Art 1970-1979
1970 The Wild Liturgy of Wifredo Lam
2010 SOLD 2.15 M$ including premium
Wifredo Lam was Cuban, but we may also consider that he came from three continents: his father was Chinese, his mother was of mixed Spanish and Congolese bloods. Like the poetry of Cesaire, the art of Lam is a cry for dignity in the Third World.
On November 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells a painting that is important because it provides the key to the surreal world of the artist. Dated 1970 during his long stay in Italy, it is entitled in French "Les Abalochas Dansent Pour Dhambala, dieu de l'unité" (The Abalochas dance for Dhambala, god of unity).
On a large surface (213 x 244 cm) this oil painting shows the figures of Lam's personal mythology, somewhat anthropomorphic, that dance in all directions like an evocation of the spirits of the African forest. Some are bright, others in the dark are waiting their turn. The artwork is illustrated in the press release shared by Artdaily.
The Abalochas are an invention of Lam, but Dhambala, the rainbow serpent, is a known Creole mystic figure from Haiti. The main female in the foreground looks like the horse in Guernica.
This masterpiece of political art for the Third World, well ahead of its time, is estimated $ 1.75 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting sold for $ 2.15 million including premium responds to the expectations, confirming that it is a masterpiece of the artist.
On November 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells a painting that is important because it provides the key to the surreal world of the artist. Dated 1970 during his long stay in Italy, it is entitled in French "Les Abalochas Dansent Pour Dhambala, dieu de l'unité" (The Abalochas dance for Dhambala, god of unity).
On a large surface (213 x 244 cm) this oil painting shows the figures of Lam's personal mythology, somewhat anthropomorphic, that dance in all directions like an evocation of the spirits of the African forest. Some are bright, others in the dark are waiting their turn. The artwork is illustrated in the press release shared by Artdaily.
The Abalochas are an invention of Lam, but Dhambala, the rainbow serpent, is a known Creole mystic figure from Haiti. The main female in the foreground looks like the horse in Guernica.
This masterpiece of political art for the Third World, well ahead of its time, is estimated $ 1.75 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting sold for $ 2.15 million including premium responds to the expectations, confirming that it is a masterpiece of the artist.
1970 Gaitonde displaying the silence
2016 sold for inr 10 crore (worth us$ 1.53M) including premium
2019 unsold
PRE 2019 SALE DISCUSSION
An oil on canvas 152 x 88 cm painted in 1970 by V.S. Gaitonde was sold for £ 970K by Christie's on 10 June 2015, lot 33, and for Rs 10 crores worth US $ 1.53M by Saffronart on September 8, 2016, lot 48. These results include the premium.
It is now estimated US $ 1.8M at Saffronart in an online auction scheduled for June 12-13, lot 51. I narrated it as follows before the 2016 sale.
The art of V. S. Gaitonde is rare and precious by its very nature. The texture, composed of translucent layers with different hues of a single color, is impeccable. The result is an expression of the deep meditation of this artist influenced by Zen and looking for philosophy, life and truth.
The art of Gaitonde often appears as an encounter with water wrapped in mist. Areas looking like reflections bring a semblance of perspective contradicted by the structuring of the canvas in horizontal zones. The elements that seem to float have an indistinguishable nature that strengthens the mystical dimension of the message.
The abstraction of Gaitonde is not only an expression of nature. His almost systematic choice of vertical formats from the mid-1960s brings a bottom up vision leading to heaven and emotion.
Gaitonde was a quiet man who deliberately avoided the fame. He leaves to others the figuration : no being, no human construction will disturb his ineffable art of silence.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house before the 2019 auction.
An oil on canvas 152 x 88 cm painted in 1970 by V.S. Gaitonde was sold for £ 970K by Christie's on 10 June 2015, lot 33, and for Rs 10 crores worth US $ 1.53M by Saffronart on September 8, 2016, lot 48. These results include the premium.
It is now estimated US $ 1.8M at Saffronart in an online auction scheduled for June 12-13, lot 51. I narrated it as follows before the 2016 sale.
The art of V. S. Gaitonde is rare and precious by its very nature. The texture, composed of translucent layers with different hues of a single color, is impeccable. The result is an expression of the deep meditation of this artist influenced by Zen and looking for philosophy, life and truth.
The art of Gaitonde often appears as an encounter with water wrapped in mist. Areas looking like reflections bring a semblance of perspective contradicted by the structuring of the canvas in horizontal zones. The elements that seem to float have an indistinguishable nature that strengthens the mystical dimension of the message.
The abstraction of Gaitonde is not only an expression of nature. His almost systematic choice of vertical formats from the mid-1960s brings a bottom up vision leading to heaven and emotion.
Gaitonde was a quiet man who deliberately avoided the fame. He leaves to others the figuration : no being, no human construction will disturb his ineffable art of silence.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house before the 2019 auction.
1971 twombly blurs his own message
2015 sold for $ 17.5m including premium
From 1966 to 1970 in his series of Blackboards inspired from the action painting, Cy Twombly had gone to meet the roots and mechanisms of semiotic and graphic communication, beyond the invention of writing.
This break into reflex and subconscious is no longer sufficient. He had lost through his practice in New York the empathy which he maintained in Rome with the emotions from all periods. He then performs a synthesis between the Blackboard and the antique graffiti, altogether reintroducing color which is an improvement and erasing which is a decay.
On November 10, 2004, Christie's sold for $ 5.4 million including premium an oil, wax crayon and graphite on canvas 161 x 195 cm made in Rome in January 1971. The entangled loops in shades of gray are structured in wide lines such as in the blackboards of the previous years, but the clarity of the line is erased over the entire length while the regions empty of proto-writing remain intact.
On November 10 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 17B a canvas 148 x 196 cm painted in similar technique, also dated 1971 but not located. This work certainly subsequent to the example discussed above is a very rare and stunning example of the annihilation by the artist of his own process before he redirects his art to other topics. The estimate is not published.
The oblique and multicolored proto-message is here is a broad line running across the picture from left to right. It has become virtually imperceptible by the domination of a network of colored lines, launched as a waterfall on the entire available surface with the exception of a reserve at the top left corner.
Several years before, at the time of his pornographic inspiration, the Roman waterfall was one of the favorite themes of the artist. It was a flow that looked homogeneous but actually consisted of a texture of multiple graffiti.
This break into reflex and subconscious is no longer sufficient. He had lost through his practice in New York the empathy which he maintained in Rome with the emotions from all periods. He then performs a synthesis between the Blackboard and the antique graffiti, altogether reintroducing color which is an improvement and erasing which is a decay.
On November 10, 2004, Christie's sold for $ 5.4 million including premium an oil, wax crayon and graphite on canvas 161 x 195 cm made in Rome in January 1971. The entangled loops in shades of gray are structured in wide lines such as in the blackboards of the previous years, but the clarity of the line is erased over the entire length while the regions empty of proto-writing remain intact.
On November 10 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 17B a canvas 148 x 196 cm painted in similar technique, also dated 1971 but not located. This work certainly subsequent to the example discussed above is a very rare and stunning example of the annihilation by the artist of his own process before he redirects his art to other topics. The estimate is not published.
The oblique and multicolored proto-message is here is a broad line running across the picture from left to right. It has become virtually imperceptible by the domination of a network of colored lines, launched as a waterfall on the entire available surface with the exception of a reserve at the top left corner.
Several years before, at the time of his pornographic inspiration, the Roman waterfall was one of the favorite themes of the artist. It was a flow that looked homogeneous but actually consisted of a texture of multiple graffiti.
1971 One of the latest Large Size Paintings by Picasso
2009 SOLD 7.7 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Until the end of his long life, Picasso was an inventive and prolific painter. The number of times he changed his style completely over the seven decades of his career is remarkable, and it was always successful.
Painted on 26 August 1971, two months before he celebrated his 90th birthday, "la Femme au Chapeau" (Woman with Hat) is typical of compositions from that time, very colorful, with deformities of the face that meet the cubist tradition. The dominating look of the sitter makes it close from the series of musketeers, from the same period.
This painting is particularly interesting because, with its 1.80 m high, it is undoubtedly the largest of the latest paintings by Picasso. It is the first lot announced by Christie's for the evening sale of impressionist and modern art, on May 6 in New York.
The estimated $ 8 million seems reasonable. Christie's reminds us that they have sold around $ 15 million in 2007 two portraits made a few years before this one, one showing a man with a pipe, and the other a musketeer with a nude.
POST SALE COMMENT
There were two later paintings by Picasso in this sale. Both have been sold around the estimate.
A little lower than the estimate for the Femme au Chapeau, which was the subject of our discussion: $ 7.7 million including expenses.
A little higher than the estimated $ 12 million for a Mousquetaire à la Pipe, 1968, 146 x 89 cm: $ 14.6 million including expenses.
Until the end of his long life, Picasso was an inventive and prolific painter. The number of times he changed his style completely over the seven decades of his career is remarkable, and it was always successful.
Painted on 26 August 1971, two months before he celebrated his 90th birthday, "la Femme au Chapeau" (Woman with Hat) is typical of compositions from that time, very colorful, with deformities of the face that meet the cubist tradition. The dominating look of the sitter makes it close from the series of musketeers, from the same period.
This painting is particularly interesting because, with its 1.80 m high, it is undoubtedly the largest of the latest paintings by Picasso. It is the first lot announced by Christie's for the evening sale of impressionist and modern art, on May 6 in New York.
The estimated $ 8 million seems reasonable. Christie's reminds us that they have sold around $ 15 million in 2007 two portraits made a few years before this one, one showing a man with a pipe, and the other a musketeer with a nude.
POST SALE COMMENT
There were two later paintings by Picasso in this sale. Both have been sold around the estimate.
A little lower than the estimate for the Femme au Chapeau, which was the subject of our discussion: $ 7.7 million including expenses.
A little higher than the estimated $ 12 million for a Mousquetaire à la Pipe, 1968, 146 x 89 cm: $ 14.6 million including expenses.
1971 rotation and mirror of good and evil
2017 unsold
On October 6 in London, Christie's sells as lot 16A an oil on canvas 198 x 148 cm painted by Francis Bacon in April 1971 and titled Study of Red Pope 1962 2nd version. This unusual title indicates that for the artist this work inspired from the portrait of Innocent X by Velazquez is a culmination of this theme.
