Art 1980-1984
1980 Euphoria with Watermelons
2019 SOLD for $ 4.9M including premium
Rufino Tamayo prefers formal research in opposition to the narrative pictures of his Mexican contemporaries. He puts into practice an original theory that variations around a single color are more expressive than a wide range of colors.
The slice of watermelon is throughout his long career the favorite theme of his still lifes. Its flesh varying from pink to red is lined with the white arc of the peel. As an uncut fruit or as a food, watermelon never appeals him.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Sandias, oil and marble dust on canvas 124 x 181 cm painted in 1980, lot 45 estimated $ 4M.
Sandias had been made by Tamayo for his personal use : it remained hanging in his dining room until 1989. Painted when he had just turned 80, it appears somehow like an artistic testament.
Eight slices of watermelons are unequally arranged on an abstract surface with rich colors ranging from mauve to purple plus several shades of pinks. Their flat support is perhaps the top of a cup or a stand, in a swinging perspective that evokes Cézanne through Matisse.
A painting 140 x 175 cm titled Ofrenda de frutas executed in 1987 in the same technique undoubtedly provides the key to the euphoric effect of slices of watermelon on Tamayo. A jolly character carries an assortment of exotic fruits within a white cloth. The folds of the cloth take the form of a watermelon slice or of the hilarious smile of a clown. It was sold for $ 4.2M including premium by Sotheby's on November 25, 2014.
The slice of watermelon is throughout his long career the favorite theme of his still lifes. Its flesh varying from pink to red is lined with the white arc of the peel. As an uncut fruit or as a food, watermelon never appeals him.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Sandias, oil and marble dust on canvas 124 x 181 cm painted in 1980, lot 45 estimated $ 4M.
Sandias had been made by Tamayo for his personal use : it remained hanging in his dining room until 1989. Painted when he had just turned 80, it appears somehow like an artistic testament.
Eight slices of watermelons are unequally arranged on an abstract surface with rich colors ranging from mauve to purple plus several shades of pinks. Their flat support is perhaps the top of a cup or a stand, in a swinging perspective that evokes Cézanne through Matisse.
A painting 140 x 175 cm titled Ofrenda de frutas executed in 1987 in the same technique undoubtedly provides the key to the euphoric effect of slices of watermelon on Tamayo. A jolly character carries an assortment of exotic fruits within a white cloth. The folds of the cloth take the form of a watermelon slice or of the hilarious smile of a clown. It was sold for $ 4.2M including premium by Sotheby's on November 25, 2014.
1980 The Javanese Prisoner
2011 SOLD 7.2 MHK$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In 1965, the Cold War is turning into a disaster in Indonesia. Caught in the political purges, the artist Hendra Gunawan spent thirteen years in prison in Java. These difficult circumstances have made him a great artist.
Humanist and passionate about his country, he remembers the celebrations, markets, traditions. Unable to enjoy lifein freedom, he paints the bright colors of Indonesia, in a continuous movement close to Cubist researches half a century before him.
Painted in prison in 1977, the Snake Dancer, oil on canvas 196 x 136 cm, expresses the passion of the dancing girl ofthe village with the venomous beast around her neck, and the intense emotion of the audience between pleasure and danger. It was sold HK $ 16M including premium by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 4, 2011.
Freedom did not undermine the inspiration and passion of Hendra Gunawan. On October 3, the same auction housesells Tuak Manis, on the theme of the wine festival. Everyone participates, there is no main individual character. It is amoment of collective and dynamic happiness. Unfortunately, this period of his life was too short. He died at age 65 in 1983.
This large canvas, 211 x 391 cm, was painted circa 1980. Its estimate, HK $ 1.8 million, is too low.
Here is the link to the catalogue.
In 1965, the Cold War is turning into a disaster in Indonesia. Caught in the political purges, the artist Hendra Gunawan spent thirteen years in prison in Java. These difficult circumstances have made him a great artist.
Humanist and passionate about his country, he remembers the celebrations, markets, traditions. Unable to enjoy lifein freedom, he paints the bright colors of Indonesia, in a continuous movement close to Cubist researches half a century before him.
Painted in prison in 1977, the Snake Dancer, oil on canvas 196 x 136 cm, expresses the passion of the dancing girl ofthe village with the venomous beast around her neck, and the intense emotion of the audience between pleasure and danger. It was sold HK $ 16M including premium by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 4, 2011.
Freedom did not undermine the inspiration and passion of Hendra Gunawan. On October 3, the same auction housesells Tuak Manis, on the theme of the wine festival. Everyone participates, there is no main individual character. It is amoment of collective and dynamic happiness. Unfortunately, this period of his life was too short. He died at age 65 in 1983.
This large canvas, 211 x 391 cm, was painted circa 1980. Its estimate, HK $ 1.8 million, is too low.
Here is the link to the catalogue.
1980 fourteen electric chairs for bischofberger
2016 unsold
The influence of Bruno Bischofberger is fundamental in Warhol's art from 1969. The artist and the gallerist cooperate on media, film production and even choice of themes. Bischofberger, based in Zurich, opens to Warhol a gate to Europe. It was also left to him to introduce Basquiat to Warhol in 1982.
In 1979, Andy revisits his own icons: Marilyn, Campbell's, dollar, flowers, self-portraits. In this new phase, he does not change the reference images which had pushed his earlier fame and keeps the idea of multiples but the technique is now different.
From his former Death and Disaster series, Andy selected the electric chair. The painting made in 1980 for Bischofberger is estimated £ 4M for sale by Bonhams in London on February 11, lot 49.
This artwork 203 x 82 cm is not very large but its composition gives it a striking and monumental effect that may have been ignored by his admirers at that time.
From the image of the chair, Warhol takes the symbol of the object itself without surrounding it any more with the gloomy empty room. The work is a reversal, meaning that it is painted on a black background.
This very vertical format is composed of two non-centered columns, each one consisting of seven serigraphed pictures of the chair, like a double piece of film, with a slow progression of colors executed with a gloss palette in a very thick paste.
Observed from below, it is the most magnificent and the most terrifying among the many electric chairs designed by Warhol to forward his humanistic message. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house.
In 1979, Andy revisits his own icons: Marilyn, Campbell's, dollar, flowers, self-portraits. In this new phase, he does not change the reference images which had pushed his earlier fame and keeps the idea of multiples but the technique is now different.
From his former Death and Disaster series, Andy selected the electric chair. The painting made in 1980 for Bischofberger is estimated £ 4M for sale by Bonhams in London on February 11, lot 49.
This artwork 203 x 82 cm is not very large but its composition gives it a striking and monumental effect that may have been ignored by his admirers at that time.
From the image of the chair, Warhol takes the symbol of the object itself without surrounding it any more with the gloomy empty room. The work is a reversal, meaning that it is painted on a black background.
This very vertical format is composed of two non-centered columns, each one consisting of seven serigraphed pictures of the chair, like a double piece of film, with a slow progression of colors executed with a gloss palette in a very thick paste.
Observed from below, it is the most magnificent and the most terrifying among the many electric chairs designed by Warhol to forward his humanistic message. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house.
1978-1981 A Painting by Hendra Gunawan for 1 billion rupees
2008 SOLD 975 million rupees before fees
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Sidharta Auctioneer announces as the star lot of its sale on August 9 in Jakarta an oil on canvas made between 1978 and 1981 by the Indonesian artist Hendra Gunawan. At number 27 of the sale, this figurative composition shows a woman and a child with a papayas seller. This work is estimated Rp 1 billion. Do not panic, this figure represents approximately U.S. $ 100 K.
Of rather large size (95 x 145 cm), it is a colorful and dynamic image. The composition is bold: the animated conversation between the two young women takes place in the upper left of the painting, and draws the eye to that corner with a change of brightness and with the passionate attitude of one of the characters.
