Art 1962-1964
1962 Four Pinball Machines by Thiebaud
2020 SOLD for $ 19M by Christie's
In the 1950s Wayne Thiebaud was an art teacher in California. He had a long stay in New York at a time when pop art was not yet in the making. He met de Kooning, Kline, Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns.
His works are influenced by the simplified features of the caricature and by the garish colors of the advertisements. His intention is not conceptual and he is still embarrassed sixty years later when he is considered as an artist.
He builds his world with everyday objects, a few years before Warhol. Each type of artefact represents a simple desire : gluttony, gain at play. They were not created by nature and he may imagine them with excessive colors. He aligns his pastries endlessly on counters or in shop windows, while introducing from one element to another some differences that capture the attention of the visitor. He does not like Warhol's mechanical reproduction.
The geometry is both rigorous and false, with perspectives and shadows that do not bring distance. He is very attentive to the minimalist avant-gardes : Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, Sol LeWitt.
On July 10, 2020, Christie's sold for $ 19M Four Pinball Machines, oil on canvas 173 x 183 cm painted in 1962, lot 63.
Seen from afar, the overall composition is flat like two rows of windows. The operational angled tops with the flippers are between these two areas, in a variety of colors that express the diversity of the game. The backglass is not the flashing image that usually attracts the customer to the pinball machine, but a basic geometry from the new minimalist art, no doubt a wink to his colleagues for his first exhibition in New York.
In the example above, the title is false. There are not four machines aligned in a row but five, and the two extreme units are truncated. Everything is delightfully fake in the art of Wayne Thiebaud : he joins Roy Lichtenstein in the questioning of the meaning of art. His cakes do not exist but his art is joyful.
His works are influenced by the simplified features of the caricature and by the garish colors of the advertisements. His intention is not conceptual and he is still embarrassed sixty years later when he is considered as an artist.
He builds his world with everyday objects, a few years before Warhol. Each type of artefact represents a simple desire : gluttony, gain at play. They were not created by nature and he may imagine them with excessive colors. He aligns his pastries endlessly on counters or in shop windows, while introducing from one element to another some differences that capture the attention of the visitor. He does not like Warhol's mechanical reproduction.
The geometry is both rigorous and false, with perspectives and shadows that do not bring distance. He is very attentive to the minimalist avant-gardes : Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, Sol LeWitt.
On July 10, 2020, Christie's sold for $ 19M Four Pinball Machines, oil on canvas 173 x 183 cm painted in 1962, lot 63.
Seen from afar, the overall composition is flat like two rows of windows. The operational angled tops with the flippers are between these two areas, in a variety of colors that express the diversity of the game. The backglass is not the flashing image that usually attracts the customer to the pinball machine, but a basic geometry from the new minimalist art, no doubt a wink to his colleagues for his first exhibition in New York.
In the example above, the title is false. There are not four machines aligned in a row but five, and the two extreme units are truncated. Everything is delightfully fake in the art of Wayne Thiebaud : he joins Roy Lichtenstein in the questioning of the meaning of art. His cakes do not exist but his art is joyful.
1962 L'Ovation by Magritte
2020 SOLD for $ 14M by Sotheby's
In a surrealist universe, objects can replace living beings and plants. The stage curtain opens onto a fictitious world. In 1960 with Les Mémoires d'un Saint, Magritte reveals that the back of the curtain is his signature blue sky populated with small white clouds. He will use this new duality quite extensively.
Also in 1960, with La Joconde, a figure in the form of a cordless curtain in an indeterminate material is inserted between two stage curtains to give visibility to the cloudy sky.
In 1962 the curtains become blue, by mimicry. With La Peine perdue, the scene is transposed outside and the central figure is doubled. Painted in the same year Le Beau Monde, 100 x 81 cm, whose preparation title had been Le Jardin d'Orphée, was sold for £ 7.9M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014.
On October 28, 2020, Sotheby's sold for $ 14M L'Ovation, oil on canvas 89 x 116 cm painted in 1962, lot 109.
The two curtains and their sky-filled ersatz are placed on a beach with the sea on the horizon. The clouds of the false drape seem to be in continuity with the clouds of the real sky until we notice that the false sky crosses the horizon. Magritte's titles rarely have a meaning, but this ovation could be an allusion to a theatrical performance.
Also in 1960, with La Joconde, a figure in the form of a cordless curtain in an indeterminate material is inserted between two stage curtains to give visibility to the cloudy sky.
In 1962 the curtains become blue, by mimicry. With La Peine perdue, the scene is transposed outside and the central figure is doubled. Painted in the same year Le Beau Monde, 100 x 81 cm, whose preparation title had been Le Jardin d'Orphée, was sold for £ 7.9M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014.
On October 28, 2020, Sotheby's sold for $ 14M L'Ovation, oil on canvas 89 x 116 cm painted in 1962, lot 109.
The two curtains and their sky-filled ersatz are placed on a beach with the sea on the horizon. The clouds of the false drape seem to be in continuity with the clouds of the real sky until we notice that the false sky crosses the horizon. Magritte's titles rarely have a meaning, but this ovation could be an allusion to a theatrical performance.
1962 This is not a Beautiful World
2014 SOLD 7.9 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The message of the Surrealists is hermetic. Even when the interpretation of a work is unique for the artist, it is not always understood by the observer.
Magritte provides fun, and he enjoys providing it. In the early 1960s, he is prolific, endlessly rearranging the elements of his artistic vocabulary. His parallel universes are dominated by a cheerful blue sky.
On February 5 in London, Sotheby's sells Le Beau Monde, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1962, estimated £ 4M. Other works of the same period received the same title.
In 1929, his Treachery of Images created a doubt between what is and what is not a pipe. Le Beau Monde may enable a similar reading.
On a fully neutral base, two curtains and a mirror stand up into his usual beautiful cloudy sky. The mirror is fragmentary, separating the sky into two disjoint areas. The curtains are interrupted like the broken columns in an atheist cemetery. The apple does not comfort us, it is only a signature.
The proposed interpretation by the auction house is different.
Magritte was a great Surrealist because his message eludes us.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
The message of the Surrealists is hermetic. Even when the interpretation of a work is unique for the artist, it is not always understood by the observer.
Magritte provides fun, and he enjoys providing it. In the early 1960s, he is prolific, endlessly rearranging the elements of his artistic vocabulary. His parallel universes are dominated by a cheerful blue sky.
On February 5 in London, Sotheby's sells Le Beau Monde, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1962, estimated £ 4M. Other works of the same period received the same title.
In 1929, his Treachery of Images created a doubt between what is and what is not a pipe. Le Beau Monde may enable a similar reading.
On a fully neutral base, two curtains and a mirror stand up into his usual beautiful cloudy sky. The mirror is fragmentary, separating the sky into two disjoint areas. The curtains are interrupted like the broken columns in an atheist cemetery. The apple does not comfort us, it is only a signature.
The proposed interpretation by the auction house is different.
Magritte was a great Surrealist because his message eludes us.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
1962 ANT 5 by Yves Klein
2018 SOLD for £ 6.8M by Sotheby's
In the Anthropométries, the contact of the body with the support may be static or swarming. One or more models can participate.
In early 1962 Yves Klein attempted a more figurative expression with his reduced models of famous sculptures entirely painted in his signature IKB. He continues also his experiments with the other techniques, in the preparation of his ultimate masterpiece referred as FC 1.
ANT 5 is an Anthropométrie realized in 1962 on a previously carbonized card. The woman is no longer a blue brush. Her body serves as a saving during the IKB spraying. The result is the profile of a nude woman framed in her blue shadow. She is like levitating. The position of the legs shows that she was reclining on the cardboard laid on the floor during the spraying. Some blue dripping has slipped under the thinning of the waist.
This artwork mounted on a 118 x 78 cm wooden panel was sold for £ 4.1M including premium by Christie's on February 11, 2010 and for £ 6.8M by Sotheby's on June 26, 2018, lot 5.
In early 1962 Yves Klein attempted a more figurative expression with his reduced models of famous sculptures entirely painted in his signature IKB. He continues also his experiments with the other techniques, in the preparation of his ultimate masterpiece referred as FC 1.
ANT 5 is an Anthropométrie realized in 1962 on a previously carbonized card. The woman is no longer a blue brush. Her body serves as a saving during the IKB spraying. The result is the profile of a nude woman framed in her blue shadow. She is like levitating. The position of the legs shows that she was reclining on the cardboard laid on the floor during the spraying. Some blue dripping has slipped under the thinning of the waist.
This artwork mounted on a 118 x 78 cm wooden panel was sold for £ 4.1M including premium by Christie's on February 11, 2010 and for £ 6.8M by Sotheby's on June 26, 2018, lot 5.
1962 FC 27 by Yves Klein
2015 SOLD for £ 5.9M including premium
Yves Klein is a creator in the mystical meaning of that word. The ultimate goal of his art is the relationship between human being and cosmos. He develops his own primary colors in blue, gold and pink that express separately the basic properties of his universe before being mixed by the action of water and fire.
Klein desired to use fire in early 1961 and his decisive experiments were conducted in March 1962. His artworks combining fire and color are identified with the prefix FC.
The mastering of fire in art by Klein is unprecedented because unlike Burri he does not lead his support up to the final phase of the combustion. The material, a Swedish cardboard of very high density, allows a slow ignition leaving the required time for the artist to control shapes and colors. His very rapid gesture in handling the huge 40 Kg flamethrower freezes the drips.
On June 30, 2015, Christie's sold for £ 5.9M FC 27, 100 x 137 cm, made in 1962, lot 18. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
FC 27 was an important step in his control of fire before the achievement of FC 1 whose large size 141 x 300 cm enabled him to incorporate in full length the Anthropométries of two naked women. FC 1 was sold by Christie's in 2012.
The hardness of the exercise of the fire colors led the artist to exhaustion despite his athletic training. He died on June 6, 1962 aged 34.
Klein desired to use fire in early 1961 and his decisive experiments were conducted in March 1962. His artworks combining fire and color are identified with the prefix FC.
The mastering of fire in art by Klein is unprecedented because unlike Burri he does not lead his support up to the final phase of the combustion. The material, a Swedish cardboard of very high density, allows a slow ignition leaving the required time for the artist to control shapes and colors. His very rapid gesture in handling the huge 40 Kg flamethrower freezes the drips.
On June 30, 2015, Christie's sold for £ 5.9M FC 27, 100 x 137 cm, made in 1962, lot 18. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
FC 27 was an important step in his control of fire before the achievement of FC 1 whose large size 141 x 300 cm enabled him to incorporate in full length the Anthropométries of two naked women. FC 1 was sold by Christie's in 2012.
The hardness of the exercise of the fire colors led the artist to exhaustion despite his athletic training. He died on June 6, 1962 aged 34.
1962 peinture of light by pierre soulages
2017 sold for € 6.1m including premium
A painting by Pierre Soulages passed in February 2016 at Phillips. The catalogue from that sale includes a video. It is now estimated € 2M for sale by Sotheby's in Paris on June 6, lot 4. I discussed it as follows last year :
Black is a non-color. It differs from true colors by its intensity and violence. Its contrast over a white background, experienced long time ago by Malevich, is one of the basics of artistic expression. Pierre Soulages is the artist of the black.
Black must play with light. The greater or lesser intensity of Soulages's black is obtained by the thickness of the paint layer. More or less translucent bars ensure the transition between the thick strength of the absolute black and the light. The expressive effect is similar to the color transitions on the edges of Rothko's rectangles.
The fundamental use of black by Soulages comes in the following of Franz Kline. Soulages replaces Kline's impulsive line by positioning his black with a wide squeegee in a carefully controlled geometry.
The oil on canvas for sale is titled Peinture 162 x 130 cm - 14 Avril 1962, displaying a structured composition in a beautiful oblique. The white is slightly increased in blue.
Black is a non-color. It differs from true colors by its intensity and violence. Its contrast over a white background, experienced long time ago by Malevich, is one of the basics of artistic expression. Pierre Soulages is the artist of the black.
Black must play with light. The greater or lesser intensity of Soulages's black is obtained by the thickness of the paint layer. More or less translucent bars ensure the transition between the thick strength of the absolute black and the light. The expressive effect is similar to the color transitions on the edges of Rothko's rectangles.
The fundamental use of black by Soulages comes in the following of Franz Kline. Soulages replaces Kline's impulsive line by positioning his black with a wide squeegee in a carefully controlled geometry.