Conceived as a sort of triptych concentrated on a single canvas, 2nd version poses existential questions and reserves many surprises.
The Pope in the curled-up position of Innocent X is installed in a circular environment as if seated over a turntable. The room is closed with two lateral curvilinear mirrors offering a mystery of reflection that may remind the Menines by Velazquez. The mirror on the right brings the recognizable figure of Francis' lover, George Dyer.
The scene is an impossible encounter between the two characters. Each one embodies both good and evil. The old Pope does not master the responsibilities of his function of which he is nevertheless the sole representative. The ordinary man with a troubled past has become the supreme idol in the life of Francis.
The rotating Pope has reached a position where he cannot see George. On the opposite George tries to establish a communication and raises his hand to the reflection of the string of an out of field bell or light.
George committed suicide six months later in Paris while Francis was preparing in that city the great exhibition which consecrated him as a major artist of his time. The traumatized Francis will no longer need a pope. The ghost of George will henceforth secure the mystery of spirit and flesh.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
Conceived as a sort of triptych concentrated on a single canvas, 2nd version poses existential questions and reserves many surprises.
The Pope in the curled-up position of Innocent X is installed in a circular environment as if seated over a turntable. The room is closed with two lateral curvilinear mirrors offering a mystery of reflection that may remind the Menines by Velazquez. The mirror on the right brings the recognizable figure of Francis' lover, George Dyer.
The scene is an impossible encounter between the two characters. Each one embodies both good and evil. The old Pope does not master the responsibilities of his function of which he is nevertheless the sole representative. The ordinary man with a troubled past has become the supreme idol in the life of Francis.
The rotating Pope has reached a position where he cannot see George. On the opposite George tries to establish a communication and raises his hand to the reflection of the string of an out of field bell or light.
George committed suicide six months later in Paris while Francis was preparing in that city the great exhibition which consecrated him as a major artist of his time. The traumatized Francis will no longer need a pope. The ghost of George will henceforth secure the mystery of spirit and flesh.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
1971 Bad Weather through Richter's Lens
2012 unsold
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Photography plays an important role in the beginnings of the art of Richter. A refugee from East Germany into the West, he was first concerned with social identification. He recuperated trivial photographs into paintings in which heskillfully combined hyperrealistic techniques and blurring.
These first successes do not satisfy his need to express the subtlety of colors. He suddenly finds a new way in 1969.He is on holiday in Corsica, the île de beauté famous for its sunshine. Luckily for the history of art, the weather is verycloudy. The horizon fades between sea and sky, and the weak diffusing light generates a variety of shades.
Admirer of the Romantic painters and more specifically of Fridrich, Richter comes in communion with the forces of a wild and uninhabited landscape. Painted in 1969 from an assembly of two photographs, a seascape, 200 x 200 cm,was sold $ 19.3 million including premium at Christie's on May 8, 2012.
History repeats almost identically at Tenerife in 1971, now with a landscape. The oil on canvas, 200 x 300 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 14, is estimated $ 10M.
Once again struck by the example of Fridrich, he devoted his 1972 holidays to photographing icebergs.
These works led Richter to his total control of color. They also had a major influence on the minimalist style of somecontemporary photographs.
I invite you to play the video where Christie's is introducing the Tenerife painting.
Photography plays an important role in the beginnings of the art of Richter. A refugee from East Germany into the West, he was first concerned with social identification. He recuperated trivial photographs into paintings in which heskillfully combined hyperrealistic techniques and blurring.
These first successes do not satisfy his need to express the subtlety of colors. He suddenly finds a new way in 1969.He is on holiday in Corsica, the île de beauté famous for its sunshine. Luckily for the history of art, the weather is verycloudy. The horizon fades between sea and sky, and the weak diffusing light generates a variety of shades.
Admirer of the Romantic painters and more specifically of Fridrich, Richter comes in communion with the forces of a wild and uninhabited landscape. Painted in 1969 from an assembly of two photographs, a seascape, 200 x 200 cm,was sold $ 19.3 million including premium at Christie's on May 8, 2012.
History repeats almost identically at Tenerife in 1971, now with a landscape. The oil on canvas, 200 x 300 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 14, is estimated $ 10M.
Once again struck by the example of Fridrich, he devoted his 1972 holidays to photographing icebergs.
These works led Richter to his total control of color. They also had a major influence on the minimalist style of somecontemporary photographs.
I invite you to play the video where Christie's is introducing the Tenerife painting.
1972 Modern Architecture within the Art of Jeffrey Smart
2009 SOLD 870 K AUD including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
As David Hockney, the Australian-born Jeffrey Smart is passionate about architecture.
The strange oil on canvas by Smart, 100 x 99 cm, that Sotheby's sells on August 24 in Melbourne is entitled "The Painted Factory, Tuscany." Painted in 1972, it dates from the year after the installation of the artist in Arezzo, where he still resides today.
A green Tuscan landscape is dominated by a cubic factory that we imagine made of concrete, with a smooth front decorated with abstract or stylized patterns in the style of Léger. A friend of the artist shows himself in the factory entrance, brandishing a painting that is a reducted replica of the complete artwork.
This painting is an ironic display of the modern world, a theme usually conducive to success. This justifies an estimate of 600 KA$, which should be an excellent result for this artist.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result is excellent. Sold 870 KA$ including costs, it almost matches the high estimate, which was 800 KA$ excl.
As David Hockney, the Australian-born Jeffrey Smart is passionate about architecture.
The strange oil on canvas by Smart, 100 x 99 cm, that Sotheby's sells on August 24 in Melbourne is entitled "The Painted Factory, Tuscany." Painted in 1972, it dates from the year after the installation of the artist in Arezzo, where he still resides today.
A green Tuscan landscape is dominated by a cubic factory that we imagine made of concrete, with a smooth front decorated with abstract or stylized patterns in the style of Léger. A friend of the artist shows himself in the factory entrance, brandishing a painting that is a reducted replica of the complete artwork.
This painting is an ironic display of the modern world, a theme usually conducive to success. This justifies an estimate of 600 KA$, which should be an excellent result for this artist.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result is excellent. Sold 870 KA$ including costs, it almost matches the high estimate, which was 800 KA$ excl.
1972 THE MUSICALISM OF ZENDEROUDI
2008 UNSOLD
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The contemporary art sales organized by Christie's at Dubai are exciting. The market is new, which finds its resources in Iran, Arabia and the Middle East. Artists who have been confirmed here are good candidates to extend their influence into the international arena. The buyers' network and their sensitivity are different from other places of sales, and big surprises are always possible in the results.
On April 30, four works exceeded one million dollars, increasing at once the credibility of this place of the art market. The press highlighted on this occasion the important bid at 2.8 MUS$ including fees that was recorded on a bronze by Parviz Tanavoli that paid tribute to Persepolis and had been estimated 400 KUS$.
This outstanding result had a little bit hidden the second result of the sale, obtained on a work of another Iranian artist, born the same year as Tanavoli (1937): Hossein Zenderoudi. His painting in oil and acrylic on canvas from 1981, 210x195 cm, was sold 1.6 MUS$ costs included from an estimate of 200 KUS$. It consists of thick sinuous lines on both sides of a middle horizontal area populated with a repetitive pattern of small masks of different colors. In the same sale, a 1972 acrylic representing a very tight coloured spiral was sold 600 KUS$ fees included.
On October 30, there are four works by Zenderoudi in the catalog. Christie's, based on its previous successes, appears to have pushed a little further its estimates.
The lot 57 is a monochrome red on a white background based on similar features and masks (but differently distributed) as the star lot of the April sale. This is an oil on canvas from 1972, 195x130cm. This painting is much appreciated by Christie's, which presents it at the best place in its press release. The estimated 400 KUS$ will certainly be greatly exceeded. The catalog indicates the clear influence of calligraphy and musicalism in this work.
The other three paintings are estimated 400 KUS$ (Lot 98, 150x301 cm, 1986), 400 KUS$ (Lot 100, 215x180 cm, 1983) and 300 KUS$ (Lot 58, 130x97 cm, 1969).
POST SALE COMMENT
Compared to the sale of April 28, the results are disappointing. The highest figure, 480 KUS$ including fees, is recorded successively on a very large abstract oil on canvas (300 x 185 cm) by the Iranian Mohammed Ehsai and on a triptych (200 x 450 cm overall) of the Algerian Rachid Koraichi. We observe also in this market the trend for gigantism.
Regarding Zenderoudi, it is a disaster! None of the four paintings have been sold. This decrease is curiosity is also confirmed on a lot that I did not mention: a work on paper sold 230 KUS$ costs included on a low estimate of 300 KUS$.
The contemporary art sales organized by Christie's at Dubai are exciting. The market is new, which finds its resources in Iran, Arabia and the Middle East. Artists who have been confirmed here are good candidates to extend their influence into the international arena. The buyers' network and their sensitivity are different from other places of sales, and big surprises are always possible in the results.
On April 30, four works exceeded one million dollars, increasing at once the credibility of this place of the art market. The press highlighted on this occasion the important bid at 2.8 MUS$ including fees that was recorded on a bronze by Parviz Tanavoli that paid tribute to Persepolis and had been estimated 400 KUS$.
This outstanding result had a little bit hidden the second result of the sale, obtained on a work of another Iranian artist, born the same year as Tanavoli (1937): Hossein Zenderoudi. His painting in oil and acrylic on canvas from 1981, 210x195 cm, was sold 1.6 MUS$ costs included from an estimate of 200 KUS$. It consists of thick sinuous lines on both sides of a middle horizontal area populated with a repetitive pattern of small masks of different colors. In the same sale, a 1972 acrylic representing a very tight coloured spiral was sold 600 KUS$ fees included.
On October 30, there are four works by Zenderoudi in the catalog. Christie's, based on its previous successes, appears to have pushed a little further its estimates.
The lot 57 is a monochrome red on a white background based on similar features and masks (but differently distributed) as the star lot of the April sale. This is an oil on canvas from 1972, 195x130cm. This painting is much appreciated by Christie's, which presents it at the best place in its press release. The estimated 400 KUS$ will certainly be greatly exceeded. The catalog indicates the clear influence of calligraphy and musicalism in this work.