This painting with such a dynamic life subject dates of the later part of the life of the artist, after his release from prison where he spent thirteen years for taking part in a failed coup.
Stayed rather confidential so far on the market, the work of Gunawan has just been revealed by the excellent results obtained on May 24 by Christie's in Hong Kong on two oils on canvas. The larger of the two, showing a restless Balinese dance, perhaps made in prison (though the online catalog does not tell it) was awarded HK $ 5.9 million charge included. The other, closer to the painting that I present to you today, was sold HK $ 4.3 million.
In my opinion, we are in the same case as in my recent article on Shiraga, where an auction house does not dare to take into account in its estimates the latest developments in the market. Hendra Gunawan is an artist who deserves to be better known, anyway.
POST SALE COMMENT
Including charges, one billion rupees has been achieved since our painting was sold 975 million rupees before fees.
Sidharta Auctioneer announces as the star lot of its sale on August 9 in Jakarta an oil on canvas made between 1978 and 1981 by the Indonesian artist Hendra Gunawan. At number 27 of the sale, this figurative composition shows a woman and a child with a papayas seller. This work is estimated Rp 1 billion. Do not panic, this figure represents approximately U.S. $ 100 K.
Of rather large size (95 x 145 cm), it is a colorful and dynamic image. The composition is bold: the animated conversation between the two young women takes place in the upper left of the painting, and draws the eye to that corner with a change of brightness and with the passionate attitude of one of the characters.
This painting with such a dynamic life subject dates of the later part of the life of the artist, after his release from prison where he spent thirteen years for taking part in a failed coup.
Stayed rather confidential so far on the market, the work of Gunawan has just been revealed by the excellent results obtained on May 24 by Christie's in Hong Kong on two oils on canvas. The larger of the two, showing a restless Balinese dance, perhaps made in prison (though the online catalog does not tell it) was awarded HK $ 5.9 million charge included. The other, closer to the painting that I present to you today, was sold HK $ 4.3 million.
In my opinion, we are in the same case as in my recent article on Shiraga, where an auction house does not dare to take into account in its estimates the latest developments in the market. Hendra Gunawan is an artist who deserves to be better known, anyway.
POST SALE COMMENT
Including charges, one billion rupees has been achieved since our painting was sold 975 million rupees before fees.
1981 Basquiat Disturbed by Cops
2012 SOLD 8.2 M£ including premium
Fans and exegetes of Jean-Michel Basquiat are encouraged to focus their analyses on the sensational year, 1981, when he left the streets to express his fantasies, revolts and hopes on classic pictorial supports of large size.
Capable of a remarkable artistic synthesis expressed in his so specific violent style, Basquiat appears as post-punk in his mystical art where black deities defy the established order of whites.
We can also see Basquiat as post-hippie when he is addressing more socially oriented themes, such as the relationship of people of the street with police. This is a remake of the stories of cops and robbers, where the defender of the established order appears as a stubborn brute.
If he is white, the policeman is a skeleton without soul. If he is black, he is a bully in uniform, ready to indiscriminately kick his brothers of race.
An acrylic and oilstick on wood, 183 x 122 cm, estimated £ 6M, for sale on June 28 in London by Phillips de Pury,leaves no doubt about the revolt of the artist. Showing the black police officer in the role of the traitor, it has a revealing title in the form of a clever tag written in haste by one of these invisible heroes of the street: IRONY OFNEGROPLCEMN.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting so close to the genuine expression of street art was sold £ 7.25 million hammer price.
Just before, a surprise result was awarded to Olympics, a joint work by Warhol and Basquiat: £ 6 million hammer price.
Capable of a remarkable artistic synthesis expressed in his so specific violent style, Basquiat appears as post-punk in his mystical art where black deities defy the established order of whites.
We can also see Basquiat as post-hippie when he is addressing more socially oriented themes, such as the relationship of people of the street with police. This is a remake of the stories of cops and robbers, where the defender of the established order appears as a stubborn brute.
If he is white, the policeman is a skeleton without soul. If he is black, he is a bully in uniform, ready to indiscriminately kick his brothers of race.
An acrylic and oilstick on wood, 183 x 122 cm, estimated £ 6M, for sale on June 28 in London by Phillips de Pury,leaves no doubt about the revolt of the artist. Showing the black police officer in the role of the traitor, it has a revealing title in the form of a clever tag written in haste by one of these invisible heroes of the street: IRONY OFNEGROPLCEMN.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting so close to the genuine expression of street art was sold £ 7.25 million hammer price.
Just before, a surprise result was awarded to Olympics, a joint work by Warhol and Basquiat: £ 6 million hammer price.
1981 Street Art for the Use of Modena
2018 SOLD for £ 8.1M including premium
In the very cosmopolitan Lower East Side in Manhattan, SAMO© is the collective pseudonym of a group of schoolchildren to deride religion and then the consumer society. This is the brand of their prophecy to which they have fun imagining a universal craze. Jean-Michel Basquiat and his classmates compose under that signature anti-conformist slogans tagged by them on the walls.
Jean-Michel had been deeply sensitized by his mother to the graphic arts. Increasingly but probably unconsciously, his graffiti are getting closer to the galleries. In 1980 he seeks to recover for himself alone the SAMO© name. He is not yet identified but local TVs would like to interview him.
Keith Haring made his Radiant Babies graffiti at the same time. He manages to meet Jean-Michel during an action on the walls of an art school. Jean-Michel becomes an artist. His experience of the streets gave him a great speed with the spray.
Emilio Mazzoli is one of the first to appreciate that Jean-Michel's artistic approach is aesthetically new in unexplored themes. He invites Jean-Michel for a solo exhibition titled SAMO in May 1981 in his gallery in Modena, Italy.
The young artist has some difficulties in passing the customs with the works that he has prepared in New York. In addition he is preparing new paintings on site. Inspired by his fresh vision of bucolic Italy, The field next to the other road has the format of a fresco, 221 x 401 cm. It was sold for $ 37M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2015.
Made in acrylic, oilstick, spray and collage on canvas 128 x 226 cm, New York New York was specially conceived to display in Modena the atmosphere of the Lower East End and the life in the streets. The brightly colored houses and shops are reminiscent of the Greenwich Village of Beauford Delaney. Tags and signs intermingle their contradictory messages. The skully board symbolizes the creative freedom of kids in underprivileged New York. The new mark of the artist is the three-pointed crown which appears twice.
Purchased directly from Mazzoli, New York New York had never been viewed outside of Italy. It is estimated £ 7M for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 26, lot 19.
Jean-Michel had been deeply sensitized by his mother to the graphic arts. Increasingly but probably unconsciously, his graffiti are getting closer to the galleries. In 1980 he seeks to recover for himself alone the SAMO© name. He is not yet identified but local TVs would like to interview him.
Keith Haring made his Radiant Babies graffiti at the same time. He manages to meet Jean-Michel during an action on the walls of an art school. Jean-Michel becomes an artist. His experience of the streets gave him a great speed with the spray.
Emilio Mazzoli is one of the first to appreciate that Jean-Michel's artistic approach is aesthetically new in unexplored themes. He invites Jean-Michel for a solo exhibition titled SAMO in May 1981 in his gallery in Modena, Italy.
The young artist has some difficulties in passing the customs with the works that he has prepared in New York. In addition he is preparing new paintings on site. Inspired by his fresh vision of bucolic Italy, The field next to the other road has the format of a fresco, 221 x 401 cm. It was sold for $ 37M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2015.
Made in acrylic, oilstick, spray and collage on canvas 128 x 226 cm, New York New York was specially conceived to display in Modena the atmosphere of the Lower East End and the life in the streets. The brightly colored houses and shops are reminiscent of the Greenwich Village of Beauford Delaney. Tags and signs intermingle their contradictory messages. The skully board symbolizes the creative freedom of kids in underprivileged New York. The new mark of the artist is the three-pointed crown which appears twice.