The oil on canvas for sale is titled Peinture 162 x 130 cm - 14 Avril 1962, displaying a structured composition in a beautiful oblique. The white is slightly increased in blue.
1962 blood and infinity
2016 sold for £ 4.7m including premium
In the early years of his artistic career, Alberto Burri is the man of a single activist message : the carnal damage of war wounds is atrocious and unacceptable. He is in connection with the Roman artistic circles but he works solo in the development of his processes unprecedented in art history.
Burri observes the destruction made by fire on various materials: wood, iron, plastic. He paints his surfaces in acrylic mixed with glue but uses only two colors : flesh and blood. He leads the combustion to the outskirts of its final phase to get melts, blisters and ashes.
He follows his process with obsession during two decades. He takes the visitor of his exhibitions to react against the horrors of wars when observing his tortured materials. His artistic reputation grows : by luck at the same time other artists had also waived the usual techniques of painting and sculpture : Piero Manzoni, Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein.
In the series of Rosso Plastica, the deep red is damaged by large black oval craters with sharp edges. The blood reinterpreted by Burri anticipates and perhaps inspires Fontana in his quest for the infinite beyond a punctured or lacerated surface. The pustules of a Bianco Plastica, suggestive of a rotting flesh, do not offer a similar incentive.
On October 7 in London, Sotheby's sells Rosso Plastica 5 realized in 1962, 70 x 100 cm, lot 14 estimated £ 4M. Another Rosso Plastica 80 x 100 cm made in the following year with a similar balance between reds and black voids was sold for £ 3.7M including premium by Sotheby's on February 12, 2014.
Burri observes the destruction made by fire on various materials: wood, iron, plastic. He paints his surfaces in acrylic mixed with glue but uses only two colors : flesh and blood. He leads the combustion to the outskirts of its final phase to get melts, blisters and ashes.
He follows his process with obsession during two decades. He takes the visitor of his exhibitions to react against the horrors of wars when observing his tortured materials. His artistic reputation grows : by luck at the same time other artists had also waived the usual techniques of painting and sculpture : Piero Manzoni, Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein.
In the series of Rosso Plastica, the deep red is damaged by large black oval craters with sharp edges. The blood reinterpreted by Burri anticipates and perhaps inspires Fontana in his quest for the infinite beyond a punctured or lacerated surface. The pustules of a Bianco Plastica, suggestive of a rotting flesh, do not offer a similar incentive.
On October 7 in London, Sotheby's sells Rosso Plastica 5 realized in 1962, 70 x 100 cm, lot 14 estimated £ 4M. Another Rosso Plastica 80 x 100 cm made in the following year with a similar balance between reds and black voids was sold for £ 3.7M including premium by Sotheby's on February 12, 2014.
1962 Crimes Without Punishment
2015 SOLD for £ 4.3M including premium
Very early in his career, Cy Twombly defies conventions and decencies. He admires Sade and his move to Rome in 1959 makes him dream of the excess of the ancient passions.
The Greco-Roman gods had an orgiastic reputation. The artist imagines that the pornographic graffiti is a timeless expression, and he endeavors to achieve it with modern techniques. His drawing with graphite pencil and wax crayon on a canvas painted in oil is stealthy, abundant and unevenly positioned, as if Twombly, inside his comfortable studio, wished to imitate the illegal gestures of the former passions.
Executed in 1960, Crimes of passion I, 190 x 200 cm, is estimated £ 4M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 10, lot 30.
Roman world and Italy have not only been inhabited by the gods. In 1962, Twombly has an excitement for the most abject murders that have changed the course of history. The traces of the men of ancient times are not limited to writing and graffiti: the artist imagines the body imprints in the colors of flesh and blood left by the mutilating massacres of Pompey, Caesar and Giuliano de 'Medici.
On February 11 in London, Christie's sells The Death of Pompey, oil and graphite on canvas 145 x 176 cm, lot 35 estimated £ 4M.
RESULTS including premium :
Crimes of passion SOLD for £ 4.1M by Sotheby's
Death of Pompey : SOLD for £ 4.3M by Christie's
The Greco-Roman gods had an orgiastic reputation. The artist imagines that the pornographic graffiti is a timeless expression, and he endeavors to achieve it with modern techniques. His drawing with graphite pencil and wax crayon on a canvas painted in oil is stealthy, abundant and unevenly positioned, as if Twombly, inside his comfortable studio, wished to imitate the illegal gestures of the former passions.
Executed in 1960, Crimes of passion I, 190 x 200 cm, is estimated £ 4M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 10, lot 30.
Roman world and Italy have not only been inhabited by the gods. In 1962, Twombly has an excitement for the most abject murders that have changed the course of history. The traces of the men of ancient times are not limited to writing and graffiti: the artist imagines the body imprints in the colors of flesh and blood left by the mutilating massacres of Pompey, Caesar and Giuliano de 'Medici.
On February 11 in London, Christie's sells The Death of Pompey, oil and graphite on canvas 145 x 176 cm, lot 35 estimated £ 4M.
RESULTS including premium :
Crimes of passion SOLD for £ 4.1M by Sotheby's
Death of Pompey : SOLD for £ 4.3M by Christie's
1962 Surrealist Convulsions
2017 SOLD for € 4.4M including premium
From his cosmopolitan origins Wifredo Lam has full legitimacy to be an activist of the Third World against the dominant culture of the white man, long before Basquiat.
His fantastic creatures are both humans and gods, even when they look like grasshoppers with impassive faces. Their attitudes of frenzied trances and dances belong to the Cuban voodoo imported from Africa. Lam is too lucid to believe such fables : his characters are symbols of the possibility of a counter-culture, artfully supported by the title of his works.
Gradually the artist shows lit foregrounds in front of a dark night. In 1961 Tropique du Capricorne, 146 x 218 cm, still admits some colors in its scene which gathers a male and a female at rest with a horse of Guernica.
On December 6 in Paris, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas of the same size painted in 1962, the year of the Cuban missile crisis, lot 11 estimated € 2,5M.
In this composition in the style of a monochrome collage on a black background, four dehumanized creatures are altogether levitating and convulsive. They are threatened by a Damocles' sword while a lost arrow goes outward.
The surrealist title, A trois centimètres de la Terre, is a political message understandable by the Voodoo initiates. It evokes the oppression of the Oshoumaré spirit to whom a despotic Yoruba god had forbidden to put his feet again on the ground.
His fantastic creatures are both humans and gods, even when they look like grasshoppers with impassive faces. Their attitudes of frenzied trances and dances belong to the Cuban voodoo imported from Africa. Lam is too lucid to believe such fables : his characters are symbols of the possibility of a counter-culture, artfully supported by the title of his works.
Gradually the artist shows lit foregrounds in front of a dark night. In 1961 Tropique du Capricorne, 146 x 218 cm, still admits some colors in its scene which gathers a male and a female at rest with a horse of Guernica.
On December 6 in Paris, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas of the same size painted in 1962, the year of the Cuban missile crisis, lot 11 estimated € 2,5M.
In this composition in the style of a monochrome collage on a black background, four dehumanized creatures are altogether levitating and convulsive. They are threatened by a Damocles' sword while a lost arrow goes outward.
The surrealist title, A trois centimètres de la Terre, is a political message understandable by the Voodoo initiates. It evokes the oppression of the Oshoumaré spirit to whom a despotic Yoruba god had forbidden to put his feet again on the ground.
1962 Fairy Drinkers in Mexico City
2015 SOLD for $ 3.3M including premium
Remedios Varo, born in Spain, early joined surrealism and was at one time the wife of the poet Benjamin Péret. Pushed away from Europe by the war, she moved to Mexico City. Her paintings depict fantastic creatures in a medieval atmosphere with a sense of humor which is one of the most subtle in art history but not often easy to fully decode.
Her consecration at the top of the art market is very recent. On 24 November 2014, Sotheby's sold Hacia la torre for $ 4.3 million including premium over a lower estimate of $ 2.5M. This oil on masonite 123 x 100 cm painted in 1960 shows a gang of nuns on fragile tricycles outgoing from a castle behind a peasant and an austere abbess.
Remedios Varo liked to show young women with a stereotyped face that is a self-portrait recognizable through her short chin. The catalog was telling that one of these women had escaped, symbolizing freedom. I did not understand that comment and I did not discuss the artwork in this chronicle to prevent against any misinterpretation.
On May 27 in New York, Christie's sells Vampiros vegetarianos, oil on canvas 86 x 60 cm painted in 1962, lot 22 estimated $ 1.5M.
Three Vampyrs recognizable by their bat wings are perched on high stools around a guéridon. With long straws, they drink directly in beautiful fruit reminiscent of the Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. Two pet roosters with bodies and legs of dogs add another fairy element to the scene.
The Vampiros Mexicanos are cocktails based on tequila and sangrita, this latter word being a diminutive for 'blood' designating some juice of red fruit. This drink was appreciated in the Mexican surrealist group !
Her consecration at the top of the art market is very recent. On 24 November 2014, Sotheby's sold Hacia la torre for $ 4.3 million including premium over a lower estimate of $ 2.5M. This oil on masonite 123 x 100 cm painted in 1960 shows a gang of nuns on fragile tricycles outgoing from a castle behind a peasant and an austere abbess.
Remedios Varo liked to show young women with a stereotyped face that is a self-portrait recognizable through her short chin. The catalog was telling that one of these women had escaped, symbolizing freedom. I did not understand that comment and I did not discuss the artwork in this chronicle to prevent against any misinterpretation.
On May 27 in New York, Christie's sells Vampiros vegetarianos, oil on canvas 86 x 60 cm painted in 1962, lot 22 estimated $ 1.5M.
Three Vampyrs recognizable by their bat wings are perched on high stools around a guéridon. With long straws, they drink directly in beautiful fruit reminiscent of the Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. Two pet roosters with bodies and legs of dogs add another fairy element to the scene.
The Vampiros Mexicanos are cocktails based on tequila and sangrita, this latter word being a diminutive for 'blood' designating some juice of red fruit. This drink was appreciated in the Mexican surrealist group !
1962 The Princess of Oriental Art
2013 SOLD for $ 2.75m including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The career of Fahr el-Nissa Zeid is singular in the history of art. Born near Istanbul, she came to Paris aged 27 in 1928 and became a pupil of Roger Bissière. Her marriage in 1933 with the brother of the King of Iraq gave her the rank of princess but did not interrupt her artistic activity or her relations with Paris.
The decidedly non-figurative style of Bissière has a post-Cubist structure with a multitude of similar colored shapes carefully arranged all over the surface. His works are not highlighted on the market but influenced the abstract art school in Paris with much younger artists including Poliakoff and Soulages.
On October 29 in Dubai, Christie's sells an oil on canvas painted by Fahr el-Nissa Zeid, 210 x 540 cm, entitled Break of the atom and vegetal life. Here is the link to the catalog.
This very large painting estimated US$ 3M is unquestionably a masterpiece among the varied production of the artist.Non-figurative, she goes further than Bissière by introducing bright colors and flexible forms clearly inspired by Islamic calligraphy.
Painted in 1962, this work anticipates by some decades the calligraphic painting by Ehsai or the flexible abstraction by Dogancay and its cosmic composition announces the surrealism of Akyavas.
The art of Fahr el-Nissa Zeid is regularly featured at auction in Istanbul. This recognition of the importance of her work by Christie's is paving the way for a better appreciation on the international market.
POST SALE COMMENT
Here is the result reported by Christie's on Twitter :
Zeid’s Break of the Atom and Vegetal Life fetched $2.7m/AED10.1m highest price for a Middle-Eastern painting @auction pic.twitter.com/vEbptn31qE
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) October 29, 2013
The career of Fahr el-Nissa Zeid is singular in the history of art. Born near Istanbul, she came to Paris aged 27 in 1928 and became a pupil of Roger Bissière. Her marriage in 1933 with the brother of the King of Iraq gave her the rank of princess but did not interrupt her artistic activity or her relations with Paris.
The decidedly non-figurative style of Bissière has a post-Cubist structure with a multitude of similar colored shapes carefully arranged all over the surface. His works are not highlighted on the market but influenced the abstract art school in Paris with much younger artists including Poliakoff and Soulages.
On October 29 in Dubai, Christie's sells an oil on canvas painted by Fahr el-Nissa Zeid, 210 x 540 cm, entitled Break of the atom and vegetal life. Here is the link to the catalog.
