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Seestück II - Signed Print by Gerhard Richter 1970 - MyArtBroker

Seestück II
Signed Print

Gerhard Richter

Price data unavailable

AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.

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Medium: Lithograph

Edition size: 100

Year: 1970

Size: H 60cm x W 45cm

Signed: Yes

Format: Signed Print

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The value of Gerhard Richter’s Seestück II (signed) is estimated to be worth between £6,500 and £9,500. This lithograph print, created in 1970, has shown consistent value growth and is a popular work in the market, having been sold 20 times at auction since its initial sale in December 2000. Over the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £6,000 in December 2020 to £9,000 in December 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 3%. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 100.

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Auction Results

Auction DateAuction HouseLocation
Hammer Price
Return to Seller
Buyer Paid
Lempertz, Cologne Germany
December 2020Phillips London United Kingdom
December 2020Phillips London United Kingdom
June 2019Rotherbaum Auktion House Germany
June 2019Karl & Faber Germany
November 2018Wright United States
June 2018Ketterer Kunst Hamburg Germany

Meaning & Analysis

Much like Seestück I (1969), Seestück II (1970) is concerned with a recurring interest of modern and contemporary art: the natural landscape. Unlike its painterly cousin, however, this photographic work references the beginnings of Richter’s programmatic artistic process, rather than its end result. A constituent part of the artist’s so-called ‘Atlas’ - an immense collection of found imagery, newspaper cuttings, and personal photographs, this print speaks to the imagistic depth of the German painter’s practice, both on a practical and conceptual level. Depicting the red, stormy sky off the coast of the Canary Islands, as well as the deep blue sea swell brewing beneath its horizon line, Seestück II is a harbinger of Richter’s decision, in 1975, to abandon manual print making as a preparation for his paintings, and start painting purely from photographs. As such, this work foreshadows the eventual impact of such well-known photorealist works as Betty (1991) and Ella (2007), itself based on the photograph Ella (2014).

Richter’s ‘Atlas’ is indebted to the work of art historians Aby Warburg and Erwin Panofsky. Born in the 19th century, Warburg was the chief innovator of ‘iconology’ - the study of imagery and its symbolism and interpretation. Panofsky, a German-born art historian who later fled Nazism and settled in the United States, was responsible for major developments in iconology after Warburg’s death in 1929. At the heart of the discipline was Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas: a collection of over 1000 images pinned to 40 individual panels and taken from magazines, books, and newspapers. Thematically arranged, the Atlas was designed to chart historical change in the symbolism of art. Richter, who began to compile his own Atlas in the 1960s, uses his Atlas in much the same way, placing particular emphasis on the memorial legacy of Nazism and the Holocaust.

  • Hailing from Germany, Gerhard Richter has not been confined to one visual style. A testament to versatility and artistic diversity, Richter's work spans from photorealism to abstraction and conceptual art, and his portfolio is rich in varied media. From creating bold canvases to working on glass to distort the lines between wall-based art and sculpture, Richter has honed in on the blur technique to impart an ambiguity on his creations. To this day, Richter is one of the most recognised artists of the 20th century with his art having been presented in exhibitions worldwide. His global impact underscores his legacy as a trailblazer of artistic exploration.

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