18. Oktober 1977

Last updated

18. Oktober 1977 is the title of a series of paintings by Gerhard Richter. It is based on photographs that document the deaths of three leading activist of the Baader-Meinhof Group in the Stammheim Prison after the release of the hostages in the hijacking by four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine of Lufthansa Flight 181. The series shows events from a period of several years, from the capture of the terrorists to their burial. A youth portrait of Ulrike Meinhof occupies a special position.

Contents

Description

The series consists of 15 paintings in dull grey tones executed in oil paint after police and press photos, their contours blurred. The terrorism of the Red Army Faction (RAF), which kept the Federal Republic of Germany in suspense for ten years, is for Richter a metaphor for any ideology based on inhumanity. In an interview the artist clarifies his motives and responds to the question of whether the RAF is a victim of its own ideology: Certainly. But not victim of a certain left- or right-wing ideology, but of ideological behaviour in general. It has more to do with the eternal human dilemma: revolutionize and fail. [1] [2] The series originated between March and November 1988, ten years after the events. From hundreds of photos, Richter selected twelve motifs that he used to create 18 paintings, of which he later rejected three. [3]

Ulrike Meinhof, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Holger Meins are depicted in the paintings, but the characters are neither easily identifiable by their facial features nor by the titles of the paintings. The titles and the images are kept impersonal. The level of blur of the images differs; Only Meinhof and Ensslin are recognizable because they are less blurred, the others can only be identified after comparison with the source photos.

Tote (English: Dead) is the title of three paintings (62 × 67 cm, 62 × 62 cm, 35 × 40 cm, Catalogue Raisonné: 667/1-3), that show a side view of the head and shoulders of Ulrike Meinhof lying on her back after her suicide on May 9, 1976. The images become progressively more blurry as their size decreases, and the clipping varies.

The painting Erhängte (English: Hanged) (200 × 140 cm, Catalogue Raisonné: 668) reveals the shadowy figure of Gudrun Ensslin, who hanged herself on 18 October 1977 from the bars of her cell in Stammheim. There was a second version that Richter did not include in the cycle and painted over (Decke, Catalogue Raisonné: 680/3).

In the paintings Erschossener 1 and Erschossener 2 (English: Man Shot Down 1 and Man Shot Down 2) (both 100 × 140 cm, Catalogue Raisonné: 669 / 1-2) the body of Andreas Baader can be seen lying on the cell floor. Both pictures were made after a police photo published in the Stern magazine in 1980, the second picture being more blurred.

Zelle (English: Cell) (200 × 140 cm, Catalogue Raisonné: 670) Shows Baader's cell after the discovery of the suicides. Like the others, this picture refers to a police photo. It was published in Stern in 1980. The right side of the picture is dominated by a book case, with notable blurring in the vertical direction.

The paintings Gegenüberstellung 1-3 (English: Confrontation 1-3) (112 x 120 cm. Catalogue Raisonné: 671/1-3) were based on press photos made after the arrest of Gudrun Ensslin in the summer of 1972. Richter heavily cropped the image to the upper body of the prisoners, the situation can only be conjectured from the shadow cast on the wall.

The least amount of blurring is evident in Jugendbildnis (English: Youth portrait) (67 × 62 cm, Catalogue Raisonné: 672-1), that represents a 22 year old Ulrike Meinhof. The original photograph is from October 10, 1966. [4]

No other image shows its subject in such clarity. [...] Presentient, but unencumbered in its youthfulness is the gaze of the young Ulrike Meinhof who looks into the viewer's space from the black of the background. Temporarily ahead of the other motifs, the look signals dreamy confidence. Like in no other picture, the figure prevails against the texture of blurring and signals a remainder of immediacy; a directness that negates the entire series in its thematization of mediated communicability.

— Martin Henatsch, Gerhard Richter. 18. Oktober 1977. Das verwischte Bild der Geschichte. S. 74.

Relatively clear is also Plattenspieler (English: Record Player) (62 × 83 cm, Catalogue Raisonné: 672-2). It takes a special role in the cycle. With tone arm resting beside the record, it seems to fix a moment of silence, but in fact the record player was the "catalyst for the tragic outcome of history"; Baader's pistol was hidden inside it, and to the left of the machine are the cables that served Ensslin as a deadly sling.