Purchased directly from Mazzoli, New York New York had never been viewed outside of Italy. It is estimated £ 7M for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 26, lot 19.
1981 Poetry according to Twombly
2017 SOLD for $ 8.3M including premium
Looking for a total art Cy Twombly includes poetry. Writers translate and transmit the passions since the antique times. Following Mallarmé the meaning of the words is less important than their position in the page and their own musicality.
Twombly paints poems without words that may be assembled in a volume. Poems to the Sea, a set of 24 pages painted on paper in 1959, was sold for $ 21.7 million included premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013 over a lower estimate of $ 6 million.
The proto-writing phase on blackboards around 1970 did not stop his literary quest. In the mystical book Silex Scintillans written in 1650 by Henry Vaughan, Twombly selects the short poem The Storm where the author attempts a comparison close to pantheism between the violence of the weather projecting waters in the air and the passionate bubbling of his own blood.
This storm both external and internal is illustrated by Twombly in 1981 in oil, wax crayon, colored pencil and graphite on three uneven sheets of paper : 149 x 132 cm for the central page and 100 x 71 cm for each lateral page. The title Silex Scintillans is handwritten by the artist at the top of the left page which is the right place in a traditional reading.
This entirely abstract work is realized in a mingling of curved lines comparable to the mythological abstractions of the 1960s, using bright colors that intertwine their more or less spontaneous energy.
The triptych is estimated $ 5M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 18, lot 6. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in which a voice reading The Storm accompanies the exploration of the colored details of the artwork.
Twombly paints poems without words that may be assembled in a volume. Poems to the Sea, a set of 24 pages painted on paper in 1959, was sold for $ 21.7 million included premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013 over a lower estimate of $ 6 million.
The proto-writing phase on blackboards around 1970 did not stop his literary quest. In the mystical book Silex Scintillans written in 1650 by Henry Vaughan, Twombly selects the short poem The Storm where the author attempts a comparison close to pantheism between the violence of the weather projecting waters in the air and the passionate bubbling of his own blood.
This storm both external and internal is illustrated by Twombly in 1981 in oil, wax crayon, colored pencil and graphite on three uneven sheets of paper : 149 x 132 cm for the central page and 100 x 71 cm for each lateral page. The title Silex Scintillans is handwritten by the artist at the top of the left page which is the right place in a traditional reading.
This entirely abstract work is realized in a mingling of curved lines comparable to the mythological abstractions of the 1960s, using bright colors that intertwine their more or less spontaneous energy.
The triptych is estimated $ 5M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 18, lot 6. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in which a voice reading The Storm accompanies the exploration of the colored details of the artwork.
1981 Richter could not Walk on Water
2012 SOLD 4.3 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In 1972, Gerhard Richter has dark thoughts. Impressed by the tragic landscapes of Caspar David Fridrich, he makes a trip to Greenland to see how nature can crush men.
By photographing the endless sea, Richter ponders the ever changing forms of these floating blocks, their inaccessibility, these shades of gray that hardly separate the three elements : the low sky, the frozen water, the hostile iceberg.
Richter's work is of total variety, and he is everywhere a pioneer. He appears here as a precursor of the minimalist photography of Gursky and Sugimoto, but he is also very close to the apocalyptic world of Yves Tanguy.
In 1981, Richter copies this picture in an oil on canvas of small dimensions for this artist, 70 x 100 cm. This paintingis estimated £ 2M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 15. Here is the link to the catalog.
Thirty years have passed. By the quality of his artistic creation, by the depth of his meditation, Gerhard Richter is now considered as the best painter of current time.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good result, £ 4.3 million including premium, for this atypical painting that will have a deep interest for the historians of Richter's art.
In 1972, Gerhard Richter has dark thoughts. Impressed by the tragic landscapes of Caspar David Fridrich, he makes a trip to Greenland to see how nature can crush men.
By photographing the endless sea, Richter ponders the ever changing forms of these floating blocks, their inaccessibility, these shades of gray that hardly separate the three elements : the low sky, the frozen water, the hostile iceberg.
Richter's work is of total variety, and he is everywhere a pioneer. He appears here as a precursor of the minimalist photography of Gursky and Sugimoto, but he is also very close to the apocalyptic world of Yves Tanguy.
In 1981, Richter copies this picture in an oil on canvas of small dimensions for this artist, 70 x 100 cm. This paintingis estimated £ 2M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 15. Here is the link to the catalog.
Thirty years have passed. By the quality of his artistic creation, by the depth of his meditation, Gerhard Richter is now considered as the best painter of current time.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good result, £ 4.3 million including premium, for this atypical painting that will have a deep interest for the historians of Richter's art.
1981 A Murder
2020 SOLD for £ 3.3M including premium
When he was a teenager, Keith Haring was involved in Christian evangelical movements. He then engaged in street art, and made himself known by large figures in the subway. The young man wants to interpret life and death with recurring characters who interact and dance. The baby, symbol of hope, is radiant.
On February 13 in London, Phillips sells a work from the artist's early career. A broad black line bordered with red on its two sides depicts two characters. Drips of red paint on the yellow background increase the dramatic intensity. This 245 x 245 cm vinyl on tarpaulin painted in November 1981 is estimated £ 3M, lot 10.
The two characters are in total opposition, simulating a murder. The leg of the assailant crosses the victim through a large oval hole in the middle of the belly. The victim is innocent. His arms are raised in parallel in the alignment of legs and body. The Christian cross that replaces the face indicates that this standing figure is in the world of the dead.
Haring's works, like those of Basquiat, were coded for an easy interpretation in his community. This untitled work is linked to two traumatic facts : the murder of Lennon in the previous year, and the "gay plague" of New York which is not yet called AIDS.
On June 29, 2017, the same auction house sold for £ 2.33M including premium a painting with a gold line and black enamel background on metal 152 x 146 cm made in 1984, which stages two similar figures. In their brawl, the arms of each fighter cross the head and body of the partner. The X replaces the Christian symbol to indicate that the two characters are already dead, reinforcing the pacifist message of this artwork.
On February 13 in London, Phillips sells a work from the artist's early career. A broad black line bordered with red on its two sides depicts two characters. Drips of red paint on the yellow background increase the dramatic intensity. This 245 x 245 cm vinyl on tarpaulin painted in November 1981 is estimated £ 3M, lot 10.
The two characters are in total opposition, simulating a murder. The leg of the assailant crosses the victim through a large oval hole in the middle of the belly. The victim is innocent. His arms are raised in parallel in the alignment of legs and body. The Christian cross that replaces the face indicates that this standing figure is in the world of the dead.
Haring's works, like those of Basquiat, were coded for an easy interpretation in his community. This untitled work is linked to two traumatic facts : the murder of Lennon in the previous year, and the "gay plague" of New York which is not yet called AIDS.
On June 29, 2017, the same auction house sold for £ 2.33M including premium a painting with a gold line and black enamel background on metal 152 x 146 cm made in 1984, which stages two similar figures. In their brawl, the arms of each fighter cross the head and body of the partner. The X replaces the Christian symbol to indicate that the two characters are already dead, reinforcing the pacifist message of this artwork.
1981-1982 Bruce Nauman blurs the Neon Lights
2009 SOLD 4 MS including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Neon lights illuminate the advertisements of the major commercial groups in the dark of night. Their message must be as clear as possible. This new mode of expression inspired text paintings by Ed Ruscha.
In 1981-1982, Bruce Nauman goes further. He chooses contradictory words mixture which he mixes, inverts, imbalances, blurs, in large installations of fluorescent colorful lights that flash in an alternate sequence. When the observer is able to decipher VIOLINS VIOLENT SILENCE, his discomfort grows as the gathering of such words is paradoxical.
