Helen

1957–1961

Master trainee at the Academy and East German commissions

From 1957 to 1961 Richter works as a master trainee at the Academy and takes commissions for the then East German state: murals such as “Workers’ Struggle” (Arbeiterkampf), portraits of the actress Angelica Domröse and of his first wife, self-portraits, and a panorama of Dresden, “Townscape” (Stadtbild, 1956).

1961

Fleeing East Germany two months before the Berlin Wall

In 1961 Richter and his wife Marianne escape from East to West Germany, two months before the Berlin Wall is built. Both his wall paintings, at the Academy and at the Hygiene Museum, were then painted over for ideological reasons.

after 1961

Düsseldorf: under Götz, alongside Polke and Lueg

In West Germany Richter begins to study at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Karl Otto Götz, together with Sigmar Polke, Werner Hilsing, HA Schult, Kuno Gonschior, Franz Erhard Walther, Konrad Lueg and Gotthard Graubner.

after 1961

“Capitalist Realism” in a furniture store

After moving to West Germany Richter works with Sigmar Polke and Konrad Fischer-Lueg, playing in a pop-art spirit with advertisements and road signs; they mockingly call the result “capitalist realism”. The two-week exhibition is held in Berges’s furniture store in Düsseldorf.

1963–1964

The first shows: Düsseldorf and Galerie Schmela

Richter first exhibits in Düsseldorf in 1963, and in 1964 has his first gallery solo show at Galerie Schmela in the same city. Exhibitions in Munich and Berlin soon follow, and by the early 1970s he shows frequently throughout Europe and the United States.