The other three paintings are estimated 400 KUS$ (Lot 98, 150x301 cm, 1986), 400 KUS$ (Lot 100, 215x180 cm, 1983) and 300 KUS$ (Lot 58, 130x97 cm, 1969).
POST SALE COMMENT
Compared to the sale of April 28, the results are disappointing. The highest figure, 480 KUS$ including fees, is recorded successively on a very large abstract oil on canvas (300 x 185 cm) by the Iranian Mohammed Ehsai and on a triptych (200 x 450 cm overall) of the Algerian Rachid Koraichi. We observe also in this market the trend for gigantism.
Regarding Zenderoudi, it is a disaster! None of the four paintings have been sold. This decrease is curiosity is also confirmed on a lot that I did not mention: a work on paper sold 230 KUS$ costs included on a low estimate of 300 KUS$.
1973-1974 KAZUO SHIRAGA IN TOKYO
2008 SOLD 31 M YEN BEFORE FEES
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
It seems cheap: on July 25 in Tokyo, Mallet Auction sells two oils on canvas by Kazuo Shiraga of the same size, one in height and the other in width, 130 x 162 cm, each 10 million yen, one of 1974 and the other of 1973 (lots 49 and 61). The specialty of this artist is an abstract monochrome painting.
Lot 49, a full size composition in large strokes, looks comparable to an oil on canvas from 1983 (131x195 cm) sold by Lombrail-Teucquam at Drouot on April 14 for 290 K € before fees, ie roughly 5 times more expensive than the Japanese estimate indicated above.
Also comparable, a small oil on canvas of 1961 (80 x 120 cm) was sold 32 million yen in Est-Ouest Auctions in Tokyo on April 4.
Lot 61, finally more atypical, is a transparent blue.
Shiraga is doing well in Paris, since his top four results sorted by Artvalue were obtained in that city. The painting I mentioned above is the third in this sequence.
Using the same database, we see that all the significant results of this artist have been achieved in the last two years. Indeed he deserves the curiosity of fans with his avant-gardist painting technique using various parts of his body, particularly his feet, and his assimilation of the gesture of artistic creation to that of wrestling. He died at the age of 84 on April 8.
We are in the presence of an artist whom we just really started to discover and Mallet Auction may not have wanted to give an estimate too high. We can therefore predict at no risk that prices of these two paintings shall widely exceed their estimates.
POST SALE COMMENT
As it was expected, the estimate was much too low. Both paintings were sold 31 and 24 million yen before fees.
It seems cheap: on July 25 in Tokyo, Mallet Auction sells two oils on canvas by Kazuo Shiraga of the same size, one in height and the other in width, 130 x 162 cm, each 10 million yen, one of 1974 and the other of 1973 (lots 49 and 61). The specialty of this artist is an abstract monochrome painting.
Lot 49, a full size composition in large strokes, looks comparable to an oil on canvas from 1983 (131x195 cm) sold by Lombrail-Teucquam at Drouot on April 14 for 290 K € before fees, ie roughly 5 times more expensive than the Japanese estimate indicated above.
Also comparable, a small oil on canvas of 1961 (80 x 120 cm) was sold 32 million yen in Est-Ouest Auctions in Tokyo on April 4.
Lot 61, finally more atypical, is a transparent blue.
Shiraga is doing well in Paris, since his top four results sorted by Artvalue were obtained in that city. The painting I mentioned above is the third in this sequence.
Using the same database, we see that all the significant results of this artist have been achieved in the last two years. Indeed he deserves the curiosity of fans with his avant-gardist painting technique using various parts of his body, particularly his feet, and his assimilation of the gesture of artistic creation to that of wrestling. He died at the age of 84 on April 8.
We are in the presence of an artist whom we just really started to discover and Mallet Auction may not have wanted to give an estimate too high. We can therefore predict at no risk that prices of these two paintings shall widely exceed their estimates.
POST SALE COMMENT
As it was expected, the estimate was much too low. Both paintings were sold 31 and 24 million yen before fees.
1974 The Narrow Path to Freedom
2019 sold for $ 10.3m including premium
Robert Motherwell had been one of the pioneers of abstract expressionism which he managed to separate from surrealism. Influenced by psychoanalysis, he will seek throughout his career to give visibility to his own mental universe.
In 1948 he illustrates with a black ink drawing a poem by Harold Rosenberg titled Elegy to the Spanish Republic. On the white background, bulky ovoid elements are stuck at mid-height in a pattern of vertical columns. The masses of white and black display the balance of forces between life and death, or between order and chaos.
The Spanish Civil War was a triumph of death, illustrated by Picasso's Guernica. Motherwell begins to paint in an invariant style a very long series of Elegies to the Spanish Republic. In the same stifling and dismal style, he had also painted in 1949 At Five in the Afternoon, inspired by writings on bullfighting by Garcia Lorca and Hemingway.
The biomorphic forms between the columns look like compressed human heads between the bars of a prison. Escape is impossible. Franco dies in 1975. In 1978 on an order from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, Motherwell paints the gigantic Reconciliation Elegy, 305 x 924 cm. A space between two columns has exploded and the left edge is empty, in a new hope for a free world.
The artist had been dispossessed against his will from the original of At Five in the Afternoon. A remake 229 x 305 cm painted in 1971 was sold for $ 12.7M including premium by Phillips on May 17, 2018.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells two opus from the Spanish elegy. The lot 35 estimated $ 9M, typical of an obstructed hope, is the Elegy for the Spanish Republic No. 134, acrylic and charcoal on canvas 245 x 305 cm painted in 1974. Dated 1976 but probably completed in 1979, the Elegy Study No. XIII, 61 x 122 cm, lets freedom flowing through the right edge. It is estimated $ 1.5M, lot 14.
RESULTS including premium :
Lot 35 SOLD for $ 10.3M
Lot 14 SOLD for $ 2.9M
In 1948 he illustrates with a black ink drawing a poem by Harold Rosenberg titled Elegy to the Spanish Republic. On the white background, bulky ovoid elements are stuck at mid-height in a pattern of vertical columns. The masses of white and black display the balance of forces between life and death, or between order and chaos.
The Spanish Civil War was a triumph of death, illustrated by Picasso's Guernica. Motherwell begins to paint in an invariant style a very long series of Elegies to the Spanish Republic. In the same stifling and dismal style, he had also painted in 1949 At Five in the Afternoon, inspired by writings on bullfighting by Garcia Lorca and Hemingway.
The biomorphic forms between the columns look like compressed human heads between the bars of a prison. Escape is impossible. Franco dies in 1975. In 1978 on an order from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, Motherwell paints the gigantic Reconciliation Elegy, 305 x 924 cm. A space between two columns has exploded and the left edge is empty, in a new hope for a free world.
The artist had been dispossessed against his will from the original of At Five in the Afternoon. A remake 229 x 305 cm painted in 1971 was sold for $ 12.7M including premium by Phillips on May 17, 2018.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells two opus from the Spanish elegy. The lot 35 estimated $ 9M, typical of an obstructed hope, is the Elegy for the Spanish Republic No. 134, acrylic and charcoal on canvas 245 x 305 cm painted in 1974. Dated 1976 but probably completed in 1979, the Elegy Study No. XIII, 61 x 122 cm, lets freedom flowing through the right edge. It is estimated $ 1.5M, lot 14.
RESULTS including premium :
Lot 35 SOLD for $ 10.3M
Lot 14 SOLD for $ 2.9M
1974 abstract charts
2018 sold for £ 7.4m including premium
In 1966 Gerhard Richter is occupied with the anti-art. For the figurative he copies his blurry photos. This is not enough for his pictorial revolution : he now manages to attack also the abstract art.
To free the abstraction of all emotion he imitates the color charts of the industrial paint brands, without any fancy in the geometric composition. The carefully aligned rectangles are separated by a narrow white grid.
He begins the year 1973 with gray monochromes and then tries real abstract dialogues between red, yellow and blue. At the turn of 1974 he devotes himself again to his Farbtafeln in lacquer on canvas in which he often removes the white stripes for a mosaic juxtaposition.
The opus 359 painted in 1974 is the most complex and the final of this series with 254 x 254 cm and 4096 colors. It was sold for $ 3.7M including premium by Christie's on May 11, 2004. The other extreme is the opus 353-1 20 x 20 cm with 4 colors which is also the first without the separating grid.
The opus 357-2 painted in 1974, 121 x 124 cm with 1025 separated colors was sold for $ 4.1M including premium by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008. It is estimated £ 5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on March 7, lot 8.
The culmination is achieved in 2007 with the opus 901, 196 lacquered aluminum panels of 25 squares each that form when they are all assembled together a square of 680 x 680 cm and 4900 colors in an interesting example of art adjustable by the user.
To free the abstraction of all emotion he imitates the color charts of the industrial paint brands, without any fancy in the geometric composition. The carefully aligned rectangles are separated by a narrow white grid.
He begins the year 1973 with gray monochromes and then tries real abstract dialogues between red, yellow and blue. At the turn of 1974 he devotes himself again to his Farbtafeln in lacquer on canvas in which he often removes the white stripes for a mosaic juxtaposition.
The opus 359 painted in 1974 is the most complex and the final of this series with 254 x 254 cm and 4096 colors. It was sold for $ 3.7M including premium by Christie's on May 11, 2004. The other extreme is the opus 353-1 20 x 20 cm with 4 colors which is also the first without the separating grid.
The opus 357-2 painted in 1974, 121 x 124 cm with 1025 separated colors was sold for $ 4.1M including premium by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008. It is estimated £ 5M for sale by Sotheby's in London on March 7, lot 8.
The culmination is achieved in 2007 with the opus 901, 196 lacquered aluminum panels of 25 squares each that form when they are all assembled together a square of 680 x 680 cm and 4900 colors in an interesting example of art adjustable by the user.
1974 rural serenity in bali
2014 sold for hk$ 34M including premium
Chinese painter born in Guangzhou, Lee Man Fong spent his youth in Singapore and made his career in Jakarta and Bali. The Dutch influences led him to choose the oil painting. His atmospheres with progressive mists express the fundamental beauty of a human friendly nature and join the great figurative Chinese tradition through Qi Baishi.
The main theme of his art was the rural life in Bali, with large views in widescreen format along with often vertical detailed paintings. He developed his personal style on his arrival in Indonesia and maintained it over three decades.