This very large painting estimated US$ 3M is unquestionably a masterpiece among the varied production of the artist.Non-figurative, she goes further than Bissière by introducing bright colors and flexible forms clearly inspired by Islamic calligraphy.
Painted in 1962, this work anticipates by some decades the calligraphic painting by Ehsai or the flexible abstraction by Dogancay and its cosmic composition announces the surrealism of Akyavas.
The art of Fahr el-Nissa Zeid is regularly featured at auction in Istanbul. This recognition of the importance of her work by Christie's is paving the way for a better appreciation on the international market.
POST SALE COMMENT
Here is the result reported by Christie's on Twitter :
Zeid’s Break of the Atom and Vegetal Life fetched $2.7m/AED10.1m highest price for a Middle-Eastern painting @auction pic.twitter.com/vEbptn31qE
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) October 29, 2013
1962 An Insomnia of Lee Krasner
2015 SOLD for $ 1.92M including premium
Lee Krasner, a student of the abstract painter Hans Hofmann, was also trained for the murals. From 1941, she exhibited her works in New York within the American Abstract Artists group.
The young woman wants to stand away both from cubism and from the use of geometry in abstract art. Thus in opposition to the teaching of Hofmann, she appreciates that a gestural art can better express the feelings. She watches a work by Jackson Pollock in 1942. Nobody knows who he is. She knocks on his door. They will marry in 1945.
Their move to a barn in Long Island is desired by Lee. She wants that Jackson departs from New York for a return to nature that will be beneficial to his art. Lee's energy and Jackson's torments give birth to the action painting. The emotion is not created by the figurative but by a furious hand movement in regular patterns that have no frame.
The genius of Jackson met her expectations. The history of art retained Pollock and neglected Krasner.
She has not stopped painting but she did not comment her art, considering that only its achievement was important. She often destroyed her own works. I forward the hypothesis that the art of Lee pushed up to its annihilation influenced the masking of the original drawing by the dripping in the totally innovative style developed by Jackson in their barn.
Lee went beyond Jackson in the variety of the expression of feelings. as she covers the range of their mood changes. Unsustainable events like the death of Pollock or the Holocaust generate a real anger to Krasner. Lee's art is finally more human than Jackson's.
On November 10 in New York, Christie's sells Night Birds, a large oil on canvas 182 x 363 cm painted in 1962, lot 66B estimated $ 2.5M.
At that time, Lee suffers from chronic insomnia and works at night. Her fancies are spreading as a repetitive and endless pattern on a black background. The title invites to interpret the picture as a grouped flight of figures, some of which seeming winged.
The young woman wants to stand away both from cubism and from the use of geometry in abstract art. Thus in opposition to the teaching of Hofmann, she appreciates that a gestural art can better express the feelings. She watches a work by Jackson Pollock in 1942. Nobody knows who he is. She knocks on his door. They will marry in 1945.
Their move to a barn in Long Island is desired by Lee. She wants that Jackson departs from New York for a return to nature that will be beneficial to his art. Lee's energy and Jackson's torments give birth to the action painting. The emotion is not created by the figurative but by a furious hand movement in regular patterns that have no frame.
The genius of Jackson met her expectations. The history of art retained Pollock and neglected Krasner.
She has not stopped painting but she did not comment her art, considering that only its achievement was important. She often destroyed her own works. I forward the hypothesis that the art of Lee pushed up to its annihilation influenced the masking of the original drawing by the dripping in the totally innovative style developed by Jackson in their barn.
Lee went beyond Jackson in the variety of the expression of feelings. as she covers the range of their mood changes. Unsustainable events like the death of Pollock or the Holocaust generate a real anger to Krasner. Lee's art is finally more human than Jackson's.
On November 10 in New York, Christie's sells Night Birds, a large oil on canvas 182 x 363 cm painted in 1962, lot 66B estimated $ 2.5M.
At that time, Lee suffers from chronic insomnia and works at night. Her fancies are spreading as a repetitive and endless pattern on a black background. The title invites to interpret the picture as a grouped flight of figures, some of which seeming winged.
1962 The Thwarted Family of Jean Paul Lemieux
2011 SOLD for $ 2.34 M CAD including premium
In 1962, Jean Paul Lemieux remembers his parents and his childhood. The Quebecois painter masters his art made of simplified figures and cold colors.
His oil on canvas entitled Nineteen Ten Remembered, 107 x 146 cm, is chilling. Lemieux makes his self-portrait at the age of six years between his parents. He is dressed in a sailor suit, according to the fashion of the boys of 1910.
If it were a photo, it would be missed. The three characters are partially off-screen, mother on the left, father on the right, child at the bottom.
But this is not a photo, it is a remarkable expressive work on the theme of incommunicability. The parents do not care about the child. They are facing each other, but their eyes are empty and they do not see one another. The landscape is zero. The work is illustrated in the article shared by Canoe.
This painting is well known in Canada. Heffel, who sells it on November 24 in Toronto, does not publish an estimate but expects biddings in the million.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result is consistent with expectations and perhaps even beyond. This outstanding and disturbing work has been sold CAD 2.34 million including premium.
His oil on canvas entitled Nineteen Ten Remembered, 107 x 146 cm, is chilling. Lemieux makes his self-portrait at the age of six years between his parents. He is dressed in a sailor suit, according to the fashion of the boys of 1910.
If it were a photo, it would be missed. The three characters are partially off-screen, mother on the left, father on the right, child at the bottom.
But this is not a photo, it is a remarkable expressive work on the theme of incommunicability. The parents do not care about the child. They are facing each other, but their eyes are empty and they do not see one another. The landscape is zero. The work is illustrated in the article shared by Canoe.
This painting is well known in Canada. Heffel, who sells it on November 24 in Toronto, does not publish an estimate but expects biddings in the million.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result is consistent with expectations and perhaps even beyond. This outstanding and disturbing work has been sold CAD 2.34 million including premium.
1962 the expressionist curse of francis newton souza
2014 sold for $ 1.7M including premium
Francis Newton Souza was born in Goa to Catholic parents. His art is based on the expression of the gap between ugliness and malice of human beings on one hand, Christian angelic idealism on the other. He is the artist of the rejection of redemption.
Working in London since 1949, Souza observes Bacon. Better than any other artist in this group, he understands that the pictorial representation of human horror must have no limits. He is a precursor of Basquiat excepted that his terrible characters are never funny.
Like Picasso but for another reason, Souza deforms faces. Stupid, hairy and grinning, his characters offer an uncompromising vision of hell on earth.
In 1962, the artist executes large oil paintings on black satin which are the top of his gloomy art. He admits the influence of El Greco and Goya but Bosch and Soutine are also not far away.
On September 17 in New York, Christie's sells The Butcher, 206 x 112 cm, lot 416 estimated $ 1.5M. The man in overalls in a threatening attitude brandishes a long knife and holds a huge bone. The hooks hanging above him like clothespins further enhance the sinister expressionism of this scene of ordinary life.
On June 9, 2010, Christie's sold for £ 880K including premium Red Curse, 178 x 114 cm, made in same technique and same year, which leads us deeper into hell. A dark red mythical monster is about to possess or punish a naked woman.
Working in London since 1949, Souza observes Bacon. Better than any other artist in this group, he understands that the pictorial representation of human horror must have no limits. He is a precursor of Basquiat excepted that his terrible characters are never funny.
Like Picasso but for another reason, Souza deforms faces. Stupid, hairy and grinning, his characters offer an uncompromising vision of hell on earth.
In 1962, the artist executes large oil paintings on black satin which are the top of his gloomy art. He admits the influence of El Greco and Goya but Bosch and Soutine are also not far away.
On September 17 in New York, Christie's sells The Butcher, 206 x 112 cm, lot 416 estimated $ 1.5M. The man in overalls in a threatening attitude brandishes a long knife and holds a huge bone. The hooks hanging above him like clothespins further enhance the sinister expressionism of this scene of ordinary life.
On June 9, 2010, Christie's sold for £ 880K including premium Red Curse, 178 x 114 cm, made in same technique and same year, which leads us deeper into hell. A dark red mythical monster is about to possess or punish a naked woman.
1962 THE AVANT-GARDE OF FN SOUZA
2010 SOLD 1.42 M$ INCLUDING PREMIUM
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Very young, in Bombay that the West did not yet name Mumbai, Francis Newton Souza positioned himself as an avant-gardist, with the project to integrate the art of India with the international trends of Cubism and Expressionism.Politically committed, he preferred to settle in London after the Independence and became one of the most prolific and influential artists of modern Indian art.
The oil on canvas, 159 x 103 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on September 15, shows a large head. It was made in 1962, which is the best period of the career of the artist, and is estimated $ 1.2 million to 1.8 million. This range of estimates is very open, which means that it can also claim more.
This head is disturbing. The shaggy hair may amuse or worry us, but the sightless face leaves no doubt. The character has multiple eyes that overlap so that they cannot be counted. He does not come from another world but from our planet as a mutant of a nuclear accident.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is important. It met its expectations: $ 1.42 million including premium.
Very young, in Bombay that the West did not yet name Mumbai, Francis Newton Souza positioned himself as an avant-gardist, with the project to integrate the art of India with the international trends of Cubism and Expressionism.Politically committed, he preferred to settle in London after the Independence and became one of the most prolific and influential artists of modern Indian art.
The oil on canvas, 159 x 103 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on September 15, shows a large head. It was made in 1962, which is the best period of the career of the artist, and is estimated $ 1.2 million to 1.8 million. This range of estimates is very open, which means that it can also claim more.
This head is disturbing. The shaggy hair may amuse or worry us, but the sightless face leaves no doubt. The character has multiple eyes that overlap so that they cannot be counted. He does not come from another world but from our planet as a mutant of a nuclear accident.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is important. It met its expectations: $ 1.42 million including premium.
1962 Korean Groups by Park Sookeun
2013 SOLD 710 K$ including premium
There is no doubt today that Park Sookeun is the most interesting among modern Korean artists. Early attracted by art, he made it a permanent occupation during the Korean war when his humble job as a teacher was no more enough to escape poverty.
His paintings are small, dull and without luxury. Characters, trees without leaves, baskets for the market diffuse through a pointillist grisaille. In that wartime, Park gave from his country and its people a peaceful and typical vision that appealed to American soldiers.
His confidential art was largely exported to the United States in the 1960s. Park is a rare example of an outsider artist who was posthumously identified as a great master of his country.
Typical of Park's so simple figurative grammar, an oil on canvas large for this artist, 65 x 50 cm, was sold $ 2M including premium at Christie's on September 11, 2012 from an estimate of $ 600K. Made in 1962, the year before the serious health problems of the still young artist, it shows a large tree in front of which two women and a child walk on their way to the market.
On March 20 in New York, Christie's sells a mixed media on board, undated, 19 x 31 cm, estimated $ 400K. Five characters in traditional garments are sitting in two groups and discuss quietly.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good result over the higher estimate for this small painting on board by Park Sookeun : $ 710K including premium.
I invite you to play the audio shared by Christie's.
His paintings are small, dull and without luxury. Characters, trees without leaves, baskets for the market diffuse through a pointillist grisaille. In that wartime, Park gave from his country and its people a peaceful and typical vision that appealed to American soldiers.
His confidential art was largely exported to the United States in the 1960s. Park is a rare example of an outsider artist who was posthumously identified as a great master of his country.
Typical of Park's so simple figurative grammar, an oil on canvas large for this artist, 65 x 50 cm, was sold $ 2M including premium at Christie's on September 11, 2012 from an estimate of $ 600K. Made in 1962, the year before the serious health problems of the still young artist, it shows a large tree in front of which two women and a child walk on their way to the market.
On March 20 in New York, Christie's sells a mixed media on board, undated, 19 x 31 cm, estimated $ 400K. Five characters in traditional garments are sitting in two groups and discuss quietly.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good result over the higher estimate for this small painting on board by Park Sookeun : $ 710K including premium.
I invite you to play the audio shared by Christie's.
1962 THE SUBTLE COLORS OF MÜBIN ORHON
2010 SOLD 1.35 M TL INCLUDING PREMIUM
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Coming to Paris after studying political science, Mübin Orhon stayed there and became an artist. The market finds him out, and tomorrow he will be one of the most sought Turkish artists (posthumously). All his work is abstract, dedicated to studies of subtle color gradients that generate a strong emotional value.