This neon installation, 158 x 166 x 15 cm, is estimated $ 2.5 million at Sotheby's in New York on November 11.
POST SALE COMMENT
Excellent result, among the highest ever achieved for a lettrist artwork, and for a light installation: $ 4 million charge included.
Neon lights illuminate the advertisements of the major commercial groups in the dark of night. Their message must be as clear as possible. This new mode of expression inspired text paintings by Ed Ruscha.
In 1981-1982, Bruce Nauman goes further. He chooses contradictory words mixture which he mixes, inverts, imbalances, blurs, in large installations of fluorescent colorful lights that flash in an alternate sequence. When the observer is able to decipher VIOLINS VIOLENT SILENCE, his discomfort grows as the gathering of such words is paradoxical.
This neon installation, 158 x 166 x 15 cm, is estimated $ 2.5 million at Sotheby's in New York on November 11.
POST SALE COMMENT
Excellent result, among the highest ever achieved for a lettrist artwork, and for a light installation: $ 4 million charge included.
1982 The Ochre Sands of Yungang
2020 SOLD for HK$ 95M including premium
Zao Wou-Ki is devastated by the death of his wife May in 1972 at the age of 41. To rebuild his life, he travels frequently to China and uses very large formats to simulate an infinite space. In 1977 he marries his third wife, Françoise.
In the fall of 1981, he visits the Yungang grottoes, the gigantic Buddhist shrine created by the Wei 1,550 years ago. Back in his studio, he paints the triptych 15.1.82.
The image is structured in two main registers for an ascending vision. The foreground is obscure, opening a window on an impressionist atmosphere composed of yellow ochre mixed with lilac, which is a direct reference to the sands of Yungang. The low edge of the image is fringed with bright sparks which are an expression of joy and vitality.
15.1.82, oil on canvas 195 x 390 cm overall, was sold for HK $ 85M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2013, lot 11, and is estimated HK $ 70M for sale by Christie's in Hong Kong on December 2, lot 143.
The triptych Juin-Octobre 1985, 2.80 x 10 m overall, offers a comparable contemplation, with similar contrasts. The dark part goes up at the extreme edges, giving the illusion of a theater curtain. This monumental oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 510M including premium by Sotheby's on September 30, 2018.
In the fall of 1981, he visits the Yungang grottoes, the gigantic Buddhist shrine created by the Wei 1,550 years ago. Back in his studio, he paints the triptych 15.1.82.
The image is structured in two main registers for an ascending vision. The foreground is obscure, opening a window on an impressionist atmosphere composed of yellow ochre mixed with lilac, which is a direct reference to the sands of Yungang. The low edge of the image is fringed with bright sparks which are an expression of joy and vitality.
15.1.82, oil on canvas 195 x 390 cm overall, was sold for HK $ 85M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2013, lot 11, and is estimated HK $ 70M for sale by Christie's in Hong Kong on December 2, lot 143.
The triptych Juin-Octobre 1985, 2.80 x 10 m overall, offers a comparable contemplation, with similar contrasts. The dark part goes up at the extreme edges, giving the illusion of a theater curtain. This monumental oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 510M including premium by Sotheby's on September 30, 2018.
1982 Orange Tribute for a Black Champion
2015 SOLD for £ 5.6M including premium
On February 15, 2012 in London, Sotheby's sold for £ 4.1M including premium Orange Sports Figure, a canvas 152 x 122 cm painted in acrylic, oilstick and spray by Basquiat. It is listed again in the same auction room on July 1, lot 4 estimated £ 5M.
I copy below my 2012 story :
The sports have been designed by white people. Throughout the twentieth century, black champions were able to brave the hostility of the public and contribute to achieve the racial equality. They include Jack Johnson, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson.
The art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, who started as a street painter, is deeply claiming and social. In 1982, the raised fist of the Black Panthers in the 1968 Olympics is still fresh in the memories. Race relations in sports are a natural theme for the young artist.
Everything is violent in his Orange Sports Figure, a colorful work dominated by the strident orange jersey of a baseball player with broad shoulders. In the usual style of Basquiat, the head with bulging eyes and teeth like prison bars is topped by a crown with three tips.
A few letters scattered within the composition identify this king of baseball to which Basquiat wants to make such a vibrant tribute. He is Hank Aaron, the black athlete who exceeded in 1974 the prestigious record of most home runs held for four decades by Babe Ruth.
I copy below my 2012 story :
The sports have been designed by white people. Throughout the twentieth century, black champions were able to brave the hostility of the public and contribute to achieve the racial equality. They include Jack Johnson, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson.
The art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, who started as a street painter, is deeply claiming and social. In 1982, the raised fist of the Black Panthers in the 1968 Olympics is still fresh in the memories. Race relations in sports are a natural theme for the young artist.
Everything is violent in his Orange Sports Figure, a colorful work dominated by the strident orange jersey of a baseball player with broad shoulders. In the usual style of Basquiat, the head with bulging eyes and teeth like prison bars is topped by a crown with three tips.
A few letters scattered within the composition identify this king of baseball to which Basquiat wants to make such a vibrant tribute. He is Hank Aaron, the black athlete who exceeded in 1974 the prestigious record of most home runs held for four decades by Babe Ruth.
1982 the lost emotions of the plains indians
2019 sold for $ 1.4m including premium
Howard Terpning began his career as a designer of posters and an illustrator for movies and army. Traumatized by the Vietnam War, he decided to devote his entire art to the lost civilization of the Plains Indians and moved to Tucson in 1977.
Terpning re-imagines the daily life of the Indians, with sharp drawing and bright colors. Between them or in confrontation with the cavalry, they are generally not engaged in violent actions. He is thus a successor to the Taos school. E.I. Couse, who died in 1936, showed occupations. Terpning tells the emotions.
In July 2013 The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction sold for $ 1.7M including premium one of these picturesque scenes, peaceful and out of date, Telling of Legends, oil on canvas 80 x 130 cm painted in 1989.
On February 8 in Los Angeles, Bonhams sells three paintings, commented at the time of their creation by the artist for his client.
Lot 31, oil on canvas 80 x 130 cm painted in 1982, is estimated $ 600K. Titled Coffee coolers meet the Hostiles, it shows a confrontation of two groups on horseback. The Coffee coolers accept to be integrated into the civilization of the Whites. They seek to convince the other group and bring a pipe of peace.
Subtle differences in clothing and weapons show that this scene is a clash of civilizations. Sitting Bull had told the Coffee coolers : “You are fools to make yourself slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hardtack, and a little coffee and sugar.”
Blackfeet spectators, oil on canvas 80 x 140 cm painted in 1984, shows three elderly men sitting, watching with great attention an unidentified show. It is estimated $ 500K, lot 41.
One Man's castle, oil on panel 53 x 70 cm painted in 1980, is a humorous scene showing a woman sitting in the shadows while her man is sleeping. It is estimated $ 150K, lot 85.
RESULTS
Lot 31 SOLD for $ 1.4M including premium
Lot 41 SOLD for $ 800K including premium
Lot 85 UNSOLD
Terpning re-imagines the daily life of the Indians, with sharp drawing and bright colors. Between them or in confrontation with the cavalry, they are generally not engaged in violent actions. He is thus a successor to the Taos school. E.I. Couse, who died in 1936, showed occupations. Terpning tells the emotions.
In July 2013 The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction sold for $ 1.7M including premium one of these picturesque scenes, peaceful and out of date, Telling of Legends, oil on canvas 80 x 130 cm painted in 1989.
On February 8 in Los Angeles, Bonhams sells three paintings, commented at the time of their creation by the artist for his client.
