War Cut

Since publishing “War Cut” in 2004, Gerhard Richter has made an increasing number of artist´s books, produced autonomously from his ostensibly more conventional exhibition catalogues. “Sindbad” is the title of a series of 98 lacquer pictures made in 2008, painted on the back of 12 x 10-inch panes of glass. For their first public exhibition, Richter paired them as 49 diptychs, which resembled 49 book-page spreads, pointing towards the possible ideal incarnation of these works as a large-format artist´s book. Using silkscreen printing, this volume reproduces all 98 of the pictures at their original dimensions. Seven texts, on the theme of Sindbad the Sailor (in German only), are interleaved with these magnificent images, and a bellyband around the book offers a concise introduction to the work.