Currently, his works from 1961 to 1963 attract the most attention. The color is arranged in very elongated spots that intermingle without being bounded by lines.
The start of his value is dated March 4, 2009, when Sotheby's sold £ 193K including premium a painting, 1961, 145 x 113 cm. In 2010 in Paris, Artcurial has accentuated the trend: € 372K including premium on June 1 (193 x 130 cm, 1963), € 236K including premium on October 23 (150 x 150 cm, 1963).
On November 7 in Istanbul, Antik AS sells a monumental vertical painting, 352 x 112 cm, dated 1962, a format that is reminiscent of a Chinese scroll. It is estimated TRL 900K, thus slightly above the highest price quoted above.
This sale is a good opportunity to also know the works of other periods of the artist, since no less than 10 lots by him are presented.
POST SALE COMMENT
This monumental painting had all the qualities to get the highest price recorded for the artist. It is done: TL 1.075 million before fees, 1.35 million including premium.
I already discussed in my column the very good result recorded on March 7 on a painting by Erol Akyavas. The auction house Antik AS is undoubtedly one of the best sources for Turkish art.
Coming to Paris after studying political science, Mübin Orhon stayed there and became an artist. The market finds him out, and tomorrow he will be one of the most sought Turkish artists (posthumously). All his work is abstract, dedicated to studies of subtle color gradients that generate a strong emotional value.
Currently, his works from 1961 to 1963 attract the most attention. The color is arranged in very elongated spots that intermingle without being bounded by lines.
The start of his value is dated March 4, 2009, when Sotheby's sold £ 193K including premium a painting, 1961, 145 x 113 cm. In 2010 in Paris, Artcurial has accentuated the trend: € 372K including premium on June 1 (193 x 130 cm, 1963), € 236K including premium on October 23 (150 x 150 cm, 1963).
On November 7 in Istanbul, Antik AS sells a monumental vertical painting, 352 x 112 cm, dated 1962, a format that is reminiscent of a Chinese scroll. It is estimated TRL 900K, thus slightly above the highest price quoted above.
This sale is a good opportunity to also know the works of other periods of the artist, since no less than 10 lots by him are presented.
POST SALE COMMENT
This monumental painting had all the qualities to get the highest price recorded for the artist. It is done: TL 1.075 million before fees, 1.35 million including premium.
I already discussed in my column the very good result recorded on March 7 on a painting by Erol Akyavas. The auction house Antik AS is undoubtedly one of the best sources for Turkish art.
1962 The Infinity of the Egg Crates
2018 unsold
Since the age of 10 Yayoi Kusama suffers from hallucinations. Watching the behavior of her parents had added an obsessive horror of sex. Poetry is not enough. To calm down, she paints patterns of tiny identical polka dots on unlimited surfaces.
When she arrived in New York in 1958 the originality of her art was recognized by the avant-gardes. In 1959 and 1960 she painted many Infinity Nets. In the following year she moves her studio into the same building as Donald Judd and Eva Hesse.
Hard work is not sufficient to heal her. Like Dali thirty years earlier, she manages to use artistic creation to confront her own sexual aversion. She becomes a pornographer and an exhibitionist and provokes indecent happenings. She paints her signature polka dots on her clothes or her bare skin and will later do the same on her assistants.
The flat surface of her paintings is no longer enough for her. In 1962 she filled socks with cotton or mattress stuffing to simulate phalluses which she uses to fully cover some pieces of furniture and various objects. To evoke the female fertility, she recovers cardboard egg cartons that she dispositions convex side up on large canvases in the same tight repetition as for her Infinity Nets. The interstices are clogged with a stuffing and the whole is painted.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells a 126 x 147 x 6.4 cm Untitled made in 1962 with egg cartons affixed on a linen canvas recycled from an earlier painting. This artwork is estimated $ 7M, lot 31.
When she arrived in New York in 1958 the originality of her art was recognized by the avant-gardes. In 1959 and 1960 she painted many Infinity Nets. In the following year she moves her studio into the same building as Donald Judd and Eva Hesse.
Hard work is not sufficient to heal her. Like Dali thirty years earlier, she manages to use artistic creation to confront her own sexual aversion. She becomes a pornographer and an exhibitionist and provokes indecent happenings. She paints her signature polka dots on her clothes or her bare skin and will later do the same on her assistants.
The flat surface of her paintings is no longer enough for her. In 1962 she filled socks with cotton or mattress stuffing to simulate phalluses which she uses to fully cover some pieces of furniture and various objects. To evoke the female fertility, she recovers cardboard egg cartons that she dispositions convex side up on large canvases in the same tight repetition as for her Infinity Nets. The interstices are clogged with a stuffing and the whole is painted.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells a 126 x 147 x 6.4 cm Untitled made in 1962 with egg cartons affixed on a linen canvas recycled from an earlier painting. This artwork is estimated $ 7M, lot 31.
1962 Post Mortem Tribute to a Drinker
2013 unsold
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Everything is possible in Soho in 1952. Aged 43, Francis Bacon seeks a great homosexual love among his drinking fellows. He finds Peter Lacy, domineering when fasting and violent up to sadism under the influence of alcohol. Thisextreme relationship demonstrates the psychological difficulties that accompanied the life of one of the mostoutstanding artists of the twentieth century.
Peter moved alone to Tangier where he died in 1962 of alcohol abuse. A few months later, Francis made his portrait.This little known painting had not been exhibited since 1972. It is estimated $ 30M, for sale by Sotheby's in NewYork on May 14.
The man is sitting on a sofa, legs crossed. His attitude is of an ordinary character in the comfort of his living room.The great simplicity of the composition focuses the attention on the subject.
The face is broken, but no more than those of other friends treated by Francis at the same time from the photos by John Deakin. The man is quiet, because Francis does not want people to believe that anything is reproached. The glass of wine in his hand announces his death.
This painting is a masterpiece of homosexual intimacy in art, a theme that is indeed not very common. Francis's relations with George Dyer will be different : mocking during George's life time, traumatic afterward. In 1962, Franciswas still too young to view himself through the death of others.
This artwork is shown in the release shared by The Guardian.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Everything is possible in Soho in 1952. Aged 43, Francis Bacon seeks a great homosexual love among his drinking fellows. He finds Peter Lacy, domineering when fasting and violent up to sadism under the influence of alcohol. Thisextreme relationship demonstrates the psychological difficulties that accompanied the life of one of the mostoutstanding artists of the twentieth century.
Peter moved alone to Tangier where he died in 1962 of alcohol abuse. A few months later, Francis made his portrait.This little known painting had not been exhibited since 1972. It is estimated $ 30M, for sale by Sotheby's in NewYork on May 14.
The man is sitting on a sofa, legs crossed. His attitude is of an ordinary character in the comfort of his living room.The great simplicity of the composition focuses the attention on the subject.
The face is broken, but no more than those of other friends treated by Francis at the same time from the photos by John Deakin. The man is quiet, because Francis does not want people to believe that anything is reproached. The glass of wine in his hand announces his death.
This painting is a masterpiece of homosexual intimacy in art, a theme that is indeed not very common. Francis's relations with George Dyer will be different : mocking during George's life time, traumatic afterward. In 1962, Franciswas still too young to view himself through the death of others.
This artwork is shown in the release shared by The Guardian.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1963 The Dark Side of America
2012 SOLD 15.2 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In 1962, Andy Warhol's iconography, largely inspired by advertising art, explores the money, the consumer society, the film and its stars, with two questions: is the American dream still there, and what is the meaning of our ephemeral passage in this world?
Marilyn's death is a major trigger of his inspiration. He gives new colors to the famous face and uses the screenprint to multiply and juxtapose to infinity a single portrait.
Death and advertising are antagonistic. The artist wants to further expand his universe, and retrieves photos of disasters in the newspapers. What is the purpose of such sordid pictures that become commonplace in their daily apparitions? In any case they push Warhol to the extreme limits of art.
Realized in January or February 1963, Green Disaster Twice, 122 x 106 cm, is one of the first artworks in this new theme.
The car has exploded, and corpses are tangled in the scrap metal. Two identical images are presented in a dark green color which is what Warhol found worse for expressing the wrong side of America and of the world. Later, he will also try orange.
Green Disaster Twice is for sale on November 13 at Sotheby's in New York. The press release of October 29 announces an estimate in the region of $ 12M. Here is the link to the catalog.
On 16 May 2007, Christie's sold the Green Burning Car I also named Green Car Crash, executed a few months after the Green Disaster Twice and mixing new pictures in a truncated mosaic, 229 x 203 cm.
The result, $ 71M including premium on a lower estimate of $ 25M, propelled the series of disasters among the major works of Warhol, and remains to this day the highest price paid for this artist at auction. The amazement of the observers was complete: the art market came to appreciate that death is a prominent theme of the whole work of Warhol.
POST SALE COMMENT
This key work of gloomy art was sold $ 15.2M including premium.
In 1962, Andy Warhol's iconography, largely inspired by advertising art, explores the money, the consumer society, the film and its stars, with two questions: is the American dream still there, and what is the meaning of our ephemeral passage in this world?
Marilyn's death is a major trigger of his inspiration. He gives new colors to the famous face and uses the screenprint to multiply and juxtapose to infinity a single portrait.
Death and advertising are antagonistic. The artist wants to further expand his universe, and retrieves photos of disasters in the newspapers. What is the purpose of such sordid pictures that become commonplace in their daily apparitions? In any case they push Warhol to the extreme limits of art.
Realized in January or February 1963, Green Disaster Twice, 122 x 106 cm, is one of the first artworks in this new theme.
The car has exploded, and corpses are tangled in the scrap metal. Two identical images are presented in a dark green color which is what Warhol found worse for expressing the wrong side of America and of the world. Later, he will also try orange.
Green Disaster Twice is for sale on November 13 at Sotheby's in New York. The press release of October 29 announces an estimate in the region of $ 12M. Here is the link to the catalog.
On 16 May 2007, Christie's sold the Green Burning Car I also named Green Car Crash, executed a few months after the Green Disaster Twice and mixing new pictures in a truncated mosaic, 229 x 203 cm.
The result, $ 71M including premium on a lower estimate of $ 25M, propelled the series of disasters among the major works of Warhol, and remains to this day the highest price paid for this artist at auction. The amazement of the observers was complete: the art market came to appreciate that death is a prominent theme of the whole work of Warhol.
POST SALE COMMENT
This key work of gloomy art was sold $ 15.2M including premium.
1963 Artist at Easel and Model in the Nude
2016 SOLD for $ 13M including premium
Picasso married in 1961 Jacqueline Roque who was his companion for nearly ten years. He is happy and relaxed. In 1963 he devotes primarily his art to the theme of man and woman, more specifically the painter and his model.
He painted a lot, even too much, re-exploring the styles of his career as he had done in 1955 with the Femmes d'Alger but without building a structured suite. Some of these oils are little more than sketches. All are constructed in the same way : the surface is divided into two equal parts with the artist in close-up on the left and the nude woman on the right.
The surroundings are varied, outdoors or in the studio. They are not self-portraits : the man has various faces. Pablo is not bearded and never uses the attributes he provides to his characters, easel and palette. The woman is not identifiable. She displays various positions.
An outdoor scene makes some exception by its large size, 130 x 195 cm, and by the erotic proximity of the two characters. It is the masterpiece of this series but did not reach the expected $ 25M at auction in 2013.
On November 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Le Peintre et son modèle dated 26.3.63.II. This well colored oil on canvas is one of the largest among the interior scenes, 130 x 162 cm. It is estimated $ 12M, lot 22. The serial number II attributed for one day on a relatively complex work demonstrates the frenzy of creation by this artist in his eighties.
The model is standing in front of a screen of a dressing room. The contrast between the big head of the artist and the tiny head of the woman tells that the work in progress does not generate a communication. Pablo's target is art, symbolized by the bust of a faun over the right edge of the canvas.
He painted a lot, even too much, re-exploring the styles of his career as he had done in 1955 with the Femmes d'Alger but without building a structured suite. Some of these oils are little more than sketches. All are constructed in the same way : the surface is divided into two equal parts with the artist in close-up on the left and the nude woman on the right.
The surroundings are varied, outdoors or in the studio. They are not self-portraits : the man has various faces. Pablo is not bearded and never uses the attributes he provides to his characters, easel and palette. The woman is not identifiable. She displays various positions.