An oil on wood painted in 1951, 86 x 260 cm, was sold for HK $ 34 million including premium by Sotheby's on October 7, 2012. Its title, Fortune and Longevity, clearly indicates in what large extent Bali can provide happiness.
Bali life paintings from the early 1960s mark one of the most creative phases of his career. An oil on masonite 100 x 243 cm was sold for HK $ 36 million including premium by Christie's on 23 November 2013. Previously, on April 5, 2010, an oil on canvas 100 x 200 cm was sold for HK $ 25,3M including premium by Sotheby's, then assuring for the first time Lee 's deserved position among top ranking artists.
Large oils on canvas by Lee Man Fong are scarce. A Bali life painted in 1974, 83 x 184 cm, is for sale at Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 5, lot 1025. This artwork is full of quiet anecdotal details about rural occupations.
The main theme of his art was the rural life in Bali, with large views in widescreen format along with often vertical detailed paintings. He developed his personal style on his arrival in Indonesia and maintained it over three decades.
An oil on wood painted in 1951, 86 x 260 cm, was sold for HK $ 34 million including premium by Sotheby's on October 7, 2012. Its title, Fortune and Longevity, clearly indicates in what large extent Bali can provide happiness.
Bali life paintings from the early 1960s mark one of the most creative phases of his career. An oil on masonite 100 x 243 cm was sold for HK $ 36 million including premium by Christie's on 23 November 2013. Previously, on April 5, 2010, an oil on canvas 100 x 200 cm was sold for HK $ 25,3M including premium by Sotheby's, then assuring for the first time Lee 's deserved position among top ranking artists.
Large oils on canvas by Lee Man Fong are scarce. A Bali life painted in 1974, 83 x 184 cm, is for sale at Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 5, lot 1025. This artwork is full of quiet anecdotal details about rural occupations.
1974 the princess of ife
2018 sold for £ 1.2m including premium
The war of Biafra ends in 1970 after three years of horrors. Nigeria is reunited but deeply shocked.
A painter and sculptor, Ben Enwonwu becomes in 1971 the first professor of art of the University of Ife, a Yoruba city with a cultural tradition of very high antiquity. He is an Ibo, the secessionist ethnic group of Biafra. He seeks a theme that can symbolize the reconciliation.
In 1973 Enwonwu sees a pretty Yoruba young woman and asks the permission to execute her portrait. At first reluctant to this request from an Ibo artist, the parents agree. The artist appreciates the excellence of his choice when he knows that his new model is the granddaughter of a previous king of Ife.
The first portrait of the princess Tutu by Enwonwu is the message of peace and hope that the Nigerian society needed and its printed image is very widely disseminated in the country. The original painting was kept by the artist until his death. It is not currently located.
Enwonwu revisits Tutu in 1974. In his second portrait the composition is similar but the behavior has changed : the youthful princess is now confident in the artist and her gaze is serene. This oil on canvas 97 x 67 cm that was last seen in 1975 has just resurfaced in the suburbs of London. It is estimated £ 200K for sale by Bonhams in London in duplex with Lagos on February 28, lot 47.
A third and last portrait of Tutu was painted by Enwonwu in 1974. Its whereabouts are not known.
A painter and sculptor, Ben Enwonwu becomes in 1971 the first professor of art of the University of Ife, a Yoruba city with a cultural tradition of very high antiquity. He is an Ibo, the secessionist ethnic group of Biafra. He seeks a theme that can symbolize the reconciliation.
In 1973 Enwonwu sees a pretty Yoruba young woman and asks the permission to execute her portrait. At first reluctant to this request from an Ibo artist, the parents agree. The artist appreciates the excellence of his choice when he knows that his new model is the granddaughter of a previous king of Ife.
The first portrait of the princess Tutu by Enwonwu is the message of peace and hope that the Nigerian society needed and its printed image is very widely disseminated in the country. The original painting was kept by the artist until his death. It is not currently located.
Enwonwu revisits Tutu in 1974. In his second portrait the composition is similar but the behavior has changed : the youthful princess is now confident in the artist and her gaze is serene. This oil on canvas 97 x 67 cm that was last seen in 1975 has just resurfaced in the suburbs of London. It is estimated £ 200K for sale by Bonhams in London in duplex with Lagos on February 28, lot 47.
A third and last portrait of Tutu was painted by Enwonwu in 1974. Its whereabouts are not known.
1975 De Kooning returns to Painting
2013 SOLD 25 M$ including premium
Rothko had died in 1970 and Pollock for much longer. The expression of emotions through the distribution of colors could appear to be an art from the past.
Willem de Kooning had stopped painting to try sculpture. In 1975, aged 71, this pioneer of modern art operates a dramatic turnaround that restarts the abstract art.
The colors are bright, pure, explosive and even enthusiastic. Forms are only used for ensuring the dynamic balance. Biomorphic evocations if any are no longer decipherable. The color has its own language without going into the structured rectangles of Rothko.
On November 13 in New York, Sotheby 's sells Untitled V, 178 x 203 cm, one of the first works of this revival of 1975. This is one of the largest in the series and one of the most attractive in its successful balance between colors and whites.
The feat of this aging artist was to open a new path while continuing to profess that a genuine art should not be attributed to a school or a style. His Untitled from the late 1970s anticipate the Abstraktes Bild of Richter.
Untitled V is estimated $ 25M, and is illustrated in the press release shared by Auction Central News.
POST SALE COMMENT
This abstract composition with beautiful colors was sold for $ 25M including premium.
Willem de Kooning had stopped painting to try sculpture. In 1975, aged 71, this pioneer of modern art operates a dramatic turnaround that restarts the abstract art.
The colors are bright, pure, explosive and even enthusiastic. Forms are only used for ensuring the dynamic balance. Biomorphic evocations if any are no longer decipherable. The color has its own language without going into the structured rectangles of Rothko.
On November 13 in New York, Sotheby 's sells Untitled V, 178 x 203 cm, one of the first works of this revival of 1975. This is one of the largest in the series and one of the most attractive in its successful balance between colors and whites.
The feat of this aging artist was to open a new path while continuing to profess that a genuine art should not be attributed to a school or a style. His Untitled from the late 1970s anticipate the Abstraktes Bild of Richter.
Untitled V is estimated $ 25M, and is illustrated in the press release shared by Auction Central News.
POST SALE COMMENT
This abstract composition with beautiful colors was sold for $ 25M including premium.
1975 self portrait in the rain
2019 sold for £ 16.5m including premium
The art of Francis Bacon first expressed his difficult psychological relationship with a questionable world. In an early phase, he looks at the decrepitude of his contemporaries, personified by the pope. Death is treated by everyone as a lie, with the exception of the image of the old woman in Eisenstein's movie.
After such a beginning, the artist does not have the right to get old. Francis takes care of his physical appearance but the ravages of time are inevitable. The sordid suicide of George Dyer in 1971 stops the aging of a young man, leaving Francis with his doubts and anxieties about how to manage his own life.
For five or six years, Francis Bacon wanders, psychologically and physically. His London friends are also aging, and he is looking for new acquaintances in the intellectual circles of Paris. John Deakin had died in 1972 and he is no more supplied with photographs of their Soho friends. He looks in his mirror for lack of a better source of inspiration. Over the years, he sees therein a kind of portrait of Dorian Gray : the true image of himself.
A self-portrait painted in 1975 was sold for £ 15.3M including premium by Sotheby's in London on July 1, 2015. It is listed in the same auction room on June 26, lot 9 estimated £ 15M. This oil on canvas is in 35 x 30 cm format, very often used by the artist because head studies can be in life size.
As it is often the case with Bacon, the colors are subtle, mixing green, purple and pink on a very dark heavily applied blue-purple background. Only the skin is a little shiny, to be correlated with the fact that the man is wearing a raincoat.
In this particularly gloomy atmosphere, the eye is too big, especially since it draws attention to the blank or meditative gaze. The mackintosh is tainted with unreadable residues of Letraset, considered by zealous commentators as a reference to Parisian writers, but perhaps nothing more than an original way of simulating rain.
After such a beginning, the artist does not have the right to get old. Francis takes care of his physical appearance but the ravages of time are inevitable. The sordid suicide of George Dyer in 1971 stops the aging of a young man, leaving Francis with his doubts and anxieties about how to manage his own life.
For five or six years, Francis Bacon wanders, psychologically and physically. His London friends are also aging, and he is looking for new acquaintances in the intellectual circles of Paris. John Deakin had died in 1972 and he is no more supplied with photographs of their Soho friends. He looks in his mirror for lack of a better source of inspiration. Over the years, he sees therein a kind of portrait of Dorian Gray : the true image of himself.
A self-portrait painted in 1975 was sold for £ 15.3M including premium by Sotheby's in London on July 1, 2015. It is listed in the same auction room on June 26, lot 9 estimated £ 15M. This oil on canvas is in 35 x 30 cm format, very often used by the artist because head studies can be in life size.
As it is often the case with Bacon, the colors are subtle, mixing green, purple and pink on a very dark heavily applied blue-purple background. Only the skin is a little shiny, to be correlated with the fact that the man is wearing a raincoat.
In this particularly gloomy atmosphere, the eye is too big, especially since it draws attention to the blank or meditative gaze. The mackintosh is tainted with unreadable residues of Letraset, considered by zealous commentators as a reference to Parisian writers, but perhaps nothing more than an original way of simulating rain.
1975 out of sight from the dwarf
2016 sold for £ 5.5M including premium
Art is artificial as far as it is not an interpretation of death. The despairs of Picasso after the suicide of Casagemas and of Bacon after the suicide of Dyer are similar. Both have questioned the meaning of life through the use of their most private creativity. Time has passed and they have been healed.
George died in 1971 in the hotel room at the time of the great Parisian consecration of Francis, the opening of the exhibition at the Grand Palais. In the five following years Francis will use all the resources of his art to break free from his suffering and his guilt.
A painting made in 1975 includes many elements of the artistic language of Francis. Two naked wrestlers mingle their bodies in a suspended showcase. They lost their individuality and have only one head that is altogether a portrait of George and a self-portrait by Francis.
Their struggle is a sporting event. George was a strong man who reminded to Francis the male muscular figures by Michelangelo. Their dynamic movement with the dual head on the floor of the cage is inspired by the gymnasts photographed by Muybridge. Francis himself revealed these sources of his inspiration.
