Elisabeth II
Elisabeth II
Signed Print
Gerhard Richter
£40,000-£60,000 VALUE (EST.)
$80,000-$110,000 VALUE (EST.)
$70,000-$100,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥350,000-¥530,000 VALUE (EST.)
€45,000-€70,000 VALUE (EST.)
$390,000-$580,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥6,950,000-¥10,420,000 VALUE (EST.)
$50,000-$70,000 VALUE (EST.)
This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
Lithograph, 1966
Signed Print Edition of 50
H 70cm x W 60cm
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Artwork | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sotheby's London - United Kingdom | Elisabeth II - Signed Print | ||||
| October 2022 | Phillips London - United Kingdom | Elisabeth II - Signed Print | |||
| April 2021 | Sotheby's London - United Kingdom | Elisabeth II - Signed Print | |||
| September 2020 | Galerie Kornfeld - Germany | Elisabeth II - Signed Print | |||
| June 2010 | Lempertz, Cologne - Germany | Elisabeth II - Signed Print | |||
| November 2006 | Lempertz, Cologne - Germany | Elisabeth II - Signed Print | |||
| September 2006 | Christie's London - United Kingdom | Elisabeth II - Signed Print |
Meaning & Analysis
This 1966 lithograph print is by venerated German artist Gerhard Richter. Part of the War Cut collection, the print is signed by the artist and was issued in an edition of 50. One of Richter’s most famous images, the work constitutes a semi-realist depiction of the British monarch, Queen Elisabeth II.
In this image, Richter reproduces the iconic image of Queen Elisabeth II. A visual response to what were contemporary events at that time, the image contains resonances of other similar works, such as Mao (1968) and the world-famous Betty (1991) - a portrait of Richter’s daughter drawn from a photograph from the artist’s Atlas. In this work, the importance of photography to Richter’s œuvre is re-asserted. Turning to a source image most likely reproduced from a photograph and printed in a newspaper, Richter accentuates the abstraction that comes about during the printing process - an effect named halftone. Elisabeth II also foretells of Richter’s interest, during the 1970s, in the subversion of the historical or traditional portrait. In 1972, Richter completed the acclaimed 48 Portraits (1972) series, which was first exhibited at the 1972 Venice Biennale. Comprising 48 individual portraits of influential men, including Franz Kafka, Albert Einstein, Tchaikovsky, Oscar Wilde, and Thomas Mann, the series helped to launch Richter’s career internationally.
Moving to Düsseldorf in 1961, having fled the German Democratic Republic just months before the building of the Berlin Wall, Richter adopted an entirely new artistic style. Surrounded by the bewildering affluence of the city of Düsseldorf - known for housing the offices of West German industrialists and multinationals - Richter worked to revolted against his prior training in socialist realist art. Alongside influential Contemporary artists, Sigmund Polke and Konrad Fisher, he founded the ‘Capitalist Realist’ movement. This was fixated with responding to the iconographies of Western Capitalism as they emerged in West Germany’s Post-War boom - a drawn-out period of unparalleled economic growth nicknamed the Wirtschaftswunder, or ‘economic miracle’.