An outdoor scene makes some exception by its large size, 130 x 195 cm, and by the erotic proximity of the two characters. It is the masterpiece of this series but did not reach the expected $ 25M at auction in 2013.
On November 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Le Peintre et son modèle dated 26.3.63.II. This well colored oil on canvas is one of the largest among the interior scenes, 130 x 162 cm. It is estimated $ 12M, lot 22. The serial number II attributed for one day on a relatively complex work demonstrates the frenzy of creation by this artist in his eighties.
The model is standing in front of a screen of a dressing room. The contrast between the big head of the artist and the tiny head of the woman tells that the work in progress does not generate a communication. Pablo's target is art, symbolized by the bust of a faun over the right edge of the canvas.
1963 Nero Plastica by Burri
2017 SOLD for $ 11M by Sotheby's
From 1949 the series of burlap Sacchi tortured by Alberto Burri bear a direct reference to the horrors of the Second World War. His use of coarse materials influences Rauschenberg. In the mid-1950s his new technique named Combustioni is a physico-chemical mastering of the creation of forms by fire.
Burri convulses the material, creates swellings and holes on white or red plastics previously spread on fabrics. A thick layer of material transforms this new form of painting into an abstract sculpture whose violence under control influences Twombly.
The rims of the burned blisters are black. Continuing his experimentation, Burri begins in 1960 a series of Nero Plastica entirely black on an increasingly larger size. Inspiration from war is gradually forgotten or at least greatly diminished.
Although Burri's formal research coincides with those by Klein and Manzoni, he has become a figure in American abstract art searching for new ways that escape Expressionism. With his wife who is a former American dancer for Martha Graham, he buys a house in 1963 near Los Angeles. They will spend the winters in that home for nearly thirty years. L.A. in the titles of his works locates the creation as Twombly did in Bolsena or New York.
On November 16, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 11M as lot 48 one of the largest black combustions realized by Burri, 133 x 198 cm, made in 1963, titled Nero Plastica L.A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It was sold for £ 6.6M by Christie's on June 28, 2022, lot 32.
Burri convulses the material, creates swellings and holes on white or red plastics previously spread on fabrics. A thick layer of material transforms this new form of painting into an abstract sculpture whose violence under control influences Twombly.
The rims of the burned blisters are black. Continuing his experimentation, Burri begins in 1960 a series of Nero Plastica entirely black on an increasingly larger size. Inspiration from war is gradually forgotten or at least greatly diminished.
Although Burri's formal research coincides with those by Klein and Manzoni, he has become a figure in American abstract art searching for new ways that escape Expressionism. With his wife who is a former American dancer for Martha Graham, he buys a house in 1963 near Los Angeles. They will spend the winters in that home for nearly thirty years. L.A. in the titles of his works locates the creation as Twombly did in Bolsena or New York.
On November 16, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 11M as lot 48 one of the largest black combustions realized by Burri, 133 x 198 cm, made in 1963, titled Nero Plastica L.A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It was sold for £ 6.6M by Christie's on June 28, 2022, lot 32.
1963 Study for an Ectoplasm
2020 SOLD for £ 7M including premium
Tired of the sadistic exaggerations of Peter Lacy, Francis Bacon broke up in 1959. He would later say: "I couldn't live with him, and I couldn't live without him." His art now offers a horror of the flesh, such as the terrible portrait of Muriel on a sofa. This 165 x 142 cm oil on canvas painted in 1961 was sold for $ 28M including premium by Phillips on May 14, 2015.
Peter's sordid death in the spring of 1962 happened during this period already difficult for Francis. Under the title Study for Portrait of P.L., he paints a posthumous portrait of his former lover, sitting cross-legged on the sofa. This oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm passed at Sotheby's on May 14, 2013.
The theme of death continues to haunt Francis. Figure Turning, painted in 1962, is a nude with folded legs, whose overall shape imitates a curl of smoke. The character's texture is livid, and the shadow on the ground contributes to the idea of the afterlife. This oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm was sold for $ 22.6M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2014.
Turning Figure, oil on canvas 198 x 148 cm painted in early 1963, appears as a synthesis of these morbid elements. The biomorphic volute reappears with its shadow, even more dehumanized. The legs are crossed as in the portrait of P.L. A little further, another shape occupies the angle of a gutter, like a creeping threat to the living.
Turning Figure is estimated £ 6M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 11, lot 23. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Francis Bacon reacted at the end of 1963 by reversing his role in the sado-masochist couple. For this new phase of his life, he sets his sights on a young crook named George Dyer, physically strong and psychologically weak.
Peter's sordid death in the spring of 1962 happened during this period already difficult for Francis. Under the title Study for Portrait of P.L., he paints a posthumous portrait of his former lover, sitting cross-legged on the sofa. This oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm passed at Sotheby's on May 14, 2013.
The theme of death continues to haunt Francis. Figure Turning, painted in 1962, is a nude with folded legs, whose overall shape imitates a curl of smoke. The character's texture is livid, and the shadow on the ground contributes to the idea of the afterlife. This oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm was sold for $ 22.6M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2014.
Turning Figure, oil on canvas 198 x 148 cm painted in early 1963, appears as a synthesis of these morbid elements. The biomorphic volute reappears with its shadow, even more dehumanized. The legs are crossed as in the portrait of P.L. A little further, another shape occupies the angle of a gutter, like a creeping threat to the living.
Turning Figure is estimated £ 6M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 11, lot 23. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Francis Bacon reacted at the end of 1963 by reversing his role in the sado-masochist couple. For this new phase of his life, he sets his sights on a young crook named George Dyer, physically strong and psychologically weak.
1963 Gaitonde
2015 SOLD for $ 2.3M by Sotheby's
When Vasudeo Gaitonde decided to offer his own style of non-objective art, he developed a method of successive additions and withdrawals of thin layers of paint to bring the desired transparency and brightness.
In 1962, he combines this new technique with pseudo-calligraphic signs affixed with the knife. This proto-writing is contemporary to the observations of the Roman graffiti by Twombly. In 2014 Sotheby's sold for $ 2.5M Painting No. 3 by Gaitonde.
I do not know if Gaitonde ever met Twombly but it is certain that he visited Rothko around that period. Among the abstract expressionists, Mark Rothko is the artist who went the furthest in the enchantment of the viewer by the balance between colors. It is not surprising that he was able to influence the young Hindu artist in his search of Zen.
Painted in 1962 by Gaitonde, an oil on canvas 127 x 77 cm sold for $ 970K by Sotheby's on March 19, 2013 can be reinterpreted as the addition of the pseudo-Zen semiotics over a structure of colors imitating Rothko.
This relationship becomes obvious within an oil on canvas 114 x 97 cm painted by Gaitonde in 1963, sold for $ 2.3M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Sotheby's on March 18, 2015, lot 1326. The orange-brown harmony is very similar to a composition made by Rothko in the same year, according to the convincing demonstration offered by the auction house in their catalog.
In 1962, he combines this new technique with pseudo-calligraphic signs affixed with the knife. This proto-writing is contemporary to the observations of the Roman graffiti by Twombly. In 2014 Sotheby's sold for $ 2.5M Painting No. 3 by Gaitonde.
I do not know if Gaitonde ever met Twombly but it is certain that he visited Rothko around that period. Among the abstract expressionists, Mark Rothko is the artist who went the furthest in the enchantment of the viewer by the balance between colors. It is not surprising that he was able to influence the young Hindu artist in his search of Zen.
Painted in 1962 by Gaitonde, an oil on canvas 127 x 77 cm sold for $ 970K by Sotheby's on March 19, 2013 can be reinterpreted as the addition of the pseudo-Zen semiotics over a structure of colors imitating Rothko.
This relationship becomes obvious within an oil on canvas 114 x 97 cm painted by Gaitonde in 1963, sold for $ 2.3M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Sotheby's on March 18, 2015, lot 1326. The orange-brown harmony is very similar to a composition made by Rothko in the same year, according to the convincing demonstration offered by the auction house in their catalog.
1963 View of Australia from the Top of the Hill
2013 SOLD 2.3 MA$ including premium
Fred Williams interprets the land of Australia and the sparse vegetation of the bush. His paintings on this unique theme are however of great variety and show his passion for his country. The angle can vary and include or not the horizon, but the image is always unlimited.
His visit to You Yangs near Melbourne in 1963 was a turning point in his career. This aboriginal word is meaning Mountain in the middle of the plain. The arid landscape is a dream of prehistory.
You Yangs Landscape 1, oil on masonite 137 x 180 cm, is the masterpiece of this series in the etymological meaning of that word. Williams looks at the plain from the top of the hill. He sees rich shades of warm colors punctuated by scattered shrubs.
This painting is estimated Aus $ 1.5 million, for sale by Bonhams in Sydney on June 26. Here is the link to the catalog.
The result may look as abstract as the ground of Long Island reinterpreted by Pollock but ultimately remains more realistic. The lack of perspective of this image makes it like an aerial topography improved with beautiful colors.
The painting career of Williams began earlier than the revival of Aboriginal pictorial art and certainly influenced it.
POST SALE COMMENT
This abstract landscape is a key work in the art of Fred Williams. It was sold for Aus$ 2.3M including premium.
His visit to You Yangs near Melbourne in 1963 was a turning point in his career. This aboriginal word is meaning Mountain in the middle of the plain. The arid landscape is a dream of prehistory.
You Yangs Landscape 1, oil on masonite 137 x 180 cm, is the masterpiece of this series in the etymological meaning of that word. Williams looks at the plain from the top of the hill. He sees rich shades of warm colors punctuated by scattered shrubs.
This painting is estimated Aus $ 1.5 million, for sale by Bonhams in Sydney on June 26. Here is the link to the catalog.
The result may look as abstract as the ground of Long Island reinterpreted by Pollock but ultimately remains more realistic. The lack of perspective of this image makes it like an aerial topography improved with beautiful colors.
The painting career of Williams began earlier than the revival of Aboriginal pictorial art and certainly influenced it.
POST SALE COMMENT
This abstract landscape is a key work in the art of Fred Williams. It was sold for Aus$ 2.3M including premium.
1963 The Joy of Painting
2013 unsold
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In 1961, Picasso moves to Mougins with Jacqueline and discovers again, aged 80, the joy of being a newlywed. He enters one of the most quiet periods of his life, and he paints.
In 1963, he devotes a large series of paintings to the essence of art: the theme of the painter and his model. The bearded man is serious, with the attributes of his job : easel, palette, brushes. The naked woman is confident, with an evident pleasure to let herself being looked.
As for each phase of his career, all these paintings are different. One of them is estimated $ 25M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 5.
This oil on canvas 130 x 195 cm is one of the largest and one of the most cheerful, with a nice balance of bright colors. This summer painting shows an outdoor scene on the grass just like Manet's déjeûner. It was important to Pablo who worked ten times on it until completion as evidenced by the dates carefully recorded on the back of the artwork.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's
In 1961, Picasso moves to Mougins with Jacqueline and discovers again, aged 80, the joy of being a newlywed. He enters one of the most quiet periods of his life, and he paints.
In 1963, he devotes a large series of paintings to the essence of art: the theme of the painter and his model. The bearded man is serious, with the attributes of his job : easel, palette, brushes. The naked woman is confident, with an evident pleasure to let herself being looked.
As for each phase of his career, all these paintings are different. One of them is estimated $ 25M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 5.
This oil on canvas 130 x 195 cm is one of the largest and one of the most cheerful, with a nice balance of bright colors. This summer painting shows an outdoor scene on the grass just like Manet's déjeûner. It was important to Pablo who worked ten times on it until completion as evidenced by the dates carefully recorded on the back of the artwork.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's
1963-1964 THE END OF GOD WAS ALSO THE APOTHEOSIS OF FONTANA
2008 UNSOLD
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
At auction, our year 2008 has already shown a keen interest in works by Lucio Fontana, an artist known for his minimalist monochrome oils on canvases lacerated and pierced, which are an early highlight in this category little appraised before and currently more fashioned : the painted object.
Almost all his works are identified under the heading "Concetto spaziale". Fortunately subtitles sometimes reveal the mind of the artist.
On June 30 in London, Christie's sells as its number 34 a Concetto Spaziale - la Fine di Dio, and we know in a press release that the price is expected to exceed £ 8 million (information not included in the catalogue).
This particular series dating from 1963-1964 marks a culmination of the artistic process of Fontana, four years before his death. It is an oval oil on canvas representing the cosmos, with a very large number of small incisions symbolizing life. The example that comes for sale is one of the last of this series of 38, and measures 178x123 cm. The abundance of details in the catalogue shows that Christie's hopes for a very high result.
