Over the last few years, Sotheby’s has shown a bit of an advantage in the market for Gerhard Richter’s abstract paintings. Seven of the top ten prices belong to Sotheby’s. But today Christie’s announces its own slate of Richter works, including a canvas from the Tate Modern show that recently played an important role in further fueling demand. Here’s Christie’s Robert Manley on making his pitch:

Christie’s is fortunate to be offering an outstanding group of major works by Gerhard Richter, including two unqualified masterworks, Seestüeck (Leicht bewölkt) and Abstraktes Bild (798-3) . The six paintings span 25 years of the artist‟s career, from 1968 to 1993 and include his classic abstractions such as Abstraktes Bild (798-3) one of the most valuable Richters to come to market. From a breakthrough period of the 1960‟s comes his sublime Seestüeck (Leicht bewölkt) one of a small series of Seascapes executed in the late 1960‟s, most of which are in museum collections, including the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Bockmann Collection, Berlin and the Kunsthalle Hamburg. Rare to market is a 1968 largescale painting Farbschlieren; sinuous, wide-brushed and vibrantly colored, it is integral to Richter‟s development of his intuitive Abstrakte Bilders which would follow in the 1980‟s. Rounding out the selection is a large Abstraktes Bild Violett (600-2) that was recently featured in the acclaimed Tate Modern retrospective, and two exquisite medium scale abstract paintings. With an aggregate low estimate of almost $40 million, the six works are primed to be a landmark event in the Richter market.”

Christie’s GERHARD RICHTER press release

Colin Gleadell did a little math on last week’s Contemporary art sales and discovered that Gerhard Richter’s work accounted for nearly 20% of the trading volume. That kind of presence in the Contemporary market has only previously been seen by, well, you know who:

 there were 25, mostly colourful abstract paintings of the kind that had sold so well in New York in November, and all but two sold for £33.8 million, easily surpassing the minimum £20 million expected; that’s 18.4 percent of the series spent on just one artist. I can’t remember any other contemporary artist, apart from Andy Warhol, dominating to such an extent.

Contemporary Sales: Some Things Still to Smile About (Telegraph)

The New York Times says that Gerhard Richter is getting lots of attention from ordinary Germans now that his retrospective is touring his homeland. But too much of that attention comes from Richter’s market success. As Thomas Struth, who trained with the painter in the 70s points out, adulation isn’t what Richter is after:

“Most people who become really very good are very self-critical about themselves,” Mr. Struth said. “To receive only this positive reaction, it’s painful. You think, ‘O.K., that’s great, but what did I do wrong?’ ” He added, “Gerhard, rightly so, almost complains that everyone loves his work, which is kind of an odd feeling, but people are fascinated by celebrity, fame and money, which has very little to do with what the work is about.”

Hundreds of journalists gathered for the news conference that opened the retrospective last week. Udo Kittelmann, director of the National Galleries, implored them not to ask Mr. Richter about the prices paid for his canvases. “It has no more novelty value, and Mr. Richter surely has more to say about his pictures than what they cost,” Mr. Kittelmann said.

A reporter asked Mr. Richter how it felt to be “celebrated at the moment like no other artist has ever experienced,” as a “titan, an Olympian.” Mr. Richter smiled slyly and replied, “Being ignored would certainly be a lot worse.”

Germans Embrace Artist as a Homegrown Hero (New York Times)

Barron’s Penta blog is skeptical of Citi’s Jonathan Binstock’s aggressive but very sensible prediction that Richter will soon take his place alongside Warhol, Picasso, Koons and Hirst:

“Richter has been besting himself regularly at many auction levels since the heights of 2007 and 2008. In the past five years his auction price has approximately quadrupled.”

In February 2007, a record of $5.5 million was reached for the Richter work, Abstraktes Bild(1991). Binstock now says that same work “might be valued around $12 million. Between February 2007 and November 2011, Richter achieved no less than five record prices at auction, making a steeply escalating tear through the Great Recession that seems unrivaled by any other artists.” That is impressive. Even his smaller works, in the hard hit mid market of the $1 million to $5 million range, are “defying gravity in more ways than one.” […]

“While Richter still has a long way to go in order to compete with his fellow colleagues in terms of total market volume and record prices, it is clear that he is in the process of being catapulted to a rare and illustrious realm of authority where market forces combine with art history to shed light on the future of one of our grandest cultural traditions.”

Citi Private Bank: Artist Gerhard Richter the Next Picasso (Barron’s)