Beerdigung (English: Funeral) (200 × 320 cm, Werkverzeichnis: 673) is the largest image in the series. It shows the burial of Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin und Jan-Carl Raspe at the Dornhaldenfriedhof in Stuttgart on October 27, 1977. Their three coffins are clearly visible in the centre of the painting, surrounded by an anonymous crowd of mourners.

Festnahme 1 and Festnahme 2 (English: Arrest 1 and Arrest 2 ) (both 92 × 126 cm, Catalogue Raisonné: 674/1-2) are based on police photographs that were taken during the arrest of Holger Meins, Andreas Baader und Jan-Carl Raspe on June 1, 1972, in Frankfurt am Main and that were published on June 8, 1972, in the magazine Stern. A garage yard is recognizable, with several cars, including an armoured police car. Of the arrested terrorists, only Holger Meins is visible in the second image.

Exhibitions

The series was first exhibited in Museum Haus Esters  [ de ] in Krefeld in 1989. In the same year, exhibitions at Portikus in Frankfurt am Main, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London and Museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam followed. In 1990 the paintings were exhibited in the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Grey Art Gallery in New York, the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal and the Lannan Foundation in Los Angeles. The series was on display at the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, as a long-term loan from the artist until it was sold to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1995. In 2004 it was part of the exhibition Das MoMA in Berlin in the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. From February 5, 2011, to May 15, 2011, the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg showed the work as part of the exhibition Gerhard Richter. Bilder einer Epoche. From May 18, 2014, to September 7, 2014, the work was at the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen (Basel).

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Army Faction</span> Far-left wing militant organization from West Germany

The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang, was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998. The RAF described itself as a communist and anti-imperialist urban guerrilla group. It was engaged in armed resistance against what it considered a "fascist" state. Members of the RAF generally used the Marxist–Leninist term "faction" when they wrote in English. Early leadership included Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, and Horst Mahler. The West German government considered the RAF a terrorist organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulrike Meinhof</span> German left-wing journalist and militant (1934–1976)

Ulrike Marie Meinhof was a German left-wing journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the reputed author of The Urban Guerilla Concept (1971). The manifesto acknowledges the RAF's "roots in the history of the student movement"; condemns "reformism" as "a brake on the anti-capitalist struggle"; and invokes Mao Zedong to define "armed struggle" as "the highest form of Marxism-Leninism".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gudrun Ensslin</span> German far-left militant (1940–1977)

Gudrun Ensslin was a German far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andreas Baader</span> German far left-wing militant leader (1943–1977)

Berndt Andreas Baader, was a West German communist and leader of the left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction (RAF) also commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Group.

Jan-Carl Raspe was a member of the German militant group, the Red Army Faction (RAF).

Klaus Rainer Röhl was a German journalist and author, best known as founder, owner, publisher and editor-in-chief of konkret, the most influential magazine on the German political left from the 1960s to the early 1970s. He later became critical of communism and leftist tendencies.

Irmgard Möller is a German former militant. She joined the Red Army Faction (RAF) in 1971. After participating in two bombings she was arrested the following year. During the German Autumn of 1977, she was one of the prisoners demanded by the RAF to be freed and was part of an alleged suicide pact in Stammheim Prison with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe. The other three died and she survived, claiming it was an assassination attempt. She was released from prison in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerhard Richter</span> German visual artist (born 1932)

Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, and also photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists and several of his works have set record prices at auction, with him being the most expensive living painter at one time.

Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt is a German convicted former terrorist associated with the second generation of the Red Army Faction (RAF) members. She was also part of the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK). From 1971 until 1982 she was active within the RAF.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Members of the Red Army Faction</span> Members of Red Army Faction

Members of the Red Army Faction (RAF) can be split up into three generations. The first (founding) generation existed from 1970 onwards. The second generation emerged from 1975 and included people from other groups such as the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK) and the 2 June Movement. The third generation began in 1982. The group announced its dissolution in 1998.

