Gerhard Richter, Viral Artist

a blattecke print by gerhard richter depicting a painting of a curled corner of a sheet of paper, used by the artist as note paper in 1969. he wrote to his dealer august haseke that he was delivering 101 more signed copies of the edition, which were infected by his cold, which he tried to spread evenly across all the sheets. this sheet and one other used for notes were included in the auction of haseke's estate at lempertz in 2018, but did not sell.

And here I thought that Gerhard Richter’s critique of the art market by making an offset print in an open edition was surpassed only by his using the prints as note paper. Claudio Santambrogio is much better than I at deciphering Richter’s handwriting, and he figured out the entire note Richter wrote to his dealer August Haseke in November 1969 when he finally delivered the first half of his 1967 open edition, Blattecke. And it is a whole new art direction casting its shadow:

Lieber August,
Hier sind heute endlich 101 Stück (Nr 286-386).
Jetzt liegen noch ca. 350 Stück hier; zu Deiner Information.
Ich bin so erkältet, dass ich die 101 Stück gut signieren konnte. Ich 
habe mich bemüht, die Viren gleichmäßig über die Blätter zu verteilen.
(Die nächsten 50 hoffe ich mit etwas schickeren Viren infiltrieren zu 
können, vielleicht Tollwut oder so was).
Eine ganz neue Kunstrichtung wirft ihre Schatten.
Alle gute Euch
herzliche Grüße
Dein Gerhard

Dear August,
Here are finally 101 pieces today (nos. 286-386).
Now there are still about 350 pieces here; for your information.
I have such a cold, I could sign 101 pieces. I have tried to 
distribute the viruses evenly over the sheets.
(I hope to infiltrate the next 50 with some fancier viruses, maybe rabies 
or something).
A whole new art direction is casting its shadow.
All the best to you
best regards
Your Gerhard

expanding brain meme with four stages: 1) GERHARD RICHTER UNDERMINING THE ART MARKET BY: MAKING AN OFFSET PRINT OF A PHOTO OF A PAINTING AS AN OPEN EDITION; 2) STARTING WITH 739, NOW AT 906+; 3) USING THE PRINTS AS NOTE PAPER; 4) TURNING THEM INTO A VIRAL VECTOR BY SIGNING THEM ALL WHILE HE WAS SICK

This is not what I envisioned when I mentioned a Felix-like stack, and yet the shadow is cast.

[week later update: these notes and additional related material are now in the Richter Archive in Dresden. Apparently it took Richter three years to work his way through signing the first 739 Blattecke.]

Previously, related: There Are At Least 906 Blattecke
Stack(Ed.)
When Form Becomes Content, or Luanda: Encyclopedic City, On The Stack as Medium