Their life is ridiculously staged, as for Barnum. In the right side of the composition, the observer is an old headed dwarf perched on a bar stool.
Francis presents this artwork to the young Michael Peppiatt who is already his confidant and will soon be his biographer. Voyeurism now hinders the intimate message of the artist who gets the painting back to cut it in two parts before returning to Peppiatt the left side released from the dwarf. Titled Two figures, this oil on canvas now in the format unusual for the artist of 198 x 70 cm is estimated £ 5M for sale by Christie's in London on February 11, lot 25.
Peppiatt knew Bacon since 1963 and understood the difficulties in the relationship of Francis and George. He kept Two figures so far and is a sensational witness to the genesis of this artwork which he explains in the attached video. Do not miss also in the catalog page of the sale (lot 25 linked above) the transcript of his interview with Francis Outred of Christie's
George died in 1971 in the hotel room at the time of the great Parisian consecration of Francis, the opening of the exhibition at the Grand Palais. In the five following years Francis will use all the resources of his art to break free from his suffering and his guilt.
A painting made in 1975 includes many elements of the artistic language of Francis. Two naked wrestlers mingle their bodies in a suspended showcase. They lost their individuality and have only one head that is altogether a portrait of George and a self-portrait by Francis.
Their struggle is a sporting event. George was a strong man who reminded to Francis the male muscular figures by Michelangelo. Their dynamic movement with the dual head on the floor of the cage is inspired by the gymnasts photographed by Muybridge. Francis himself revealed these sources of his inspiration.
Their life is ridiculously staged, as for Barnum. In the right side of the composition, the observer is an old headed dwarf perched on a bar stool.
Francis presents this artwork to the young Michael Peppiatt who is already his confidant and will soon be his biographer. Voyeurism now hinders the intimate message of the artist who gets the painting back to cut it in two parts before returning to Peppiatt the left side released from the dwarf. Titled Two figures, this oil on canvas now in the format unusual for the artist of 198 x 70 cm is estimated £ 5M for sale by Christie's in London on February 11, lot 25.
Peppiatt knew Bacon since 1963 and understood the difficulties in the relationship of Francis and George. He kept Two figures so far and is a sensational witness to the genesis of this artwork which he explains in the attached video. Do not miss also in the catalog page of the sale (lot 25 linked above) the transcript of his interview with Francis Outred of Christie's
1975 Back to the Futurism
2019 sold for £ 5m including premium
In 1961 Look Mickey abolished all prior definitions of art, highlighting the recuperation and abolishing the differentiation between the popular image and the art in museums and galleries. As early as 1962 Roy Lichtenstein adds to his repertoire some reinterpretations of Picasso's Cubist women.
Roy has become a great artist, since everyone tells him so. In 1969, at the age of 46, he has a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum. All the greatest artists including Picasso wanted to take reference on their most famous predecessors. Roy does not lack wit : he will do the same. In 1972 he begins to paint still lifes.
In 1974 he retrieves the decomposition of movements by the Italian Futurists. Imitating an artwork created in 1913 by Carlo Carra, The Red horseman is a galloping horse with eight legs and two heads, mounted by a four-headed jockey in action.
On June 27 in London, Phillips sells The Conductor, oil and acrylic 188 x 137 cm painted by Roy Lichtenstein in 1975, lot 10estimated £ 4M. This work is a very free adaptation of the movement of a ballerina painted in 1914 by Gino Severini and belonging to the Peggy Guggenheim collection.
Roy was certainly interested in the fact that Severini was supposedly inspired by Seurat's Le Chahut painted in 1889-1890, showing the alignment of the legs of four French cancan dancers. He thus creates a relationship between post-Impressionist pointillism and his signature reproduction of Ben-Day dots, used in particular in The Conductor.
Roy continues to stroll in the history of art. In 1975 the purism of Le Corbusier and Ozenfant allows him to integrate into his art small objects of everyday life such as bottles or dice.
Roy has become a great artist, since everyone tells him so. In 1969, at the age of 46, he has a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum. All the greatest artists including Picasso wanted to take reference on their most famous predecessors. Roy does not lack wit : he will do the same. In 1972 he begins to paint still lifes.
In 1974 he retrieves the decomposition of movements by the Italian Futurists. Imitating an artwork created in 1913 by Carlo Carra, The Red horseman is a galloping horse with eight legs and two heads, mounted by a four-headed jockey in action.
On June 27 in London, Phillips sells The Conductor, oil and acrylic 188 x 137 cm painted by Roy Lichtenstein in 1975, lot 10estimated £ 4M. This work is a very free adaptation of the movement of a ballerina painted in 1914 by Gino Severini and belonging to the Peggy Guggenheim collection.
Roy was certainly interested in the fact that Severini was supposedly inspired by Seurat's Le Chahut painted in 1889-1890, showing the alignment of the legs of four French cancan dancers. He thus creates a relationship between post-Impressionist pointillism and his signature reproduction of Ben-Day dots, used in particular in The Conductor.
Roy continues to stroll in the history of art. In 1975 the purism of Le Corbusier and Ozenfant allows him to integrate into his art small objects of everyday life such as bottles or dice.
1975 An American Sensuousness
2018 sold for € 1.75m including premium
Pop Art was born from several sources. It reflects the atmosphere of the best era of the American dream. In 1961 Lichtenstein and Wesselmann, independently of each other, gain notoriety with large format images showing this society that believes to be liberated.
Tom Wesselmann is inspired by the pure colors and themes of Matisse. His three seminal series, Great American Nudes, Bedroom Paintings and Still Life, are designed to mingle with each other. He adds typical US references like portraits of statesmen hanging on the wall of the room. Painted in 1961, a 152 x 122 cm Great American Nude with the US flag and the Kennedy portrait was sold for $ 4.1M including premium by Sotheby's on November 11, 2008.
Wesselmann expresses an intense eroticism by limiting feminine forms to erogenous zones and by using flat areas of warm colors. He conceives in 1967 a daring composition. The naked woman is lying in her room. Her head in the foreground is reversed to the rear. The open mouth between the scarlet lips expresses an ecstasy. The nose and eyes are useless and have been removed. Further, the framed portrait of a woman plays the role of the voyeur.
The realization is painstaking, with no less than 25 preparatory drawings. With a humor of self-mockery, the artist entitles this work Long Delayed Nude. Dated 1967-1975, Big Study for Long Delayed Nude, oil on canvas 92 x 127 cm, was sold for £ 540K including premium by Christie's on October 7, 2017.
On December 5 in Paris, Sotheby's sells Long Delayed Nude, shaped oil on canvas 172 x 258 cm also dated 1967-1975, lot 7estimated € 1M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Tom Wesselmann is inspired by the pure colors and themes of Matisse. His three seminal series, Great American Nudes, Bedroom Paintings and Still Life, are designed to mingle with each other. He adds typical US references like portraits of statesmen hanging on the wall of the room. Painted in 1961, a 152 x 122 cm Great American Nude with the US flag and the Kennedy portrait was sold for $ 4.1M including premium by Sotheby's on November 11, 2008.
Wesselmann expresses an intense eroticism by limiting feminine forms to erogenous zones and by using flat areas of warm colors. He conceives in 1967 a daring composition. The naked woman is lying in her room. Her head in the foreground is reversed to the rear. The open mouth between the scarlet lips expresses an ecstasy. The nose and eyes are useless and have been removed. Further, the framed portrait of a woman plays the role of the voyeur.
The realization is painstaking, with no less than 25 preparatory drawings. With a humor of self-mockery, the artist entitles this work Long Delayed Nude. Dated 1967-1975, Big Study for Long Delayed Nude, oil on canvas 92 x 127 cm, was sold for £ 540K including premium by Christie's on October 7, 2017.
On December 5 in Paris, Sotheby's sells Long Delayed Nude, shaped oil on canvas 172 x 258 cm also dated 1967-1975, lot 7estimated € 1M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1975 SEASIDE SURREALISM BY PAUL DELVAUX
2010 UNSOLD
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In the art of Paul Delvaux, surrealism is a pretext to idealize the nude woman. They are there, pale and blonde, among the remains of ancient monuments. The absent look reveals that their world is dreamlike.
On December 16 in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Marc-Arthur Kohn sells an oil on canvas entitled Au bord de la mer, 150 x 120 cm, dated 1975.
Two triangular pediments introduce two different scenes. On the right, it is an inside view of a bath cabin. On the left, the beach is adorned with two intact antique columns which are a symbol of life. The naked woman is sitting on a stool in both parts of the work.
This easy to decode surreal painting is estimated € 800K.
In the art of Paul Delvaux, surrealism is a pretext to idealize the nude woman. They are there, pale and blonde, among the remains of ancient monuments. The absent look reveals that their world is dreamlike.
On December 16 in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Marc-Arthur Kohn sells an oil on canvas entitled Au bord de la mer, 150 x 120 cm, dated 1975.
Two triangular pediments introduce two different scenes. On the right, it is an inside view of a bath cabin. On the left, the beach is adorned with two intact antique columns which are a symbol of life. The naked woman is sitting on a stool in both parts of the work.
This easy to decode surreal painting is estimated € 800K.
1976 Abstractions in a Land's End
2015 SOLD for $ 25M including premium
East Hampton is the closest land's end to New York City, facing from the eastern side of Long Island the vastness and violence of the ocean. The big city is not conducive to the communion of an artist with nature. Adroitly pushed by Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock established their workshop in a barn near the village.
The countryside is flat like in Holland, but the nature explodes in rich colors. Around Leo and Ileana Castelli who also settled in East Hampton, the artists of abstract expressionism and of action painting come to imbibe themselves within the purity of that place.
Willem de Kooning visits the Castelli in East Hampton in 1951 and moves his studio and home in the village in the early 1960s. His early intention of making abstract landscapes is ephemeral. Returning to the representation of human nature, he devotes his art primarily to sculpture in 1969.
