Escape from reality

Andrew Lambirth

Wednesday, 11th March 2009

Gerhard Richter Portraits
National Portrait Gallery, until 31 May

George Always: Portraits of George Melly by Maggi Hambling
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, until 31 May

Gerhard Richter (born 1932) is one of the most influential figures in the art world. This show of his portraits is slightly more enlivening than his recent coloured-panel exhibition at the Serpentine, but don’t expect fireworks. Richter offers a subdued measure, a restricted purchase on the world of paint. He has said, ‘I don’t think the painter need either see or know the sitter. A portrait must not express anything of the sitter’s “soul”, essence or character.’ So what’s the point, then?

Richter’s popularity is a symptom of our own unease, our fear and distrust of reality, and our lack of any belief system to sustain us against this malaise. His blurring of photographic images blurs the pain, like an anaesthetic. In the early 1960s, he began using photos as subject matter, preferably found, anonymous images, which he then copied. ‘The resulting paintings,’ comments the exhibition’s curator, ‘assert nothing definite, draw attention to no particular facet or feature, and avoid making a specific point. This avoidance tactic deflects the universal human instinct to seek meaning in the appearance of people and things.’ No it doesn’t, although that might well be Richter’s intention. Even his all-pervasive greyness does not quench the viewer’s curiosity. The idea that in this context reality cannot be seen or known is just a dandy’s pose. We have the self-evident reality of the paintings to counter it.

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