On 27 February in London, another Fine di Dio of the same size and shape went just over £ 10 million fees included at Sotheby's, so reaching a price that was unprecedented for Fontana. Unlike that of Christie's, where the holes are divided on a regular basis, that of Sotheby's had fewer and bigger holes coming together to form curves for a metaphysical message without doubt a little different or complementary.
Also in London, at Christie's on February 6, a Concetto spaziale from another series had been sold £ 6.7 million charge included. This still later painting (1965) has the highest price achieved so far for a lacerated monochrome (197 x 144 cm).
Before February, a price of £ 2 million could be considered exceptional for a work of Fontana.
POST SALE COMMENT
This new specimen of the Fine di Dio has not been sold. Remind that the catalogue did not include an estimate. It is likely that the seller wanted more than its price. It is a pity! Let us therefore simply consider for works of this important series the price obtained by Sotheby's in February.
In terms of chronology, another comment: in a video shown before the sale on its site, Christie's showed that Fontana had been inspired by the conquest of space, which had just begun, and from which he saw metaphysical consequences. The title speaks for itself.
At auction, our year 2008 has already shown a keen interest in works by Lucio Fontana, an artist known for his minimalist monochrome oils on canvases lacerated and pierced, which are an early highlight in this category little appraised before and currently more fashioned : the painted object.
Almost all his works are identified under the heading "Concetto spaziale". Fortunately subtitles sometimes reveal the mind of the artist.
On June 30 in London, Christie's sells as its number 34 a Concetto Spaziale - la Fine di Dio, and we know in a press release that the price is expected to exceed £ 8 million (information not included in the catalogue).
This particular series dating from 1963-1964 marks a culmination of the artistic process of Fontana, four years before his death. It is an oval oil on canvas representing the cosmos, with a very large number of small incisions symbolizing life. The example that comes for sale is one of the last of this series of 38, and measures 178x123 cm. The abundance of details in the catalogue shows that Christie's hopes for a very high result.
On 27 February in London, another Fine di Dio of the same size and shape went just over £ 10 million fees included at Sotheby's, so reaching a price that was unprecedented for Fontana. Unlike that of Christie's, where the holes are divided on a regular basis, that of Sotheby's had fewer and bigger holes coming together to form curves for a metaphysical message without doubt a little different or complementary.
Also in London, at Christie's on February 6, a Concetto spaziale from another series had been sold £ 6.7 million charge included. This still later painting (1965) has the highest price achieved so far for a lacerated monochrome (197 x 144 cm).
Before February, a price of £ 2 million could be considered exceptional for a work of Fontana.
POST SALE COMMENT
This new specimen of the Fine di Dio has not been sold. Remind that the catalogue did not include an estimate. It is likely that the seller wanted more than its price. It is a pity! Let us therefore simply consider for works of this important series the price obtained by Sotheby's in February.
In terms of chronology, another comment: in a video shown before the sale on its site, Christie's showed that Fontana had been inspired by the conquest of space, which had just begun, and from which he saw metaphysical consequences. The title speaks for itself.
1964 James Lord by Giacometti
2015 SOLD for $ 21M by Christie's
Alberto Giacometti knew from Cézanne that an artist can not copy nature. Throughout his life he realized portraits on canvas of his friends and relatives, in which realism is dissolved in an ambience that must express the personality of the model.
For this reason, the portraits by Alberto are immaterial. He draws the faces within a pattern of lines. His feat is that the person remains recognizable. Later, Lucian Freud will manage a similar approach with his impasto layered on canvas throughout interminable sittings. Such portrait painters do not inspect the flesh but the appearance of the model, and through the appearance : the life.
In 1964, the portrait of James Lord is the last major oil painted by Giacometti. Lord was an art historian. He watched his friend and published in 1965 a small book detailing the gestation of that work.
The first few minutes are easy. Alberto wanted to make a sketch and it has some likeness. It is not complex enough and the painter adds some brushstrokes that annihilate the first effect. The result is not good. He must persevere.
This passion occupies 18 sessions, from 12 September to 1 October 1964 during which Lord takes each time the same position. Giacometti is trapped in his own creativity. It is altogether impossible to him to complete the work or to destroy it. The lull suddenly occurs during the 18th meeting. The master observes that the work remains improvable but that its quality has become acceptable.
The portrait of Lord by Giacometti, oil on canvas 116 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 21M by Christie's on November 9, 2015, lot 19A. Please watch the video shared by Christie's, which includes comments attributed to the master in Lord's book and photos of intermediate states of the artwork that provide a remarkable insight into the feverish creativity of the artist.
For this reason, the portraits by Alberto are immaterial. He draws the faces within a pattern of lines. His feat is that the person remains recognizable. Later, Lucian Freud will manage a similar approach with his impasto layered on canvas throughout interminable sittings. Such portrait painters do not inspect the flesh but the appearance of the model, and through the appearance : the life.
In 1964, the portrait of James Lord is the last major oil painted by Giacometti. Lord was an art historian. He watched his friend and published in 1965 a small book detailing the gestation of that work.
The first few minutes are easy. Alberto wanted to make a sketch and it has some likeness. It is not complex enough and the painter adds some brushstrokes that annihilate the first effect. The result is not good. He must persevere.
This passion occupies 18 sessions, from 12 September to 1 October 1964 during which Lord takes each time the same position. Giacometti is trapped in his own creativity. It is altogether impossible to him to complete the work or to destroy it. The lull suddenly occurs during the 18th meeting. The master observes that the work remains improvable but that its quality has become acceptable.
The portrait of Lord by Giacometti, oil on canvas 116 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 21M by Christie's on November 9, 2015, lot 19A. Please watch the video shared by Christie's, which includes comments attributed to the master in Lord's book and photos of intermediate states of the artwork that provide a remarkable insight into the feverish creativity of the artist.
1964 Frau mit Butterbrot by Polke
2017 SOLD for $ 17M by Christie's
In Düsseldorf in the years following the construction of the Berlin Wall, Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke finished their art studies at the Kunstakademie. They bring their frustration within a society that fails to find its way between capitalism and communism. Both are exiled from the Deutsche Demokratische Republik : Polke moved to the West in 1953 at the age of 12, Richter in 1961 at 29.
The influence of Joseph Beuys, professor since 1961 at the Kunstakademie, is preponderant : young artists may and must create some resolutely new forms of art. Richter and Polke cut out in the magazines the photos which display at their best the social banality. With other students they create in 1963 the movement Kapitalistischer Realismus regrouping the protesting painters.
The young artists create paintings where the form is generated by printing dots leaving unambiguous their inspiration from the magazines. Unlike Lichtenstein on the other side of the Atlantic, they nevertheless take liberties with the structure of this pattern.
Richter has an anti-militarist sensibility. Düsenjäger, oil on canvas 130 x 200 cm painted in 1963, was sold for $ 25.6M by Phillips in 2016.
Polke is studying the consumerist society with its advertisements and posters offering promises to which disadvantaged families will not have access. On May 17, 2017, Christie's sold at lot 15 B for $ 17M Frau mit Butterbrot, casein, household lacquer and oil on canvas 160 x 140 cm painted in 1964.
That young 'new woman' far larger than life is superbly stereotyped with a perfect hairstyle, hand and teeth. She raises to her mouth the buttered bread with an expression of intense pleasure as exaggerated as if she was playing for a commercial advertisement. Depending on his degree of frustration, the viewer can judge whether she wants to share her desire or to keep it selfishly.
The influence of Joseph Beuys, professor since 1961 at the Kunstakademie, is preponderant : young artists may and must create some resolutely new forms of art. Richter and Polke cut out in the magazines the photos which display at their best the social banality. With other students they create in 1963 the movement Kapitalistischer Realismus regrouping the protesting painters.
The young artists create paintings where the form is generated by printing dots leaving unambiguous their inspiration from the magazines. Unlike Lichtenstein on the other side of the Atlantic, they nevertheless take liberties with the structure of this pattern.
Richter has an anti-militarist sensibility. Düsenjäger, oil on canvas 130 x 200 cm painted in 1963, was sold for $ 25.6M by Phillips in 2016.
Polke is studying the consumerist society with its advertisements and posters offering promises to which disadvantaged families will not have access. On May 17, 2017, Christie's sold at lot 15 B for $ 17M Frau mit Butterbrot, casein, household lacquer and oil on canvas 160 x 140 cm painted in 1964.
That young 'new woman' far larger than life is superbly stereotyped with a perfect hairstyle, hand and teeth. She raises to her mouth the buttered bread with an expression of intense pleasure as exaggerated as if she was playing for a commercial advertisement. Depending on his degree of frustration, the viewer can judge whether she wants to share her desire or to keep it selfishly.
1964 (Rome) by Twombly
2014 SOLD for £ 12.2M by Sotheby's
The art of Cy Twombly is one of the most difficult, opposite to any other trend. Its interpretation has fascinated semioticians such as Barthes and Sollers. The origin of his quest is the incredible synthesis of his training as a cryptologist during his military service and of an unquenchable curiosity for antiquity.
He set up his workshop in Rome in 1959, as close as possible to the Colosseum, and imagines the mythological meaning of the graffiti defaced by time. He proposes in his paintings and drawings an ever modified semiology in an indecipherable language in which he is probably the only one to identify some signification.
His first works in Rome are uneven arrangements on a neutral background of spots of different colors and mixed materials, oil, wax, pencil, often placed directly by the finger on the canvas. His paintings gradually reach very large sizes.
On February 12, 2014, Sotheby's sold for £ 12.2M from a lower estimate of £ 5M an artwork made in 1964 in Rome by Twombly, 206 x 253 cm. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Later in his career, Twombly will display all the forgotten writings of his imaginary civilization arranged in order to escape the ablest of his former colleagues the cryptographers. His art defies time and space and we may even wonder if its exegesis is really feasible.
He set up his workshop in Rome in 1959, as close as possible to the Colosseum, and imagines the mythological meaning of the graffiti defaced by time. He proposes in his paintings and drawings an ever modified semiology in an indecipherable language in which he is probably the only one to identify some signification.
His first works in Rome are uneven arrangements on a neutral background of spots of different colors and mixed materials, oil, wax, pencil, often placed directly by the finger on the canvas. His paintings gradually reach very large sizes.
On February 12, 2014, Sotheby's sold for £ 12.2M from a lower estimate of £ 5M an artwork made in 1964 in Rome by Twombly, 206 x 253 cm. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Later in his career, Twombly will display all the forgotten writings of his imaginary civilization arranged in order to escape the ablest of his former colleagues the cryptographers. His art defies time and space and we may even wonder if its exegesis is really feasible.
1964 Secret Heart on Enamel
2015 SOLD for $ 13.4M including premium
Roy Lichtenstein desires that his art is based on intense emotions such as love and fear. He finds his models in the comics. The theme of the crying girl is perfectly suited to this project.
Roy publishes a crying girl in lithography in 1963. The blonde explodes in her anguish, her eyes biased toward some threat, the red mouth protected by the hand. The viewer is left free to interpret the cause and result of this defensive violence that definitely comes from a thriller.
The 1964 picture may appear as a following with the same girl. The source is known: No. 88 in Secret Hearts published by DC Comics in the previous year. The hand reaches the eye to take away a tear and the calmed girl is now touching in her great sorrow. She left the imaginary world and could be our next-door neighbor. The artist wished to express such a feeling of closeness.
Roy made a small preliminary drawing in graphite and color pencils. The rather stupid text from the comics is of course removed. This drawing was sold for $ 1,72M including premium by Christie's on November 13, 2007.
Roy is also an experimenter in art processes, like Warhol. He publishes a second crying girl in five copies 117 x 117 cm in enamel on steel. This technique allows to obtain a brilliance imitating the porcelain.
The printing dots appear on the enamel version. The preparatory drawing ignored the dots, signifying that they are not transmitted from the print of the magazine. Their regular pattern provides a smooth effect which is quite pleasant for the facial skin and contributes to the so sympathetic look of Roy's young blondes when they are not in fury.
One of the five copies is estimated $ 7M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 9, lot 22A.
Roy publishes a crying girl in lithography in 1963. The blonde explodes in her anguish, her eyes biased toward some threat, the red mouth protected by the hand. The viewer is left free to interpret the cause and result of this defensive violence that definitely comes from a thriller.