The series of Untitled paintings of 1975-1977 is a turning point in De Kooning's art. The artist was happy and intensely enjoying the nature. The shining colors that he dispositioned on the whole surface of his large paintings express such deep feelings. His painting is a landscape without drawing.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells the Untitled XXI of 1976, oil on canvas 203 x 178 cm, lot 15T estimated $ 25M. The passion of action painting liberates to the viewer's imagination the waves breaking on the rocks, the color of gorse in blossom on the dune and a woman standing in a long dress who observes all this beauty. Alfred Taubman enjoyed this artwork.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The countryside is flat like in Holland, but the nature explodes in rich colors. Around Leo and Ileana Castelli who also settled in East Hampton, the artists of abstract expressionism and of action painting come to imbibe themselves within the purity of that place.
Willem de Kooning visits the Castelli in East Hampton in 1951 and moves his studio and home in the village in the early 1960s. His early intention of making abstract landscapes is ephemeral. Returning to the representation of human nature, he devotes his art primarily to sculpture in 1969.
The series of Untitled paintings of 1975-1977 is a turning point in De Kooning's art. The artist was happy and intensely enjoying the nature. The shining colors that he dispositioned on the whole surface of his large paintings express such deep feelings. His painting is a landscape without drawing.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells the Untitled XXI of 1976, oil on canvas 203 x 178 cm, lot 15T estimated $ 25M. The passion of action painting liberates to the viewer's imagination the waves breaking on the rocks, the color of gorse in blossom on the dune and a woman standing in a long dress who observes all this beauty. Alfred Taubman enjoyed this artwork.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1976 Francis Bacon after the Mourning
2018 sold for £ 10m including premium
Francis Bacon was a homosexual but did not reject the company of women in Soho's debauched life. He has three female muses with differentiated social roles. Muriel pours his drinks and Isabel helps him to meet other artists. Henrietta Moraes is much younger. He loves her unconstrained freedom and her laughter.
The years go by too fast and the bodies get older. Henrietta's figure with her hypodermic syringe painted in 1968, 198 x 148 cm, was sold for £ 20.2M including premium by Christie's on June 30, 2016.
George's suicide in 1971 marks a turning point in Bacon's behavior and art. It takes him five years to shake off his guilt. His paintings of this mourning often have a black background made intense and homogeneous by the priming through the back of the canvas. Voluntarily away from London since 1974, Bacon has now his studio in Paris.
He returns to a less tormented life in 1976 and is interested again in former friends. He is 67 years old. Henrietta, 45, has successfully passed her difficult period. Francis pays tribute to this female phenix by a triptych of oils on canvas in his usual format, 35 x 30 cm each. It is estimated £ 10M for sale by Christie's in London on March 6, lot 25.
John Deakin died in 1972. To compose this triptych, Francis is not relying on an image of Henrietta but transposes on her personality a still of Emmanuelle Riva with a wet strand falling down over her nose in Hiroshima mon Amour. The contribution of Henrietta in this creation is the application of bright colors around the mouth for memorizing the vivacity of her attitude in Soho ten years earlier.
The years go by too fast and the bodies get older. Henrietta's figure with her hypodermic syringe painted in 1968, 198 x 148 cm, was sold for £ 20.2M including premium by Christie's on June 30, 2016.
George's suicide in 1971 marks a turning point in Bacon's behavior and art. It takes him five years to shake off his guilt. His paintings of this mourning often have a black background made intense and homogeneous by the priming through the back of the canvas. Voluntarily away from London since 1974, Bacon has now his studio in Paris.
He returns to a less tormented life in 1976 and is interested again in former friends. He is 67 years old. Henrietta, 45, has successfully passed her difficult period. Francis pays tribute to this female phenix by a triptych of oils on canvas in his usual format, 35 x 30 cm each. It is estimated £ 10M for sale by Christie's in London on March 6, lot 25.
John Deakin died in 1972. To compose this triptych, Francis is not relying on an image of Henrietta but transposes on her personality a still of Emmanuelle Riva with a wet strand falling down over her nose in Hiroshima mon Amour. The contribution of Henrietta in this creation is the application of bright colors around the mouth for memorizing the vivacity of her attitude in Soho ten years earlier.
1976 The Fake Language of the Sky
2013 SOLD 7.6 M£ including premium
Gerhard Richter is indeed the most sought after of living artists on the current art market, but he is also and especially a rebel. His hyper-realistic enlargement of trivial photographs was his first way of contesting art. Then came the series of Clouds (Wolke).
From 1969, Richter realizes himself the photos that serve as models for his oil paintings. The land, the sea, the iceberg is dominated by the sky. Often, only the sky is remaining, more or less cloudy.
Richter tried to explain to the viewer that only the image is mattering and that his art has no meaning. He did not succeed. As in front of a surrealist work, we try to decypher it, and sometimes we think achieving it, but Richter has too much control of his art for leaving a rationale for a mystical interpretation.
If his clouds are not mystical, they are certainly mystifying. Their opposing masses are sometimes linked by diaphanous vapor bridges like angel hair. We forget that we have lost in this snapshot the motion created by wind, which reveals that the masses looking so close are sometimes far distant, like the stars together.
Two Wolken painted in 1970 recently went to auction. A triptych of overall size 200 x 300 cm was sold for $ 5M including premium by Christie's on 11 May 2011. White clouds in front of a blue sky, 170 x 170 cm, were sold $ 5.7 million including premium on 9 May 2012 at Sotheby's.
A large Wolke made in 1976, 200 x 300 cm, is estimated £ 7M, for sale at Sotheby's in London on February 12. This price is ambitious when it is reminded that the beautiful 1971 landscape of Tenerife, of same size, remained unsold at Christie's in New York on November 14, 2012 from an estimate of $ 10M.
I invite you to play the video in which Sotheby's introduced two artworks by Richter prepared for the next sale, including the 1976 Wolke.
POST SALE COMMENT
I believed that this artwork would be difficult to sell. The result, £ 7.6 million including premium, is a good surprise, just below the estimate.
From 1969, Richter realizes himself the photos that serve as models for his oil paintings. The land, the sea, the iceberg is dominated by the sky. Often, only the sky is remaining, more or less cloudy.
Richter tried to explain to the viewer that only the image is mattering and that his art has no meaning. He did not succeed. As in front of a surrealist work, we try to decypher it, and sometimes we think achieving it, but Richter has too much control of his art for leaving a rationale for a mystical interpretation.
If his clouds are not mystical, they are certainly mystifying. Their opposing masses are sometimes linked by diaphanous vapor bridges like angel hair. We forget that we have lost in this snapshot the motion created by wind, which reveals that the masses looking so close are sometimes far distant, like the stars together.
Two Wolken painted in 1970 recently went to auction. A triptych of overall size 200 x 300 cm was sold for $ 5M including premium by Christie's on 11 May 2011. White clouds in front of a blue sky, 170 x 170 cm, were sold $ 5.7 million including premium on 9 May 2012 at Sotheby's.
A large Wolke made in 1976, 200 x 300 cm, is estimated £ 7M, for sale at Sotheby's in London on February 12. This price is ambitious when it is reminded that the beautiful 1971 landscape of Tenerife, of same size, remained unsold at Christie's in New York on November 14, 2012 from an estimate of $ 10M.
I invite you to play the video in which Sotheby's introduced two artworks by Richter prepared for the next sale, including the 1976 Wolke.
POST SALE COMMENT
I believed that this artwork would be difficult to sell. The result, £ 7.6 million including premium, is a good surprise, just below the estimate.
1976 the monumental humor of joan miro
2014 sold for $ 4.6M including premium
Throughout his long career that spanned more than six decades,Joan Miro never gave up humor and monsters. He wants to populate his universe with solid creatures as enigmatic as in his paintings. In 1956, he settles in Palma in a large studio that allows him to develop his creativity in sculpture.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells a bronze designed by Miro in 1976 and cast in the same year by Susse in an edition of two.
The design is worthy of Duchamp or Ernst : a cardboard box forming the head of a character is placed on a donkey's yoke that represents the legs. The set has been expanded in progressive steps to create the ultimate version 4.50 m high. The title is typical of Miro's hermetic poetry : Personnage gothique Oiseau éclair.
With this artwork, the then octogenarian artist appears as a precursor of the gigantism in contemporary sculpture. This bronze is estimated $ 6M, lot 50.
On 9 May 2007, Christie's sold for $ 10M including premium a bronze conceived in 1981, 3.70 m high, whose biomorphism is accentuated by the steady opening legs that avoid the use of a base.
I invite you to play the video where Sotheby's introduce the Miro sculptures listed in their next sale.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells a bronze designed by Miro in 1976 and cast in the same year by Susse in an edition of two.
The design is worthy of Duchamp or Ernst : a cardboard box forming the head of a character is placed on a donkey's yoke that represents the legs. The set has been expanded in progressive steps to create the ultimate version 4.50 m high. The title is typical of Miro's hermetic poetry : Personnage gothique Oiseau éclair.
With this artwork, the then octogenarian artist appears as a precursor of the gigantism in contemporary sculpture. This bronze is estimated $ 6M, lot 50.
On 9 May 2007, Christie's sold for $ 10M including premium a bronze conceived in 1981, 3.70 m high, whose biomorphism is accentuated by the steady opening legs that avoid the use of a base.
I invite you to play the video where Sotheby's introduce the Miro sculptures listed in their next sale.
1976 THE CLOTHESPIN OF PHILADELPHIA
2011 SOLD 373 K$ INCLUDING PREMIUM
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In the best tradition of pop art, the Swedish sculptor Claes Oldenburg performs giant enlargements of familiar objects.
Since 1976, his steel Clothespin 15 meter high is located across the street from the City Hall in Philadelphia. This work was commissioned by a planner to celebrate the second centenary of American independence.
On November 6, also in Philadelphia, Freeman's is organizing the sale of the estate of the urbanist. The star lot is a bronze reduction 1:12, 1.25 m high, which served as a model for the giant clothespin.
Oldenburg continued to work for the ornament of Philadelphia. A week ago, he installed his Paint Torch 17 m high,which can be interpreted as a torch or as an upward brush after dipping in red paint.
POST SALE COMMENT
This local work, made for Philadelphia, was sold in Philadelphia : $ 310K before fees, 373K includingpremium. It had been estimated $ 250K.
In the best tradition of pop art, the Swedish sculptor Claes Oldenburg performs giant enlargements of familiar objects.
Since 1976, his steel Clothespin 15 meter high is located across the street from the City Hall in Philadelphia. This work was commissioned by a planner to celebrate the second centenary of American independence.
