Category: Artist
Nationality: German
Last Year: 55

Gerhard Richter may have drawn pop culture and photography into painting togreat effect, but he crucially dragged politics and history along as well. Richter, arguably the most influential living painter, turns eighty next year, and is still reaching at subjects that other artists could never touch. It’s difficult, for example, to think of an artist who could tackle the destruction of the Twin Towers with such sensitive, protective grace as Richter did in September (2005), drawing a light, squeegeed screen across the image as though to save it from being fully consumed. This year sees the release of a major new documentary film about the artist directed by Corinna Belz, Gerhard Richter Painting, which will coincide with the run of Panorama, his retrospective at Tate Modern, a show that doesn’t so much seal an already airtight reputation as demonstrate that museums are increasingly reliant on major, established artists such as Richter to maintain their viewing figures, bolster their funding and ultimately provide their shows.