The 1964 picture may appear as a following with the same girl. The source is known: No. 88 in Secret Hearts published by DC Comics in the previous year. The hand reaches the eye to take away a tear and the calmed girl is now touching in her great sorrow. She left the imaginary world and could be our next-door neighbor. The artist wished to express such a feeling of closeness.
Roy made a small preliminary drawing in graphite and color pencils. The rather stupid text from the comics is of course removed. This drawing was sold for $ 1,72M including premium by Christie's on November 13, 2007.
Roy is also an experimenter in art processes, like Warhol. He publishes a second crying girl in five copies 117 x 117 cm in enamel on steel. This technique allows to obtain a brilliance imitating the porcelain.
The printing dots appear on the enamel version. The preparatory drawing ignored the dots, signifying that they are not transmitted from the print of the magazine. Their regular pattern provides a smooth effect which is quite pleasant for the facial skin and contributes to the so sympathetic look of Roy's young blondes when they are not in fury.
One of the five copies is estimated $ 7M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 9, lot 22A.
1964 The Civic Maquette by Picasso
2015 SOLD for £ 8.9M including premium
An outstanding sculpture from the later career of Picasso went unsold at Christie's on November 4, 2013. It is now listed by Sotheby's at lot 37, estimated £ 5M, on February 3 in London.
There is no doubt that it is the same copy because the only other maquette in metal from the same project is not available on the market and both sales described a provenance through Marina Picasso.
I copy below my previous discussion :
In 1963, a new skyscraper is planned in Chicago: the Civic Center. The architects decide to invite Picasso to design a monumental sculpture that will be installed on the ground in front of the building.
Picasso accepts. Since only a few years, he has solved the difficult problem of controlling the proportions in very large sculptures. Socially, he also interested in that idea and he will donate this work to the city of Chicago shortly before the inauguration.
In his workshop in Mougins, Picasso takes seriously the project with all its difficulties, including the fact that the work will be public, seen by everyone and important for his artistic reputation.
By realizing a head of Jacqueline, he selects a theme that came much earlier in his career: the face with a very long nose of the woman standing on the right in the Demoiselles d'Avignon, inspired indeed by Ngil masks.
In 1964, he made two models in cut and welded steel. One of them is sent to Chicago. He keeps the other specimen. This maquette 105 cm high is now coming for sale.
The full size Chicago sculpture, unveiled in 1967, is 20 m high, one-tenth of the total height of the building. The public admires. When seen strictly in profile, it is a woman's head, but Jacqueline's hair may be interpreted as the wings of a large bird in a striking three-dimensional synthesis of the art of Picasso.
There is no doubt that it is the same copy because the only other maquette in metal from the same project is not available on the market and both sales described a provenance through Marina Picasso.
I copy below my previous discussion :
In 1963, a new skyscraper is planned in Chicago: the Civic Center. The architects decide to invite Picasso to design a monumental sculpture that will be installed on the ground in front of the building.
Picasso accepts. Since only a few years, he has solved the difficult problem of controlling the proportions in very large sculptures. Socially, he also interested in that idea and he will donate this work to the city of Chicago shortly before the inauguration.
In his workshop in Mougins, Picasso takes seriously the project with all its difficulties, including the fact that the work will be public, seen by everyone and important for his artistic reputation.
By realizing a head of Jacqueline, he selects a theme that came much earlier in his career: the face with a very long nose of the woman standing on the right in the Demoiselles d'Avignon, inspired indeed by Ngil masks.
In 1964, he made two models in cut and welded steel. One of them is sent to Chicago. He keeps the other specimen. This maquette 105 cm high is now coming for sale.
The full size Chicago sculpture, unveiled in 1967, is 20 m high, one-tenth of the total height of the building. The public admires. When seen strictly in profile, it is a woman's head, but Jacqueline's hair may be interpreted as the wings of a large bird in a striking three-dimensional synthesis of the art of Picasso.
1964 The Rocky Coast of Cornwall
2016 SOLD for £ 3.55M including premium
Barbara Hepworth becomes a sculptor at the time when Brancusi and Arp are purifying the forms. She is certainly the very first artist to want to express the landscape through the sculpture. She imagines to create abstract structures around human life size and to hollow them. She had a decisive influence on Henry Moore.
The war pushes her to a land's end, more precisely to St. Ives in Cornwall where a community of artists was established around Bernard Leach's pottery workshop.
A figure by Barbara Hepworth is foreseen for outdoor use, in harmony with the natural sculptures of the rocks by the ocean. Her garden adjoins her studio. She is responsive to the differentiated expression of each point of the seaside attacked by the waves and shaken by the wind. Hepworth knows that her creative ability is directly related to her feminine sensibility.
Her standing monuments can remain isolated or be grouped. Megaliths like in Brittany do not exist in Cornwall and did not influence Hepworth but her artistic language has a similar timeless quality.
In 1960 she tries the bronze. Her assistants help her to position the original plaster around the armature. Bronze is a robust material that does not weaken her void structures and allows the green-brown patina matching the real color of the rocks of the coast. A bronze 2.60 m high was sold for £ 4.2M including premium by Christie's on June 25, 2014.
On June 30 in London, Christie's sells a bronze 2.04 m high titled Sea Form (Atlantic), lot 22 estimated £ 3M, serial number 6 in an edition of 6 plus one artist's proof. This work was conceived in 1964 and cast in London between 1964 and 1966.
The abstract figures by Barbara Hepworth meet a growing interest in the art market. A sculpture 59 cm high executed in 1946 with its inside walls painted in sky blue was sold for $ 5.4M including premium by Christie's on May 12, 2016 over a lower estimate of $ 1.2M.
The war pushes her to a land's end, more precisely to St. Ives in Cornwall where a community of artists was established around Bernard Leach's pottery workshop.
A figure by Barbara Hepworth is foreseen for outdoor use, in harmony with the natural sculptures of the rocks by the ocean. Her garden adjoins her studio. She is responsive to the differentiated expression of each point of the seaside attacked by the waves and shaken by the wind. Hepworth knows that her creative ability is directly related to her feminine sensibility.
Her standing monuments can remain isolated or be grouped. Megaliths like in Brittany do not exist in Cornwall and did not influence Hepworth but her artistic language has a similar timeless quality.
In 1960 she tries the bronze. Her assistants help her to position the original plaster around the armature. Bronze is a robust material that does not weaken her void structures and allows the green-brown patina matching the real color of the rocks of the coast. A bronze 2.60 m high was sold for £ 4.2M including premium by Christie's on June 25, 2014.
On June 30 in London, Christie's sells a bronze 2.04 m high titled Sea Form (Atlantic), lot 22 estimated £ 3M, serial number 6 in an edition of 6 plus one artist's proof. This work was conceived in 1964 and cast in London between 1964 and 1966.
The abstract figures by Barbara Hepworth meet a growing interest in the art market. A sculpture 59 cm high executed in 1946 with its inside walls painted in sky blue was sold for $ 5.4M including premium by Christie's on May 12, 2016 over a lower estimate of $ 1.2M.
1964 the descent of baselitz to the underworld
2018 sold for £ 1.93m including premium
In 1961 Hans-Georg Kern is horrified by the construction of the Berlin Wall. In the same year he takes as pseudonym the name of his hometown in the GDR now inaccessible to him and becomes Georg Baselitz.
Artists have no cure for the Cold War and the Berlin split. Baselitz considers that social destruction is inescapable. He will offer provocation and vulgarity. He takes as emblem Pandemonium abbreviated as P.D. and develops his art with images of bodily fragments in pale colors. He finds his inspiration in the art and expression of the mentally ill, including Artaud.
In 1963 Baselitz tackles the vanity of the Idols in a series that will include five opus. The most achieved is Oberon whose title well reflects the similar harmfulness of mystic and legendary. Four bald heads with disproportionate necks and slightly divergent strabismus are arranged on the image. One of them is perpendicular to the others, removing any logic of position and of life and thus anticipating the innumerable upside down signature figures of the later career of the artist.
The grotesque ghosts by Baselitz are sometimes compared to Munch's Scream, but in his case the characters are silent. Only the artist howls.
On March 8 in London, Phillips sells P.D. Idol, oil on canvas 101 x 82 cm painted in 1964, lot 17 estimated £ 1.5M. The nightmarish application of the colors of this asexual portrait is not far from the expressionism of Francis Bacon.
Artists have no cure for the Cold War and the Berlin split. Baselitz considers that social destruction is inescapable. He will offer provocation and vulgarity. He takes as emblem Pandemonium abbreviated as P.D. and develops his art with images of bodily fragments in pale colors. He finds his inspiration in the art and expression of the mentally ill, including Artaud.
In 1963 Baselitz tackles the vanity of the Idols in a series that will include five opus. The most achieved is Oberon whose title well reflects the similar harmfulness of mystic and legendary. Four bald heads with disproportionate necks and slightly divergent strabismus are arranged on the image. One of them is perpendicular to the others, removing any logic of position and of life and thus anticipating the innumerable upside down signature figures of the later career of the artist.
The grotesque ghosts by Baselitz are sometimes compared to Munch's Scream, but in his case the characters are silent. Only the artist howls.
On March 8 in London, Phillips sells P.D. Idol, oil on canvas 101 x 82 cm painted in 1964, lot 17 estimated £ 1.5M. The nightmarish application of the colors of this asexual portrait is not far from the expressionism of Francis Bacon.
1964 study of a midriff
2016 sold for £ 1.56m including premium
The social liberation of women is an achievement of the last century, due to an accumulation of progress in terms of hygiene and medicine. The tightly corseted woman committed to follow the husband throughout her life is no longer existing. She works, she votes and she makes her child when she wants. The allowed limits of decency are pushed away with the bikini at pool and beach and with the miniskirt in the city and in the office.
In the 1950s, around Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot, taboos of the traditionalist cinema are gradually falling. Magazines are following in order to propagate the images of the new consumer society.
Gerald Laing completed his studies in London. A change is necessary in art for perpetuating the fleeting images of wall posters and newspapers. A poor printing leaves very visible printing dots. The artist reconstructs these images with similar dots in his large paintings. He is a pioneer of pop art.
Brigitte Bardot, oil on canvas 182 x 114 cm painted in 1963, was sold for £ 900K including premium by Christie's on February 13, 2014.
In 1964 and 1965, Laing made a series of paintings on the theme of the swimsuit by copying again the charming pictures from the magazines. The young women on the ads appeal to buy the products through their friendly attitude that is not sexually provocative: rather, they look eager for leisures, autonomy and consumerism. With the bikini, the abdomen gets bare.
Commemoration, oil and acrylic on canvas 122 x 152 cm painted in 1965, was sold for £ 1.2M including premium by Christie's on October 16, 2015. On October 6 in London, Christie's sells Beach Wear, oil and pencil on canvas 244 x 121 cm painted in 1964,lot 10 estimated £ 1M.
In the 1950s, around Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot, taboos of the traditionalist cinema are gradually falling. Magazines are following in order to propagate the images of the new consumer society.
Gerald Laing completed his studies in London. A change is necessary in art for perpetuating the fleeting images of wall posters and newspapers. A poor printing leaves very visible printing dots. The artist reconstructs these images with similar dots in his large paintings. He is a pioneer of pop art.
Brigitte Bardot, oil on canvas 182 x 114 cm painted in 1963, was sold for £ 900K including premium by Christie's on February 13, 2014.
In 1964 and 1965, Laing made a series of paintings on the theme of the swimsuit by copying again the charming pictures from the magazines. The young women on the ads appeal to buy the products through their friendly attitude that is not sexually provocative: rather, they look eager for leisures, autonomy and consumerism. With the bikini, the abdomen gets bare.
Commemoration, oil and acrylic on canvas 122 x 152 cm painted in 1965, was sold for £ 1.2M including premium by Christie's on October 16, 2015. On October 6 in London, Christie's sells Beach Wear, oil and pencil on canvas 244 x 121 cm painted in 1964,lot 10 estimated £ 1M.
1964 Raza between India and France
2013 SOLD 1.86 M$ including premium
The art of Syed Haider Raza is a sensory communion between Man and Earth. The balance of lights and colors can generate well-being.
Arrived in France in 1950, Raza interpreted the rolling hills and small villages, with a tendency towards abstraction comparable to Zao Wou-ki's art at the same time. In 1962, while teaching at Berkeley, he appreciates the importance of abstract expressionism for his own approach.