On November 6, also in Philadelphia, Freeman's is organizing the sale of the estate of the urbanist. The star lot is a bronze reduction 1:12, 1.25 m high, which served as a model for the giant clothespin.
Oldenburg continued to work for the ornament of Philadelphia. A week ago, he installed his Paint Torch 17 m high,which can be interpreted as a torch or as an upward brush after dipping in red paint.
POST SALE COMMENT
This local work, made for Philadelphia, was sold in Philadelphia : $ 310K before fees, 373K includingpremium. It had been estimated $ 250K.
1976 HARRY BERTOIA REINVENTS THE BELL
2009 UNSOLD
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Harry Bertoia was a versatile artist. Specialist of metal, he worked for Knoll furniture makers and then became interested in sculpture. One day, knocking one of his works, it provided him with a deep and resonant sound which pleased him. This led therefore his research towards the realization of musical sculptures.
On October 15 in London, Phillips de Pury sells Sonambient, a private commission of 1976 designed for the opening of the Grieg Concert Hall (Grieghallen) in Bergen, Norway.
It consists in thirteen thin vertical metal rods in copper-beryllium, each ending in a cap, and culminating at a height of 4.66 meters. When struck, the caps collide and produce a sound that seems like that of church bells. The base is a metal plate of 91 x 91 cm.
This strange musical instrument is estimated 200 K£.
Harry Bertoia was a versatile artist. Specialist of metal, he worked for Knoll furniture makers and then became interested in sculpture. One day, knocking one of his works, it provided him with a deep and resonant sound which pleased him. This led therefore his research towards the realization of musical sculptures.
On October 15 in London, Phillips de Pury sells Sonambient, a private commission of 1976 designed for the opening of the Grieg Concert Hall (Grieghallen) in Bergen, Norway.
It consists in thirteen thin vertical metal rods in copper-beryllium, each ending in a cap, and culminating at a height of 4.66 meters. When struck, the caps collide and produce a sound that seems like that of church bells. The base is a metal plate of 91 x 91 cm.
This strange musical instrument is estimated 200 K£.
1977 happiness in the meadow
2017 withdrawn
From 1975 to 1977 Willem de Kooning finds an unexpected happiness that gradually generates a great impulse of creativity. He lives in Long Island amidst a lush nature, next to his mistress Mimi. His wife Elaine is ready to come back.
He covers with his colors large canvases in which he can soak himself and catch the viewer. The colors come to play over a luminous lead white ground. The hand is fast but the balance of the blocks and the uneven brightness provided by the variation in the thickness of paint meet a predefined composition.
Abstraction does not adequately match the contemplation of the artist in his surrounding. The colors now evoke the sea, the tree and the naked flesh, without being supported by a figurative drawing.
The series of Untitled painted by de Kooning in 1977 are the masterpieces of abstract landscape. Untitled XXV, 196 x 224 cm, was sold for $ 66M including premium by Christie's on November 15, 2016.
On May 17 in New York, Christie's sells the Untitled II from the same year, oil on canvas in the same size, lot 42 B estimated $ 25M.
Untitled II expresses the colors and balances of nature while bringing an additional theme : the body of a woman who is peacefully reclining in the foreground offers a rare reminder from the Woman series which had brought to the artist his unfairly sulphurous notoriety a quarter of a century earlier.
His new inspiration will be ephemeral. In the following year the structuring lines separating the colors destroy the thematic illusion in these compositions falling back to mere abstractions.
He covers with his colors large canvases in which he can soak himself and catch the viewer. The colors come to play over a luminous lead white ground. The hand is fast but the balance of the blocks and the uneven brightness provided by the variation in the thickness of paint meet a predefined composition.
Abstraction does not adequately match the contemplation of the artist in his surrounding. The colors now evoke the sea, the tree and the naked flesh, without being supported by a figurative drawing.
The series of Untitled painted by de Kooning in 1977 are the masterpieces of abstract landscape. Untitled XXV, 196 x 224 cm, was sold for $ 66M including premium by Christie's on November 15, 2016.
On May 17 in New York, Christie's sells the Untitled II from the same year, oil on canvas in the same size, lot 42 B estimated $ 25M.
Untitled II expresses the colors and balances of nature while bringing an additional theme : the body of a woman who is peacefully reclining in the foreground offers a rare reminder from the Woman series which had brought to the artist his unfairly sulphurous notoriety a quarter of a century earlier.
His new inspiration will be ephemeral. In the following year the structuring lines separating the colors destroy the thematic illusion in these compositions falling back to mere abstractions.
1977 Optical Illusions of Bridget Riley
2009 unsold
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Influenced by pointillism and by Vasarely, Bridget Riley initially specialized in geometric abstract paintings in black and white. In the 1970's, she added color.
Her paintings of large size, with unlimited pattern, are fascinating in the proper meaning of that word. Inspecting the image, we end up not knowing what to see, and it is hard to go away.
In this February, fans of this period are particularly well served.
Yesterday, February 5, Sotheby's London sold 735 K £ including fees "Gala", 160 x 160 cm, painted in 1974. The sinuous lines are tight and equidistant, except against oblique stripes as they tighten even more. Depending on whether or not we are a poet, we see waves or corrugated iron.
The painting that Christie's will sell on 11 February, also in London, is more interesting, although it is estimated less: 400 K £. Entitled "Aurulum", painted later (1977), smaller (132 x 122 cm), it has a surprising effect of colors. The sinuous lines have the same characteristics as "Gala" but the surface is composed of pale colors whose boundaries are not the same as those of the oblique stripes. We want to see how these colors are juxtaposed but the vision is blurred by the lines, and the light does not stabilize.
Influenced by pointillism and by Vasarely, Bridget Riley initially specialized in geometric abstract paintings in black and white. In the 1970's, she added color.
Her paintings of large size, with unlimited pattern, are fascinating in the proper meaning of that word. Inspecting the image, we end up not knowing what to see, and it is hard to go away.
In this February, fans of this period are particularly well served.
Yesterday, February 5, Sotheby's London sold 735 K £ including fees "Gala", 160 x 160 cm, painted in 1974. The sinuous lines are tight and equidistant, except against oblique stripes as they tighten even more. Depending on whether or not we are a poet, we see waves or corrugated iron.
The painting that Christie's will sell on 11 February, also in London, is more interesting, although it is estimated less: 400 K £. Entitled "Aurulum", painted later (1977), smaller (132 x 122 cm), it has a surprising effect of colors. The sinuous lines have the same characteristics as "Gala" but the surface is composed of pale colors whose boundaries are not the same as those of the oblique stripes. We want to see how these colors are juxtaposed but the vision is blurred by the lines, and the light does not stabilize.
1978 The Freudian Eye
2010 SOLD 2.84 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Lucian Freud uses a hyper-realistic vision for showing human flesh in life size. His greatest success at auction is the painting of 1995 showing the big Sue lying naked on the sofa to the artist, sold $ 33.6 million including premium at Christie's on May 13, 2008.
Since yesterday, another work excites the art press. Estimated £ 3 million by Sotheby's, for sale in London on February 10, it has the advantage of mixing art and story, and had remained unpublished until now.
Freud admits that he was a brawler. In 1978 a taxi driver throws a punch in his face. The artist admires his swollen eye adorning his newly distorted face, and makes a self-portrait as an oil on canvas 18 cm high (from the lips to the top of the hair) and 14 cm wide.
I had a choice between a half-dozen sites to provide you the link to that artwork. The image shared by AuctionPublicity has the advantage of showing it full in its vertical format, and not a detail limited to eye level.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting of very small size has been sold for £ 2.84 million including premium. So it has not reached its estimate.
Lucian Freud uses a hyper-realistic vision for showing human flesh in life size. His greatest success at auction is the painting of 1995 showing the big Sue lying naked on the sofa to the artist, sold $ 33.6 million including premium at Christie's on May 13, 2008.
Since yesterday, another work excites the art press. Estimated £ 3 million by Sotheby's, for sale in London on February 10, it has the advantage of mixing art and story, and had remained unpublished until now.
Freud admits that he was a brawler. In 1978 a taxi driver throws a punch in his face. The artist admires his swollen eye adorning his newly distorted face, and makes a self-portrait as an oil on canvas 18 cm high (from the lips to the top of the hair) and 14 cm wide.
I had a choice between a half-dozen sites to provide you the link to that artwork. The image shared by AuctionPublicity has the advantage of showing it full in its vertical format, and not a detail limited to eye level.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting of very small size has been sold for £ 2.84 million including premium. So it has not reached its estimate.
1978 Family Life in the Outback
2018 SOLD for AUD 980k including premium
The drought was extreme during the Second World War in the outback, the desert region beyond the Australian bush. In 1944 the Sydney Morning Herald sends an investigative journalist to see the damage. He is accompanied by Russell Drysdale.
Families live in isolated houses as in pioneer times. Who are they ? What are they doing ? What are they waiting for? They are the forgotten people of the planet, just like the father and his two sons photographed in 1936 by Rothstein in Oklahoma. In these terrible conditions their family life is normal. Children play and jump like all children in the world.
Deeply moved, Drysdale appreciates that his drawings will not be enough. He becomes a painter. His portraits of old Australians with chiseled faces are unprecedented. Rocky McCormack, oil on canvas 111 x 86 cm painted in 1962-1963, was sold for A $ 1.9M including premium by Sotheby's on August 25, 2008.
In the 1970s the artist had almost completely lost his eyesight. He is re-focusing on his first theme of family life in the desert. Grandma's Sunday Walk, 75 x 126 cm painted in 1972, was sold for A $ 2.97M including premium by Mossgreen on June 25, 2017.
Evening on Stony Plains, oil on canvas 50 x 76 cm bought by a Melbourne gallery in 1978, has just surfaced. In the foreground the barefoot father is very tall and very thin. In front of the poor dwelling, the mother and the son take a rest. The two little girls play. This artwork is estimated A $ 800K for sale by Menzies in Melbourne on April 26, lot 30. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Families live in isolated houses as in pioneer times. Who are they ? What are they doing ? What are they waiting for? They are the forgotten people of the planet, just like the father and his two sons photographed in 1936 by Rothstein in Oklahoma. In these terrible conditions their family life is normal. Children play and jump like all children in the world.