Lot 31, oil on canvas 80 x 130 cm painted in 1982, is estimated $ 600K. Titled Coffee coolers meet the Hostiles, it shows a confrontation of two groups on horseback. The Coffee coolers accept to be integrated into the civilization of the Whites. They seek to convince the other group and bring a pipe of peace.
Subtle differences in clothing and weapons show that this scene is a clash of civilizations. Sitting Bull had told the Coffee coolers : “You are fools to make yourself slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hardtack, and a little coffee and sugar.”
Blackfeet spectators, oil on canvas 80 x 140 cm painted in 1984, shows three elderly men sitting, watching with great attention an unidentified show. It is estimated $ 500K, lot 41.
One Man's castle, oil on panel 53 x 70 cm painted in 1980, is a humorous scene showing a woman sitting in the shadows while her man is sleeping. It is estimated $ 150K, lot 85.
RESULTS
Lot 31 SOLD for $ 1.4M including premium
Lot 41 SOLD for $ 800K including premium
Lot 85 UNSOLD
1982 The Cosmic Powers of Erol Akyavas
2010 sold 2.65 M TL including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Erol Akyavas was Turkish. Geographically, he was thus half-way between Picasso's Guernica and Tyeb Mehta's India.
Painted in 1982, "the Siege" is both his masterpiece and the synthesis of his complex universe. This huge oil on canvas, 266 x 385 cm, plays with time and space. The image is shared by Artdaily.
Two powerful bodies clash, one is dark and the other is bright. They are as free as space ships or as the objects of Léger, bird's eye viewed as in Eastern miniatures, on the night blue and black background. Each of these masses is designed as a medieval fortress, in which tiny creatures lost in the immensity play life and death.
The sale takes place on March 7 in Istanbul, at Antik AS. The artwork is estimated 1.5 million YTL. Press releases in English indicate a price range between 1 and 1.5 million U.S. $. This price is reasonable: this very active auction house regularly obtains outstanding results on Turkish art of all periods.
Thus, the press release quotes the sale of a painting by Burhan Dogancay for U.S. $ 1.9 million. In preparing one of my earliest articles (May 2008), I found a result at 5 million YTL (U.S. $ 3.9 million) for a painting by Hamdy Bey.
POST SALE COMMENT
With this powerful work of Erol Akyavas, the auction house Antik AS had been certain to present a masterpiece of modern Turkish art, and we were convinced.
The result meets the height of expectation: 2.1 million YTL excluding fees, 2.65 million YTL including premium. Congratulations.
Erol Akyavas was Turkish. Geographically, he was thus half-way between Picasso's Guernica and Tyeb Mehta's India.
Painted in 1982, "the Siege" is both his masterpiece and the synthesis of his complex universe. This huge oil on canvas, 266 x 385 cm, plays with time and space. The image is shared by Artdaily.
Two powerful bodies clash, one is dark and the other is bright. They are as free as space ships or as the objects of Léger, bird's eye viewed as in Eastern miniatures, on the night blue and black background. Each of these masses is designed as a medieval fortress, in which tiny creatures lost in the immensity play life and death.
The sale takes place on March 7 in Istanbul, at Antik AS. The artwork is estimated 1.5 million YTL. Press releases in English indicate a price range between 1 and 1.5 million U.S. $. This price is reasonable: this very active auction house regularly obtains outstanding results on Turkish art of all periods.
Thus, the press release quotes the sale of a painting by Burhan Dogancay for U.S. $ 1.9 million. In preparing one of my earliest articles (May 2008), I found a result at 5 million YTL (U.S. $ 3.9 million) for a painting by Hamdy Bey.
POST SALE COMMENT
With this powerful work of Erol Akyavas, the auction house Antik AS had been certain to present a masterpiece of modern Turkish art, and we were convinced.
The result meets the height of expectation: 2.1 million YTL excluding fees, 2.65 million YTL including premium. Congratulations.
1982 the ambiguous figures of tyeb mehta
2015 sold for Rs 11.5 crore including premium
An untitled standing figure by Tyeb Mehta is estimated Rs 10 crore equivalent to US $ 1.54M for sale by Saffronart in New Delhi on September 10, lot 23. I discussed it as follows in March 2013 when it went unsold at Sotheby's.
The great artistic impulse of Tyeb Mehta exploded from 1981. His human figures question the meaning of life.
The artist is aware of the trends in international modern art. His purpose is figurative but he admires the pure colors of Barnett Newman and the details of his drawing may refer to the simple compositions by Mondrian.
The figures by Mehta are androgynous, or more precisely asexual even when they are naked. He wanted it because his actual message is elsewhere. The real issue is discomfort and suffering, translated through physical abnormalities, splitting limbs, merging figures who lose their proper identity.
Dated 1981, a figure in two colors with three arms is one of the earliest examples of this new art by Mehta. This oil on canvas, 150 x 120 cm, was sold for Rs 7.1 crore including premium by Saffronart on September 21, 2011.
The painting in the next sale is an oil on canvas 175 x 119 cm dated 1982. The female figure looks almost normal excepted for her three breasts and for the doubling of her greeting hand. It is a very good example of Mehta's deliberately naive period of relearning.
Two years later, Mehta's artistic residence in Santiniketan will revolutionize his art. He shall appropriate the use of bright colors to enhance his message, and know how to exploit the link between his modern philosophy and the roots of Indian mythology.
The great artistic impulse of Tyeb Mehta exploded from 1981. His human figures question the meaning of life.
The artist is aware of the trends in international modern art. His purpose is figurative but he admires the pure colors of Barnett Newman and the details of his drawing may refer to the simple compositions by Mondrian.
The figures by Mehta are androgynous, or more precisely asexual even when they are naked. He wanted it because his actual message is elsewhere. The real issue is discomfort and suffering, translated through physical abnormalities, splitting limbs, merging figures who lose their proper identity.
Dated 1981, a figure in two colors with three arms is one of the earliest examples of this new art by Mehta. This oil on canvas, 150 x 120 cm, was sold for Rs 7.1 crore including premium by Saffronart on September 21, 2011.
The painting in the next sale is an oil on canvas 175 x 119 cm dated 1982. The female figure looks almost normal excepted for her three breasts and for the doubling of her greeting hand. It is a very good example of Mehta's deliberately naive period of relearning.
Two years later, Mehta's artistic residence in Santiniketan will revolutionize his art. He shall appropriate the use of bright colors to enhance his message, and know how to exploit the link between his modern philosophy and the roots of Indian mythology.
1982 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict
2022 withdrawn
In November and December 1982 the Fun Gallery in New York's Lower East Side dedicated a solo exhibition to Jean-Michel Basquiat. For the first time since he reached a local fame, he was liberated from the constraints of his commercial sponsors including Annina Nosei and Emilio Mazzoli.
He introduced himself for that exhibition with an unconventional artwork titled by him Portrait of the artist as a young derelict, meaning that he was convinced that he will remain an outsider despite his artistic skills.
Its mixed media is made of oil and oilstick painting scattered with metal artifacts on three hanging parqueted wood panels forming a folding triptych of 207 x 209 x 9.2 cm extended size with a taller central part.
The head in the signature self mocking style of the artist occupies the right panel. The other two parts are supporting various symbols including the three pointed crown beside the socially provocative word SALT reminiscent of slavery, a pair of bare feet severed above the ankle, the repeated word ANKLE, and a single MORTE with a crucifix behind a structure which may be a rocket or a slender building, possibly a City of the dead.
Jean-Michel was despite his young age a great connoisseur of both anatomy and art history. The ankle is a reference to Leonardo da Vinci's signature drawings of cut limbs for his anatomical training of displaying the human body. In the same solo exhibition, an acrylic, colored crayon, oilstick, pencil and paper on canvas mounted on wood was titled by the artist Leonardo da Vinci's greatest hits.