Details of his work become abstract, but the arrangement of spots tells a scene, like previously in the Portuguese markets of Sonia Delaunay or the frantic salons of Arshile Gorky. Admirer of Rothko, he is entrusting the lead role of his compositions to the colors.
On March 20 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas, 207 x 190 cm, made in 1964 shortly after his return to France. Entitled (in French) Village en fête, the scene is reminiscent of life in Madhya Pradesh. It is estimated $ 600K.
Much later, the art of Raza will lose the figurative inspiration to become a subtle synthesis between the international geometric abstraction and the mystic symbols of India. The works of his maturity are the most favoured.
I invite you to play the audio shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 1.86 million including premium, has almost doubled the higher estimate. It is a well deserved recognition of the importance of the art of Raza at this early period of his career.
Arrived in France in 1950, Raza interpreted the rolling hills and small villages, with a tendency towards abstraction comparable to Zao Wou-ki's art at the same time. In 1962, while teaching at Berkeley, he appreciates the importance of abstract expressionism for his own approach.
Details of his work become abstract, but the arrangement of spots tells a scene, like previously in the Portuguese markets of Sonia Delaunay or the frantic salons of Arshile Gorky. Admirer of Rothko, he is entrusting the lead role of his compositions to the colors.
On March 20 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas, 207 x 190 cm, made in 1964 shortly after his return to France. Entitled (in French) Village en fête, the scene is reminiscent of life in Madhya Pradesh. It is estimated $ 600K.
Much later, the art of Raza will lose the figurative inspiration to become a subtle synthesis between the international geometric abstraction and the mystic symbols of India. The works of his maturity are the most favoured.
I invite you to play the audio shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 1.86 million including premium, has almost doubled the higher estimate. It is a well deserved recognition of the importance of the art of Raza at this early period of his career.
1964 The Body Instrument of Kazuo Shiraga
2015 SOLD for $ 1.8M including premium
The Gutai art movement was originally inspired by Japanese calligraphy. The non-figurative spontaneous expression is obtained by using the body (tai) as an instrument (gu), allowing a direct release of strength and violence.
The founder of Gutai, Jiro Yoshihara, organizes exhibitions. Kazuo Shiraga, who will apply this physical concept throughout his long career even after the dissolution of the group, reaches its climax by blending thick layers of colors with his feet. He created his first Gutai works by walking on the canvas laid on the ground as if paint was mud.
Japan is no longer an isolated country in the 1950s. Pollock shows some friendly interest in Gutai. The ample gestures of Kline or Miro have a similar role. Gutai invites to happening, which is practiced in Europe by Georges Mathieu.
Later Shiraga will exhibit a dramatic technique by clinging to a rope for launching his feet onto a vertical canvas. Another gymnast, Yves Klein, will use the naked female body as a paintbrush.
On March 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an early gutai work by Shiraga, lot 22 estimated $ 1.8M. This oil on canvas 98 x 130 cm painted around 1964 included four colors over an orange background.
The founder of Gutai, Jiro Yoshihara, organizes exhibitions. Kazuo Shiraga, who will apply this physical concept throughout his long career even after the dissolution of the group, reaches its climax by blending thick layers of colors with his feet. He created his first Gutai works by walking on the canvas laid on the ground as if paint was mud.
Japan is no longer an isolated country in the 1950s. Pollock shows some friendly interest in Gutai. The ample gestures of Kline or Miro have a similar role. Gutai invites to happening, which is practiced in Europe by Georges Mathieu.
Later Shiraga will exhibit a dramatic technique by clinging to a rope for launching his feet onto a vertical canvas. Another gymnast, Yves Klein, will use the naked female body as a paintbrush.
On March 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an early gutai work by Shiraga, lot 22 estimated $ 1.8M. This oil on canvas 98 x 130 cm painted around 1964 included four colors over an orange background.
1964 Park Sookeoun, Korean Pointillist
2008 SOLD 800 K$ including premium
A painting by the Korean Park Sookeoun is expected at 400 K $ at Christie's in New York on September 18, lot 401.
The themes of this artist are traditional, but fans look after his very original style: a kind of pointillism on which dots would be very visible. The painter observes quiet scenes of everyday life, often seen from far away.
Our painting is typical of this style. It is a small format, 17 x 34 cm, painted in oil and mixed media on canvas in 1964, the year before the untimely death of the artist at 51 years old. Some sparse Koreans walk in front of a line of stylized trees. The women carry baskets on their heads.
It looks in format and topic similar to another painting with closer characters, sold 660 K$ costs included at the same place on March 18.
The woman with jar, which was sold by Christie's again in New York for 1.2 million $ on March 23, 2004, is a larger format where pointillism nearly becomes abstraction.
Christie's says that Americans appreciate this painter who was contemporary of the Korean war.
POST SALE COMMENT
The craze for paintings of Park Sookeoun is confirmed and strengthened. Sold 800 K$ costs included, it has almost doubled its low estimate and exceeded the rather similar painting which was sold on March 18.
The themes of this artist are traditional, but fans look after his very original style: a kind of pointillism on which dots would be very visible. The painter observes quiet scenes of everyday life, often seen from far away.
Our painting is typical of this style. It is a small format, 17 x 34 cm, painted in oil and mixed media on canvas in 1964, the year before the untimely death of the artist at 51 years old. Some sparse Koreans walk in front of a line of stylized trees. The women carry baskets on their heads.
It looks in format and topic similar to another painting with closer characters, sold 660 K$ costs included at the same place on March 18.
The woman with jar, which was sold by Christie's again in New York for 1.2 million $ on March 23, 2004, is a larger format where pointillism nearly becomes abstraction.
Christie's says that Americans appreciate this painter who was contemporary of the Korean war.
POST SALE COMMENT
The craze for paintings of Park Sookeoun is confirmed and strengthened. Sold 800 K$ costs included, it has almost doubled its low estimate and exceeded the rather similar painting which was sold on March 18.
1964 THE NAILS OF GÜNTHER UECKER
2011 SOLD 370 K$ INCLUDING PREMIUM
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Günther Uecker was a member of the Group Zero which developed the minimal art in Germany in the early 1960s. His sister was the wife of Yves Klein.
Uecker's contribution was to install on an achrome surface a pattern of nails arranged with a geometric rigor. Thisabstract theme is ranked among the sculptures because the nails are long enough to vary the shades according to the angle of illumination.
Haar der Nymphen (hair nymph), is made of 8 cm nails on a canvas 1.50 x 1.50 m painted with acrylic and laid on board. This work dated 1964 was sold for £ 825K including premium by Sotheby's on February 10, 2010.
Another work from the same year is for sale on October 22 by Copake Auction in Copake NY. Measuring 122 x 61 cm, it is remarkable for the high density of its fields of forces in the left quadrant of the image. When going further away from that feeding source, the nail density becomes lower.
This work comes directly from the family of an artist who had ordered it to Uecker. It has never been seen on the market.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good price, $ 330K before fees, for this artwork sold far away from the multinational auction houses.
Günther Uecker was a member of the Group Zero which developed the minimal art in Germany in the early 1960s. His sister was the wife of Yves Klein.
Uecker's contribution was to install on an achrome surface a pattern of nails arranged with a geometric rigor. Thisabstract theme is ranked among the sculptures because the nails are long enough to vary the shades according to the angle of illumination.
Haar der Nymphen (hair nymph), is made of 8 cm nails on a canvas 1.50 x 1.50 m painted with acrylic and laid on board. This work dated 1964 was sold for £ 825K including premium by Sotheby's on February 10, 2010.
Another work from the same year is for sale on October 22 by Copake Auction in Copake NY. Measuring 122 x 61 cm, it is remarkable for the high density of its fields of forces in the left quadrant of the image. When going further away from that feeding source, the nail density becomes lower.
This work comes directly from the family of an artist who had ordered it to Uecker. It has never been seen on the market.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good price, $ 330K before fees, for this artwork sold far away from the multinational auction houses.
1964 ned kelly in free fall
2016 unsold
Sidney Nolan takes as the flag bearer of his own social criticism Ned Kelly, the most terrible of Australian outlaws. In a first series of 27 paintings in 1946, his bad hero is dehumanized, with a surrealist head turned as a TV monitor that does not correspond to anything in the epic story of the bushranger but represents an extreme threat to the well thinking citizen of today.
Eighteen years go by. In Sydney on August 31 Sotheby's Australia sells Ned Kelly - Crossing bridge, oil on board 122 x 153 cm painted in November 1964, lot 17 estimated A $ 800K.
Ned Kelly has clearly lost the game. His morphology has become human but he is diving over a river. At the same height as him, his horse falls freely all four legs up in the air. This picture is not a victory of civilization against the brutal monster of the bush. The landscape is hostile in a great violence of brushstrokes and colors.
A painting from the same series showing Ned riding the horse in high flight over the landscape before the fall was sold for A $ 590K including premium by Menzies on June 23, 2016.
A similar atmosphere of apocalypse animates another oil titled River Bank painted three weeks earlier in the same size. The river separates two worlds. In the foreground a Lady Godiva on her mule is alone and wanders aimlessly. The background shows a burned city under a stifling sky.
River Bank was sold for A $ 1.65M including premium by Sotheby's Australia on May 10, 2016 over a lower estimate of A $ 600K.
Eighteen years go by. In Sydney on August 31 Sotheby's Australia sells Ned Kelly - Crossing bridge, oil on board 122 x 153 cm painted in November 1964, lot 17 estimated A $ 800K.
Ned Kelly has clearly lost the game. His morphology has become human but he is diving over a river. At the same height as him, his horse falls freely all four legs up in the air. This picture is not a victory of civilization against the brutal monster of the bush. The landscape is hostile in a great violence of brushstrokes and colors.
A painting from the same series showing Ned riding the horse in high flight over the landscape before the fall was sold for A $ 590K including premium by Menzies on June 23, 2016.
A similar atmosphere of apocalypse animates another oil titled River Bank painted three weeks earlier in the same size. The river separates two worlds. In the foreground a Lady Godiva on her mule is alone and wanders aimlessly. The background shows a burned city under a stifling sky.
River Bank was sold for A $ 1.65M including premium by Sotheby's Australia on May 10, 2016 over a lower estimate of A $ 600K.
1964 the little chair of america
2016 unsold
Andy Warhol is a preacher whose language is the image. The mystery of death haunts his art. The magnificence of the real Marilyn was destroyed by her suicide, and the disease of Liz blanched her cheeks and shadowed her eyes. In 1962 he opened his Death and Disaster series which will be his sermon against America's horrors.
The electric chair in Sing Sing enters his iconography on the following year in the form of copies of a photo published in a magazine in 1953 when this instrument was glorified for its role in the execution of the Rosenbergs. The chair is unoccupied in the middle of a large empty room. The only element associated with some human activity is a terrible sign requiring the SILENCE. The chair killed 614 people from 1891 to 1963.
In 1964, Andy is preparing a series of 32 Little Electric Chairs 56 x 71 cm to cover a wall in an exhibition at Toronto in March 1965. A unique screened image is used with different acrylic colors, more or less creepy.
In a chilling blue, one of them was sold for $ 11.6M including premium by Christie's on November 10, 2015. A chair in a macabre yellow was sold for $ 10.5M including premium by Christie's on May 12, 2014.
The silver paint gives an effect altogether impersonal and bright that questions the validity of the original publication of this image and the attraction of the public for the morbid. This interesting variant is estimated £ 3.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 10, lot 14.
The electric chair in Sing Sing enters his iconography on the following year in the form of copies of a photo published in a magazine in 1953 when this instrument was glorified for its role in the execution of the Rosenbergs. The chair is unoccupied in the middle of a large empty room. The only element associated with some human activity is a terrible sign requiring the SILENCE. The chair killed 614 people from 1891 to 1963.
In 1964, Andy is preparing a series of 32 Little Electric Chairs 56 x 71 cm to cover a wall in an exhibition at Toronto in March 1965. A unique screened image is used with different acrylic colors, more or less creepy.
In a chilling blue, one of them was sold for $ 11.6M including premium by Christie's on November 10, 2015. A chair in a macabre yellow was sold for $ 10.5M including premium by Christie's on May 12, 2014.
The silver paint gives an effect altogether impersonal and bright that questions the validity of the original publication of this image and the attraction of the public for the morbid. This interesting variant is estimated £ 3.5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 10, lot 14.