Ingrid Schubert was a West German militant and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). She participated in the freeing of Andreas Baader from prison in May 1970 as well as several bank robberies before her arrest in October 1970. She was found dead in her cell in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petra Schelm</span> Founding member of Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF)

Petra Schelm was a German founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). She trained as an urban guerilla in Jordan and was killed in a shootout with the police in Hamburg in July 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stammheim Prison</span> Maximum-security prison in Stuttgart, Baden Württemberg, Germany

Stammheim Prison is a prison in Stuttgart, Baden Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the northern boundaries of Stuttgart in the city district of Stuttgart-Stammheim, right between fields and apartment blocks on the fringes of Stammheim. The prison was built as a supermax prison between 1959 and 1963 and taken into operation in 1964.

<i>The Baader Meinhof Complex</i> 2008 German drama film

The Baader Meinhof Complex is a 2008 German drama film directed by Uli Edel. Written and produced by Bernd Eichinger, it stars Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck, and Johanna Wokalek. The film is based on the 1985 German best selling non-fiction book of the same name by Stefan Aust. It retells the story of the early years of the West German far-left terrorist organisation the Rote Armee Fraktion from 1967 to 1977.

Horst Söhnlein was a German activist convicted of arson in 1968, together with the future member of the Baader-Meinhof Group.

Ulrike Theusner( born 1982 in Frankfurt, Germany) is a German artist working primarily in drawing and printmaking. She studied at École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts à la Villa Arson in Nice, France and graduated in 2008 from Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany. Amongst others, her work was exhibited in groupshows at Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice, Neues Museum Weimar and several solo shows in New York, Berlin, Frankfurt, Toulouse, Paris and Shanghai. She lives and works between Weimar and Berlin.

<i>The Murder of Andreas Baader</i> 1978 painting by Odd Nerdrum

The Murder of Andreas Baader is a 1978 painting by the Norwegian artist Odd Nerdrum. It depicts the speculative murder of Andreas Baader, one of the leaders of the far-left organisation Red Army Faction, in the Stammheim Prison in 1977.

Cathedral Square, Milan is a 1968 painting by Gerhard Richter. The photorealistic painting is one of Richter's largest figurative paintings at 2,75 m x 2,90 m. It depicts Milan's Cathedral Square between the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and the Milan Cathedral. It was sold by Sotheby's in New York on 14 May 2013 for 37.1 Million dollars, breaking Richter's own record price for an artwork by a living artist, his 1994 32.4 million dollar painting Abstraktes Bild (809-1).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bettina Röhl</span> German journalist and author (born 1962)

Bettina Röhl is a German journalist and author. She is best known for her writings about student radicalism of the 1960s and the terrorist kidnappings that it spawned in West Germany during the early 1970s. Röhl has written extensively about the former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer's time as a left-wing militant leader. She has also researched and written at length about her own mother, journalist and Red Army Faction terrorist Ulrike Meinhof. Her assessments of the violence associated with the Red Army Faction in the 1970s are at times intensely critical.

The Frankfurt department store firebombings on 2 April 1968 in Frankfurt am Main were politically motivated arsons, in which the later co-founders of the left wing extremist Red Army Faction, Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin were involved. Together with Thorwald Proll and Horst Söhnlein they set three fires, in two department stores at night and were sentenced to three years in prison each. No people were injured; the damage in the Kaufhaus M. Schneider was calculated at 282.339 DM and in the Kaufhof, 390.865 DM.

References

  1. ↑ Jan Thorn-Prikker (1989). "Gespräch mit Jan Thorn-Prikker über den Zyklus 18. Oktober 1977 aus dem Jahr 1989. Sammlung aus Zitaten Richters". Gerhard Richter. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  2. ↑ "18. Oktober 1977(Baader-Meinhof) » Zitate » Gerhard Richter". www.gerhard-richter.com (in German). Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  3. ↑ Ortrud Westheider: Eine Idee, die bis zum Tod geht. Der Zyklus 18. Oktober 1977. In: Gerhard Richter. Bilder einer Epoche. Ausstellungskatalog, Hg. Uwe M. Schneede. Hirmer, München 2011, S. 155.
  4. ↑ "Youth Portrait [672-1] » Art » Gerhard Richter" . Retrieved 2018-09-23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.