The whole makes a link with the street graffiti and anticipates by its hermetic narration and its use of recuperation hardware the style of Jean-Michel's masterpieces of the next year.
Portrait will be sold by Christie's on May 10, 2022, lot 13 B.
He introduced himself for that exhibition with an unconventional artwork titled by him Portrait of the artist as a young derelict, meaning that he was convinced that he will remain an outsider despite his artistic skills.
Its mixed media is made of oil and oilstick painting scattered with metal artifacts on three hanging parqueted wood panels forming a folding triptych of 207 x 209 x 9.2 cm extended size with a taller central part.
The head in the signature self mocking style of the artist occupies the right panel. The other two parts are supporting various symbols including the three pointed crown beside the socially provocative word SALT reminiscent of slavery, a pair of bare feet severed above the ankle, the repeated word ANKLE, and a single MORTE with a crucifix behind a structure which may be a rocket or a slender building, possibly a City of the dead.
Jean-Michel was despite his young age a great connoisseur of both anatomy and art history. The ankle is a reference to Leonardo da Vinci's signature drawings of cut limbs for his anatomical training of displaying the human body. In the same solo exhibition, an acrylic, colored crayon, oilstick, pencil and paper on canvas mounted on wood was titled by the artist Leonardo da Vinci's greatest hits.
The whole makes a link with the street graffiti and anticipates by its hermetic narration and its use of recuperation hardware the style of Jean-Michel's masterpieces of the next year.
Portrait will be sold by Christie's on May 10, 2022, lot 13 B.
1982-1983 Esther and Ib
2016 SOLD for £ 4.8M including premium
Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon influenced each other, although their styles are different. Both admit that they can not do the portrait of people to whom they are not close. The bright color and thick paste participate in their reconstruction of life. A small format 36 x 31 cm is suitable for the picture of a head.
In the early 1980s, Lucian discovers with amazement that his elder children began their lives of young adults. He offers them the long sittings that create the necessary empathy.
The method of Lucian with his models is in the opposite to Francis who works only with photographs and with his memory. Lucian is a charmer. He literally makes his models glowing by telling stories, singing, sharing extraordinary foods. The word 'glowing' was chosen by Esther Freud to express her feelings during these long hours.
On February 11 in London, Christie's sells the Head of Esther as lot 15 and the Head of Ib as lot 16. Both paintings that can form a pair come from the same "important private European collection" and are estimated £ 2.5M each.
Esther, born in 1963, began the process in 1982-1983 and Ib, born in 1961, took over in 1983-1984. The physical resemblance of the half sisters allowed a similar technique. The image is almost a living sculpture with the flesh of the cheek expressed by a thick colored impasto and the hair combed by the brush of the artist.
The two young women have their head on the pillow which is the most comfortable position during the long viewings by the father. When Esther is on the left and Ib on the right, they face each other. In their attitude of full confidence, Esther opens her eyes and Ib sleeps. The reflection in the eye of Esther strengthens her presence.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM
Head of Esther : £ 4.8M
Head of Ib : £ 2.55M
In the early 1980s, Lucian discovers with amazement that his elder children began their lives of young adults. He offers them the long sittings that create the necessary empathy.
The method of Lucian with his models is in the opposite to Francis who works only with photographs and with his memory. Lucian is a charmer. He literally makes his models glowing by telling stories, singing, sharing extraordinary foods. The word 'glowing' was chosen by Esther Freud to express her feelings during these long hours.
On February 11 in London, Christie's sells the Head of Esther as lot 15 and the Head of Ib as lot 16. Both paintings that can form a pair come from the same "important private European collection" and are estimated £ 2.5M each.
Esther, born in 1963, began the process in 1982-1983 and Ib, born in 1961, took over in 1983-1984. The physical resemblance of the half sisters allowed a similar technique. The image is almost a living sculpture with the flesh of the cheek expressed by a thick colored impasto and the hair combed by the brush of the artist.
The two young women have their head on the pillow which is the most comfortable position during the long viewings by the father. When Esther is on the left and Ib on the right, they face each other. In their attitude of full confidence, Esther opens her eyes and Ib sleeps. The reflection in the eye of Esther strengthens her presence.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM
Head of Esther : £ 4.8M
Head of Ib : £ 2.55M
1983 Secret Figures
2021 SOLD for HK$ 47M by Sotheby's
Throughout his career, Willem de Kooning resolutely set himself apart from all schools. At his beginnings, he removes the border between figurative and abstraction. In the 1970s, shapes and colors become abundant. In the 1980s, they are simplified without becoming minimalist. The formats remain very large, at the limits of the physical possibilities of the aging artist.
On April 19 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells the Untitled XLVIII of 1983, lot 1109 estimated HK $ 39M. On this canvas 224 x 196 cm, the artist arranged undulating shapes in two pure colors, red and yellow. The overall effect might be reminiscent of Kandinsky's late passion for microbiology. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Seen more closely, the individual coherence of forms disappears. The yellow is bordered with red, but not everywhere. The space between two yellow elements becomes a ribbon. The yellow element at the bottom left is partially hollowed out. The red lines are broken, with a false invitation to connect the segments. The stretched red shapes carry reflections, which bring a three-dimensional illusion in contradiction with microbiology.
The artist is indeed not a follower of Kandinsky, Mondrian or Matisse. We may try a comparison with his compatriot Escher : De Kooning has transferred the impossibility of forms into a total abstraction.
On April 19 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells the Untitled XLVIII of 1983, lot 1109 estimated HK $ 39M. On this canvas 224 x 196 cm, the artist arranged undulating shapes in two pure colors, red and yellow. The overall effect might be reminiscent of Kandinsky's late passion for microbiology. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Seen more closely, the individual coherence of forms disappears. The yellow is bordered with red, but not everywhere. The space between two yellow elements becomes a ribbon. The yellow element at the bottom left is partially hollowed out. The red lines are broken, with a false invitation to connect the segments. The stretched red shapes carry reflections, which bring a three-dimensional illusion in contradiction with microbiology.
The artist is indeed not a follower of Kandinsky, Mondrian or Matisse. We may try a comparison with his compatriot Escher : De Kooning has transferred the impossibility of forms into a total abstraction.
1983 The Journey of Zao Wou-Ki in China
2013 SOLD 37 MHK$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The journey of Zao Wou-Ki in China in 1983 is of course not the first, but for the first time he is recognized as a major artist in his home country.
He was very fortunate to meet Zhang Daqian, in extremis because the old master died on April 2, 1983, aged 84. Their approaches had been parallel. While Zao submitted to the observer his psychic landscapes, Zhang spread his most expressive colors on identified landscapes.
The diptych 10.3.83 by Zao is influenced by Zhang's technique of splashed color (although I have not understood whether it had been painted before or after the meeting of the two masters). This oil on canvas, 200 x 325 cm, is estimated HK $ 25M, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 6. Here is the link to the catalog.
Contrast is violent between the brightly lit ground and the night sky, and the horizon is not a line but a diffuse area in the best style of Zao. For once, although the title is a simple date, the landscape seems identifiable. It would be Mount Tai, one of the five sacred mountains of China.
The new admiration of China for the art of Zao was dazzling. Before the end of 1983, this diptych was exhibited both in Beijing and Hangzhou.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good price, HK$ 37M including premium, for this painting made in a key year of Zao's later career.
The journey of Zao Wou-Ki in China in 1983 is of course not the first, but for the first time he is recognized as a major artist in his home country.
He was very fortunate to meet Zhang Daqian, in extremis because the old master died on April 2, 1983, aged 84. Their approaches had been parallel. While Zao submitted to the observer his psychic landscapes, Zhang spread his most expressive colors on identified landscapes.
