United by a remarkable arrogance against everything established, the guys from the art academy set out in spring 1963. Since no one wanted to exhibit their works, Richter, Sigmar Polke, Konrad Lueg, and Manfred Kuttner took their fate into their own hands. On board an old Peugeot, the students toured Düsseldorf in search of the right place. At Kaiserstraße 31A, they finally found what they were looking for: the old butcher's shop was about to be demolished and was cheap to rent.
Amid hastily whitewashed walls and with plenty of sparkling wine in their glasses, the opening was celebrated on May 11, 1963. An exhibition that made art history. On one hand, because Richter, Polke, and Co introduced their self-invented label "Capitalist Realism" for their own art for the first time. On the other hand, because here four newcomers made their debut, of whom at least three later positioned themselves as superstars in the international art scene. Polke and Richter as major artists and Lueg, under his real name Konrad Fischer, as an avant-garde gallerist with international top renown.
At the butcher's debut, they were able to welcome Joseph Beuys and Günther Uecker that evening in May 1963. Also present were Heinz Mack, Gotthard Graubner, and not a few representatives of the press who subsequently reported eagerly, albeit not always openly. No wonder, as what the quartet presented under the term "Capitalist Realism" seemed at least a bit hard to get used to. Kuttner had painted a chair with red fluorescent paint and displayed it in the shop window with the notice: "The Holy Chair".
On that, Lueg placed a package of OMO detergent, which he presented as an OWO package by rotating the middle letter. Next to the chair, two dolls were hung upside down, framed by Richter. And Polke allowed his bundle of colorful illustrated magazines to hang down from the window ledge on a string – titled "Mass Media". The legendary appearance was followed by a few similarly original actions. However, the community did not last long: the buddy was always also a competitor.
And so the paths of the academy graduates gradually separated from 1965. "I still remember well how close that friendship was back then," Richter recalled much later. "But how hard it sometimes was. I was not so aware of that at the time. In hindsight, I am surprised that it was so brutal."
