Gerhard Richter share equally: the constant contemplation in and through art of the cognitive possibilities of perception.

Picture 1: VIJA CELMINS (*1938)
Untitled (Ocean), 2014
Graphit auf mit Acryl grundiertem Papier
38,7 x 47 cm
Jack Shear Collection
© Vija Celmins, Courtesy of Jack Shear Collection

Picture 2: GERHARD RICHTER (*1932)
Seestück (See-See), 1970
Öl auf Leinwand
200 x 200 cm
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie
1976 erworben durch das Land Berlin
© Gerhard Richter 2023 (12052023)

Picture 3: VIJA CELMINS (*1938)
Hot Plate, 1964
Öl auf Leinwand
63,5 x 88,9 cm
Collection: Renee and David McKee, New York
© Vija Celmins, Image courtesy McKee Gallery

Picture 4: GERHARD RICHTER (*1932)
Küchenstuhl, 1965
Öl auf Leinwand
100 x 80 cm
Kunsthalle Recklinghausen
© Gerhard Richter 2023 (12052023)