Deeply moved, Drysdale appreciates that his drawings will not be enough. He becomes a painter. His portraits of old Australians with chiseled faces are unprecedented. Rocky McCormack, oil on canvas 111 x 86 cm painted in 1962-1963, was sold for A $ 1.9M including premium by Sotheby's on August 25, 2008.
In the 1970s the artist had almost completely lost his eyesight. He is re-focusing on his first theme of family life in the desert. Grandma's Sunday Walk, 75 x 126 cm painted in 1972, was sold for A $ 2.97M including premium by Mossgreen on June 25, 2017.
Evening on Stony Plains, oil on canvas 50 x 76 cm bought by a Melbourne gallery in 1978, has just surfaced. In the foreground the barefoot father is very tall and very thin. In front of the poor dwelling, the mother and the son take a rest. The two little girls play. This artwork is estimated A $ 800K for sale by Menzies in Melbourne on April 26, lot 30. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1978 HERON IN THE RAIN
2010 SOLD 696 K AUD INCLUDING PREMIUM
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Brett Whiteley was one of the most original experimental artists of Australia. Among his many themes, collectors like his portraits of birds in a mixed technique including the nest and eggs. He also tried expressing the rain, which is obviously one of the most difficult subjects of figurative art.
Shao (rain slanted by wind) shows a white heron in flight in the storm, well centered at the top of the image as an Audubon bird. Below is a nest on a branch, with eggs. This work on board made in 1978 or 1979 122 x 81 cm, is estimated 600 KA$, for sale in Sydney on August 31 by Sotheby's Australia.
Brett Whiteley was too fond of experimentation. He died of a heroin overdose, aged 53.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, A $ 696K including premium, is consistent with what was expected.
Brett Whiteley was one of the most original experimental artists of Australia. Among his many themes, collectors like his portraits of birds in a mixed technique including the nest and eggs. He also tried expressing the rain, which is obviously one of the most difficult subjects of figurative art.
Shao (rain slanted by wind) shows a white heron in flight in the storm, well centered at the top of the image as an Audubon bird. Below is a nest on a branch, with eggs. This work on board made in 1978 or 1979 122 x 81 cm, is estimated 600 KA$, for sale in Sydney on August 31 by Sotheby's Australia.
Brett Whiteley was too fond of experimentation. He died of a heroin overdose, aged 53.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, A $ 696K including premium, is consistent with what was expected.
1978 The Finest Harbour in the World
2018 unsold
In 1788 the first governor of New South Wales described Port Jackson as "the finest harbour in the world". The city of Sydney has now settled on its shore. The compliment remains valid as a tribute to a perfect cooperation between nature and humans.
Brett Whiteley was born in the suburbs of Sydney. This artist virtually unlimited in theme, composition and technique has been inspired throughout his career by the beauty of the bay.
His nonconformism appealed the art critics : in 1976 and 1977 he received successively the three prestigious awards of the Art Gallery of New South Wales respectively specialized in portrait, genre and landscape. The consecration is even greater when he receives again the same prizes within a single year, in 1978.
In 1977 his Wynne Prize was awarded to a monumental diptych 208 x 456 cm titled The Jacaranda Tree (on Sydney Harbour). The composition skillfully juxtaposes the immensity of the bay and the details of the tree, accentuating the perspective over a dark blue background of Fauviste inspiration. This oil on canvas was sold for A $ 2M including premium by Christie's in 1999.
On August 28 in Sydney, Sotheby's Australia sells a 168 x 153 cm oil on canvas painted in 1978 on the same theme, titled Harbour (Grey day), lot 19 estimated A $ 2M. The gloomy weather softens the contrasts. The waterfront buildings and the bridge are relegated to the top of the image but are perfectly identifiable.
The artist wants to become the designer of the landscape, probably already pushed in this way by the desires of his wife Wendy. In the following year he painted The Paddock at two opposite times of the day. The early morning view was sold for A $ 650K including premium by Deutscher-Menzies in September 2004 and the late afternoon view for A $ 1.56M including premium by Menzies on June 23, 2011.
Brett Whiteley's passion for the views of the bay had a posthumous following : in 1992, immediately after the artist's death, Wendy began creating her landscaped garden on a derelict land in a Sydney suburb, at Lavender Bay.
Brett Whiteley was born in the suburbs of Sydney. This artist virtually unlimited in theme, composition and technique has been inspired throughout his career by the beauty of the bay.
His nonconformism appealed the art critics : in 1976 and 1977 he received successively the three prestigious awards of the Art Gallery of New South Wales respectively specialized in portrait, genre and landscape. The consecration is even greater when he receives again the same prizes within a single year, in 1978.
In 1977 his Wynne Prize was awarded to a monumental diptych 208 x 456 cm titled The Jacaranda Tree (on Sydney Harbour). The composition skillfully juxtaposes the immensity of the bay and the details of the tree, accentuating the perspective over a dark blue background of Fauviste inspiration. This oil on canvas was sold for A $ 2M including premium by Christie's in 1999.
On August 28 in Sydney, Sotheby's Australia sells a 168 x 153 cm oil on canvas painted in 1978 on the same theme, titled Harbour (Grey day), lot 19 estimated A $ 2M. The gloomy weather softens the contrasts. The waterfront buildings and the bridge are relegated to the top of the image but are perfectly identifiable.
The artist wants to become the designer of the landscape, probably already pushed in this way by the desires of his wife Wendy. In the following year he painted The Paddock at two opposite times of the day. The early morning view was sold for A $ 650K including premium by Deutscher-Menzies in September 2004 and the late afternoon view for A $ 1.56M including premium by Menzies on June 23, 2011.
Brett Whiteley's passion for the views of the bay had a posthumous following : in 1992, immediately after the artist's death, Wendy began creating her landscaped garden on a derelict land in a Sydney suburb, at Lavender Bay.
1979 THE DIVINE SKIRMISH OF MAQBOOL FIDA HUSAIN
2010 SOLD 840 K$ INCLUDING PREMIUM
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The personality and art of Maqbool Fida Husain have not finished to raise passions. In India, this epic artist is considered by some as an equal of Picasso, by others as an obscene painter who exposes Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude. He left his country in 2006 at the age of 91, and accepted the Qatari citizenship in January 2010.
On March 23 in New York, Christie's sells Sita Hanuman, an oil on canvas made in 1979, 97 x 168 cm, estimated 600 K$.
The subject depicts Hanuman coming to the rescue of Sita abducted by Ravana, on a cart pulled by three frantic horses. The characters mingle in a violent brawl worth of Tyeb Mehta but in a different style, to the limit of readability like some Cubist works of Picasso and Braque. Sita is naked, of course. Two of these horses at full speed have their mouths wide open as the murdered horses of Guernica.
POST SALE COMMENT
The art of Maqbool Fida Husain is undoubtedly arousing much interest, and its value should be followed. Sita Hanuman was sold 840 K $ including premium.
The personality and art of Maqbool Fida Husain have not finished to raise passions. In India, this epic artist is considered by some as an equal of Picasso, by others as an obscene painter who exposes Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude. He left his country in 2006 at the age of 91, and accepted the Qatari citizenship in January 2010.
On March 23 in New York, Christie's sells Sita Hanuman, an oil on canvas made in 1979, 97 x 168 cm, estimated 600 K$.
The subject depicts Hanuman coming to the rescue of Sita abducted by Ravana, on a cart pulled by three frantic horses. The characters mingle in a violent brawl worth of Tyeb Mehta but in a different style, to the limit of readability like some Cubist works of Picasso and Braque. Sita is naked, of course. Two of these horses at full speed have their mouths wide open as the murdered horses of Guernica.
POST SALE COMMENT
The art of Maqbool Fida Husain is undoubtedly arousing much interest, and its value should be followed. Sita Hanuman was sold 840 K $ including premium.
1979 FROM LINE BY LEE UFAN
2012 SOLD 500 M KRW BEFORE FEES
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Internationally, Lee UFan is the best known among Korean artists of today. His art is appreciated in Japan, where he lives since 1956, and in France where he spends some part of the year.
His art is abstract. During the 1970s, he led two series, From Point and From Line. From Point is the most complex,with regular shapes which are positioned around a network of points.
From Line is more minimalist. Parallel lines define the colored vertical stripes painted in oil with mineral pigments. Apainstaking brushwork in several layers is progressively varying both thickness and color of the material, in high contrast at the top of the work, increasingly evanescent, like the passing of time, when looking downward .
A 'From Line' dated 1979, 100 x 80 cm, with 19 identical colored lines, is estimated KRW 600M, for sale by Seoul Auction in Seoul on July 19. The auction house also indicates the estimation in several currencies more frequentlyused on the international market: U.S. $ 525K or HK $ 4.1M.
A very similar painting of same size, dated 1978 and including 18 lines, was sold $ 580K including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2007.
Lee's art is quite rare. The artist, very meticulous, has a small output. His place in the international art may be considered in the following of Mark Rothko and Jasper Johns.
POST SALE COMMENT
This lot has not reached its lower estimate, but it was sold. Hammer price: KRW 500M, equivalent of U.S. $ 440K.
Internationally, Lee UFan is the best known among Korean artists of today. His art is appreciated in Japan, where he lives since 1956, and in France where he spends some part of the year.
His art is abstract. During the 1970s, he led two series, From Point and From Line. From Point is the most complex,with regular shapes which are positioned around a network of points.
From Line is more minimalist. Parallel lines define the colored vertical stripes painted in oil with mineral pigments. Apainstaking brushwork in several layers is progressively varying both thickness and color of the material, in high contrast at the top of the work, increasingly evanescent, like the passing of time, when looking downward .
A 'From Line' dated 1979, 100 x 80 cm, with 19 identical colored lines, is estimated KRW 600M, for sale by Seoul Auction in Seoul on July 19. The auction house also indicates the estimation in several currencies more frequentlyused on the international market: U.S. $ 525K or HK $ 4.1M.
A very similar painting of same size, dated 1978 and including 18 lines, was sold $ 580K including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2007.
Lee's art is quite rare. The artist, very meticulous, has a small output. His place in the international art may be considered in the following of Mark Rothko and Jasper Johns.
POST SALE COMMENT
This lot has not reached its lower estimate, but it was sold. Hammer price: KRW 500M, equivalent of U.S. $ 440K.
