"Already icons of the modern era, paintings such as Herr Heyde, 48 Portraits, Ema (Nude on a Staircase), Family at the Sea, Small Bathers, Reader, Moritz, and Betty prove the great importance of the portrait in Gerhard Richter's oeuvre. In an informative essay, Stefan Gronert follows the development of this genre in the artist's work, starting with the blurred black-and-white pictures of the 1960s and moving on to the more recent colorful panels. This book demonstrates how Richter pursues the theme of the portrait in his various types of work, as well as in all of the visual genres in which he works: painting, prints, drawing, photography, and film." "During research, previously unknown portraits came to light and are published in this monograph for the first time. Some of them are presented in an essay by Hubertus Butin, who devotes himself to Richter's portrait photography of the 1960s."--BOOK JACKET