The latest installment of the Chicago Audio Works Podcast narrates the high points in the artistic life of German painter Gerhard Richter, adapted from the just-published Gerhard Richter: A Life in Painting by Dietmar Elger. (Open in Quicktime to see an accompanying set of images from the book.)

Despite Richter’s status as one of the most popular artists of the post-war era, Elger’s book is the first biographical account of his life and work. Written with full access to Richter and his archives, Elger explores Richter’s childhood in Nazi Germany; his years as a student and mural painter in communist East Germany; his time in the West during the turbulent 1960s and ’70s, when student protests, political strife, and violence tore the Federal Republic of Germany apart; and his rise to international acclaim during the 1980s and beyond.
Richter has always been a difficult personality to parse and the seemingly contradictory strands of his artistic practice have frustrated and sometimes confounded critics. But the extensive interviews on which this book is based disclose a Richter who is far more candid, personal, and vivid than ever before. The result is a book that will be the foundational portrait of this artist for years to come.

To find out more about the book read this excerpt.
Also, don’t miss these upcoming lectures by the author:
March 24, 2009, 7:00 pm
Dietmar Elger
at the Art Gallery of Ontario
March 26, 2010, 6:00 pm
Dietmar Elger
at The Art Institute of Chicago