posters and photos Richter Cycle: Man Shot Down 1 & 2

title: Erschossener 1 und 2

1988. Oil on Canvas
100.5 cm X 140.5 cm

Erschossener 1 - click for larger image

Erschossener 2 - click for larger image

These two paintings feature alternate versions of an image of a dead Andreas Baader in his Stammheim prison cell. The official version of Baader’s death claims that sometime in the night of October 17 and early in the morning of October 18, 1977 (between 11:00pm and 7:00am), in cell 719 Baader removed his carefully hidden 7.65 caliber FEG pistol from its hiding place (it was among the dozens of illegal items smuggled into the “most secure prison in the world” by Baader-Meinhof lawyers). He shot two bullets: one at the wall and one into a pillow, to leave the impression of a fight. Then he held the gun behind his neck, put his thumb on the trigger, and pulled it, blowing a hole through the top of his forehead.

This official explanation has never been accepted by many on the left.