Betty
- Artist
- Gerhard Richter, German, born 1932
- Depicted
- Betty Richter, German, born 1968
- Date
- 1988
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 251
- Dimensions
- 40 1/4 x 28 1/2 in. (102.2 x 72.4 cm)
- Credit Line
- Funds given by Mr. and Mrs. R. Crosby Kemper Jr. through the Crosby Kemper Foundations, The Arthur and Helen Baer Charitable Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Van-Lear Black III, Anabeth Calkins and John Weil, Mr. and Mrs. Gary Wolff, the Honorable and Mrs. Thomas F. Eagleton; Museum Purchase, Dr. and Mrs. Harold J. Joseph, and Mrs. Edward Mallinckrodt, by exchange
- Rights
- © Gerhard Richter 2019
- Object Number
- 23:1992
NOTES
Gerhard Richter based this painting on a 1978 photograph of his 11-year-old daughter. Betty turns away from the viewer, possibly toward one of Richter’s own monochrome paintings. Richter fled East Germany in 1961 at age 29 and moved to Düsseldorf just before the Berlin Wall was erected. At the time, West Germany was struggling to define its postwar identity. Richter painted this work 27 years later in 1988, only a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Provenance
by 1991 - 1992
Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, England, acquired from the artist [1]
1992 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Anthony d'Offay Gallery [2]
Notes:
[1] The first public exhibition of "Betty" was at Anthony d'Offay Gallery on April 22, 1991 ["Gerhard Richter: Mirrors." London: Anthony d'Offay Gallery, 1991, cat. no. 1]. A catalogue for the exhibition and a label on the back of the canvas support this provenance ["Gerhard Richter". London: Tate Gallery, 1991, cat. no. 49]. Furthermore, the bill of sale from Anthony d'Offay Gallery dated March 27, 1992 states that the gallery acquired the painting from the artist [SLAM document files].
[2] Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 18, 1992.
Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, England, acquired from the artist [1]
1992 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Anthony d'Offay Gallery [2]
Notes:
[1] The first public exhibition of "Betty" was at Anthony d'Offay Gallery on April 22, 1991 ["Gerhard Richter: Mirrors." London: Anthony d'Offay Gallery, 1991, cat. no. 1]. A catalogue for the exhibition and a label on the back of the canvas support this provenance ["Gerhard Richter". London: Tate Gallery, 1991, cat. no. 49]. Furthermore, the bill of sale from Anthony d'Offay Gallery dated March 27, 1992 states that the gallery acquired the painting from the artist [SLAM document files].
[2] Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, March 18, 1992.