The diptych 10.3.83 by Zao is influenced by Zhang's technique of splashed color (although I have not understood whether it had been painted before or after the meeting of the two masters). This oil on canvas, 200 x 325 cm, is estimated HK $ 25M, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 6. Here is the link to the catalog.
Contrast is violent between the brightly lit ground and the night sky, and the horizon is not a line but a diffuse area in the best style of Zao. For once, although the title is a simple date, the landscape seems identifiable. It would be Mount Tai, one of the five sacred mountains of China.
The new admiration of China for the art of Zao was dazzling. Before the end of 1983, this diptych was exhibited both in Beijing and Hangzhou.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good price, HK$ 37M including premium, for this painting made in a key year of Zao's later career.
1983 Fight against Silence
2019 sold for $ 4.2m including premium
In 1980 Keith Haring became known for his graffitis in the New York subway. He has an exacerbated social sensitivity and is openly gay. The large format of the posters in public places suits him because everyone can see his message from a distance. He is 22 years old.
The big sanitary disaster of his time begins in the same year. A contagious disease with a high mortality rate primarily attacks homosexuals and drug addicts. Its name is defined in 1982 : it is AIDS.
The gay community is bravely trying to cope. Until the end of 1982 the mayor of New York refuses to receive the activists. Haring's art becomes an illustration of the assimilation between silence and death. Scientific research responds to this tragedy : in 1984 the AIDS virus is identified.
On May 15 in New York, Bonhams sells as lot 9 an acrylic on vinyl tarpaulin 302 x 306 cm painted by Haring in October 1983. Please watch the video shared by the auction house on Twitter.
Like the Surrealists, Haring stages the fantastic characters created by his imagination, leaving the viewer with the identification of meaning. Here the main role is played by a figure of Mickey Mouse who shows his buttocks and pulls the tongue to a tall demon with a pedunculate neck, recognizable by his trident. Both characters have disproportionate sexes.
This scene is played in front of a background of multiple figures including dancers and a tiny angel brought by two hands. The use of black in the contours makes it very readable despite the mingling of the figures. The colors are dynamic while being limited to a fluorescent pink and an effervescent yellow.
Mickey is impertinent and exuberant, careless of the risk of illness. The demon takes a shocked attitude towards this fellow, as to state that gays must now better control their sexual activities. The angel is also displayed to Mickey for bringing him back to his senses.
The big sanitary disaster of his time begins in the same year. A contagious disease with a high mortality rate primarily attacks homosexuals and drug addicts. Its name is defined in 1982 : it is AIDS.
The gay community is bravely trying to cope. Until the end of 1982 the mayor of New York refuses to receive the activists. Haring's art becomes an illustration of the assimilation between silence and death. Scientific research responds to this tragedy : in 1984 the AIDS virus is identified.
On May 15 in New York, Bonhams sells as lot 9 an acrylic on vinyl tarpaulin 302 x 306 cm painted by Haring in October 1983. Please watch the video shared by the auction house on Twitter.
Like the Surrealists, Haring stages the fantastic characters created by his imagination, leaving the viewer with the identification of meaning. Here the main role is played by a figure of Mickey Mouse who shows his buttocks and pulls the tongue to a tall demon with a pedunculate neck, recognizable by his trident. Both characters have disproportionate sexes.
This scene is played in front of a background of multiple figures including dancers and a tiny angel brought by two hands. The use of black in the contours makes it very readable despite the mingling of the figures. The colors are dynamic while being limited to a fluorescent pink and an effervescent yellow.
Mickey is impertinent and exuberant, careless of the risk of illness. The demon takes a shocked attitude towards this fellow, as to state that gays must now better control their sexual activities. The angel is also displayed to Mickey for bringing him back to his senses.
1983 Syed Haider Raza, the Hindu of Paris
2010 SOLD 2.4 M£ including premium
After more than forty years in France, SH Raza may well be regarded as the Hindu of Paris. Yet this abstract painter had to seek the sources of spirituality of his native country for developing a profoundly original art in the early 1980s.
The strong points of his compositions are simple geometric shapes, often sharp but hung by a rich mixture of colors, as if the universe revolved around anchors inspired by the third eye of wisdom.
Executed in 1983, an acrylic on canvas entitled Saurashtra, 2 x 2 m, is a highlight of the art of Raza at that time. This artwork for sale by Christie's in London on June 10 is estimated £ 1.3 million.
On March 23 in New York, the same auction house sold Gestation, another acrylic, for $ 1.2 million including premium. This 1989 work is simpler and smaller, exactly 1 x 2 m, but its inspiration is similar to that of Saurashtra.
POST SALE COMMENT
Christie's were right in highlighting the art of Syed Haider Raza. Prices rise. Saurashtra has been sold £ 2.4 million including premium.
The painting is illustrated post sale on this page shared by Artdaily.
The strong points of his compositions are simple geometric shapes, often sharp but hung by a rich mixture of colors, as if the universe revolved around anchors inspired by the third eye of wisdom.
Executed in 1983, an acrylic on canvas entitled Saurashtra, 2 x 2 m, is a highlight of the art of Raza at that time. This artwork for sale by Christie's in London on June 10 is estimated £ 1.3 million.
On March 23 in New York, the same auction house sold Gestation, another acrylic, for $ 1.2 million including premium. This 1989 work is simpler and smaller, exactly 1 x 2 m, but its inspiration is similar to that of Saurashtra.
POST SALE COMMENT
Christie's were right in highlighting the art of Syed Haider Raza. Prices rise. Saurashtra has been sold £ 2.4 million including premium.
The painting is illustrated post sale on this page shared by Artdaily.
1983 vanities by richter
2018 unsold
Turning 50 in 1982, Gerhard Richter tries to redefine his life and his art. The titles of his paintings, limited to one or two words, do not bring comprehension and coherence. Abstraktes Bild and Ohne Titel are titles like any other.
The Kerzen (candles) are a technical feat with the colorful transition of the halo between flame and abstraction. These vanities also match the metaphysical questions of the artist.
Is it a coincidence ? The highly spectacular skulls by Jean-Michel Basquiat are painted in the same year.
Twenty years earlier in Düsseldorf, Richter had received from a friend a model of human skull. He had not used it yet. In 1983 he photographed this artifact with top or down upside. He makes a small series of paintings while projecting the photographic image on the canvas. The blurring of outlines brings a transition to abstraction. The evanescent image floats somewhere between here and the beyond.
The first series of Schädel (skull) is made of four opus, 545-1 to 545-4, the latter entitled 'Schädel, abstrakt' confirming the desire of the artist to ensure the overall coherence of his work. 546-1 and -2 is a return to Kerzen, probably to maintain the knack. 547-1 shows the skull in the inverted position. In the same position, it is associated with a candle in 547-2.
The series of skulls is finished with 548-1 and -2, as if suddenly the artist had overcome a temporary anguish of death by integrating together the skull, the abstraction and the candle.
These Schädel are extremely rare on the art market. 545-3 was sold for $ 1.5M including premium by Christie's on May 16, 2000. 545-1, oil on canvas 80 x 65 cm, will be sold by Christie's in London on October 4, lot 11. The estimate at £ 12M to £ 18M is unveiled by Christie's in the Auction preview of September 6. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The Kerzen (candles) are a technical feat with the colorful transition of the halo between flame and abstraction. These vanities also match the metaphysical questions of the artist.
Is it a coincidence ? The highly spectacular skulls by Jean-Michel Basquiat are painted in the same year.
Twenty years earlier in Düsseldorf, Richter had received from a friend a model of human skull. He had not used it yet. In 1983 he photographed this artifact with top or down upside. He makes a small series of paintings while projecting the photographic image on the canvas. The blurring of outlines brings a transition to abstraction. The evanescent image floats somewhere between here and the beyond.
The first series of Schädel (skull) is made of four opus, 545-1 to 545-4, the latter entitled 'Schädel, abstrakt' confirming the desire of the artist to ensure the overall coherence of his work. 546-1 and -2 is a return to Kerzen, probably to maintain the knack. 547-1 shows the skull in the inverted position. In the same position, it is associated with a candle in 547-2.
The series of skulls is finished with 548-1 and -2, as if suddenly the artist had overcome a temporary anguish of death by integrating together the skull, the abstraction and the candle.
These Schädel are extremely rare on the art market. 545-3 was sold for $ 1.5M including premium by Christie's on May 16, 2000. 545-1, oil on canvas 80 x 65 cm, will be sold by Christie's in London on October 4, lot 11. The estimate at £ 12M to £ 18M is unveiled by Christie's in the Auction preview of September 6. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
1983 the primordial energy of sh raza
2015 unsold
Syed Haider Raza, like Gaitonde, expresses the Earth, source and support of life. Also like Zao Wou-ki he slips from landscape to abstraction for better observing the sumptuous arrangements of colors.
His life is divided between India and France. From 1980, he is inspired by the Hindu philosophy in a quest for the creation of the world, beyond the simple balance of the elements. His now resolutely non-figurative art includes various geometric symbols. The artist compares his paintings to temples, designed to offer to the visitor a mystical ecstasy.
On December 15 in Mumbai, Christie's sells Bindu, acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm painted in 1983, lot 39 estimated Rs 10 crore equivalent to US $ 1.5M.
The bindu is a black dot that concentrates the primordial energy. This symbol of wisdom is the third eye worn by Hindus as a makeup in the forehead. In the artwork for sale, the intense black bindu occupies the exact center of the image and transmits its power to the surrounding world.
This painting can be analyzed as an abstract landscape with warm colors, a dominance of horizontal lines and a gradual bottom up brightening that evokes the light of day. In the region at the level of the bindu, triangles in opposite directions expose the male and female duality of life.
On 10 June 2010, Christie's sold for £ 2.4 million including premium Saurashtra, 200 x 200 cm, painted in the same year with a similar range of glowing colors, slightly clearer. This geographic title confirms that Raza's mysticism remains attached to the physical beauty of the Indian landscapes.
His life is divided between India and France. From 1980, he is inspired by the Hindu philosophy in a quest for the creation of the world, beyond the simple balance of the elements. His now resolutely non-figurative art includes various geometric symbols. The artist compares his paintings to temples, designed to offer to the visitor a mystical ecstasy.
On December 15 in Mumbai, Christie's sells Bindu, acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm painted in 1983, lot 39 estimated Rs 10 crore equivalent to US $ 1.5M.
The bindu is a black dot that concentrates the primordial energy. This symbol of wisdom is the third eye worn by Hindus as a makeup in the forehead. In the artwork for sale, the intense black bindu occupies the exact center of the image and transmits its power to the surrounding world.
This painting can be analyzed as an abstract landscape with warm colors, a dominance of horizontal lines and a gradual bottom up brightening that evokes the light of day. In the region at the level of the bindu, triangles in opposite directions expose the male and female duality of life.
On 10 June 2010, Christie's sold for £ 2.4 million including premium Saurashtra, 200 x 200 cm, painted in the same year with a similar range of glowing colors, slightly clearer. This geographic title confirms that Raza's mysticism remains attached to the physical beauty of the Indian landscapes.
1983 Richter between Flame and Squeegee
2012 unsold
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In 1982, Gerhard Richter makes his series of paintings on the arrangements of candles. His method of reworking thecolor tirelessly up to perfection allows him to overcome one of the top difficulties in painting, the halo of flame.
No doubt encouraged by this result, Richter restarts resolutely in the following year towards abstraction, which had always attracted him. His idea, again, is revolutionary: art must guide the artist and not the contrary, only the result counts, but it can only come from a meticulous work.
Today Richter is considered with no real competitor as the best abstract painter of our time. Christie's is selling onNovember 14 in New York a key work in the evolution of his art, expected in the region of $ 15M. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
This oil on canvas, 250 x 250 cm, shows a beautiful contrast of bright colors, punctuated by oblique lines and large stains. Richter has not yet developed his technique of the squeegee which will cease to delineate the colors, getting in a larger scale a comparable effect as in the halo of the candles.
Although rehabilitated at the same period by de Kooning, abstract art no longer excites so much the art world in 1983. Richter positions this work by providing it with a title, as Miro would have done. It is named Prag 1883 by reference to the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the great writer of inextricable labyrinths, Franz Kafka.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate available in the catalog, $ 9M, was less ambitious than the first release, but this decrease was not enough. Unsold.
In 1982, Gerhard Richter makes his series of paintings on the arrangements of candles. His method of reworking thecolor tirelessly up to perfection allows him to overcome one of the top difficulties in painting, the halo of flame.
No doubt encouraged by this result, Richter restarts resolutely in the following year towards abstraction, which had always attracted him. His idea, again, is revolutionary: art must guide the artist and not the contrary, only the result counts, but it can only come from a meticulous work.
Today Richter is considered with no real competitor as the best abstract painter of our time. Christie's is selling onNovember 14 in New York a key work in the evolution of his art, expected in the region of $ 15M. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
This oil on canvas, 250 x 250 cm, shows a beautiful contrast of bright colors, punctuated by oblique lines and large stains. Richter has not yet developed his technique of the squeegee which will cease to delineate the colors, getting in a larger scale a comparable effect as in the halo of the candles.
Although rehabilitated at the same period by de Kooning, abstract art no longer excites so much the art world in 1983. Richter positions this work by providing it with a title, as Miro would have done. It is named Prag 1883 by reference to the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the great writer of inextricable labyrinths, Franz Kafka.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate available in the catalog, $ 9M, was less ambitious than the first release, but this decrease was not enough. Unsold.
1984 Waiting for Durga
2017 SOLD for INR 17.8 crores (worth US $ 2.96M) including premium
A hypersensitive artist, Tyeb Mehta perceives and rejects the impulses of violence. He sees the sufferings and even looks for them not without some sadomasochism : a man stoned to death by the crowd in front of him in 1947, a report filmed by him in a slaughterhouse in 1970.
His painting is minimalist while remaining figurative. The simple lines of the naked bodies border the flat planes in pure pastel-type hues. Beyond the character, woman, man or androgynous, his art invites for a meditation on human condition and meaning of life.
After a serious illness Mehta becomes an artist in residence in 1983 in Santiniketan in Bengal for a period of two years. In the intellectual and cultural environment of this city founded by Rabindranath Tagore his art changes forever when he mixes the Hindu mysticism with his own metaphysical quest.
The rickshaw has long been for Mehta an abject symbol both by the enslavement of the puller and by the confinement of the seated character. In 1984 the figure in the shadow of the machine is no longer a naked woman but a divinity who exhibits her three legs in sunlight. This oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm was sold for £ 1,97M including premium by Christie's on June 9, 2011.
Mehta begins to express that humanity needs more than ever the return of Durga, the primordial warrior goddess who uses violence to offer peace with her eight to sixteen arms.
The nude female creature sitting on the floor with two heads, two bodies, four arms and two legs is a peaceful Annunciation of Durga. The bull's head in front of her is both an emanation of the slaughterhouse and a memory of Durga's ultimate victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
This oil on canvas 150 x 105 cm also painted in 1984 prefigures the epic themes of the later career of Mehta. It was sold for $ 1.76M including premium by Christie's on March 21, 2012 and had been discussed at that time in this column. It is estimated INR 14 to 18 crores worth US $ 2.3 to 3M for sale on August 23 online from Mumbai by AstaGuru, lot 20. The full catalog of the sale is linked in the tweet.
His painting is minimalist while remaining figurative. The simple lines of the naked bodies border the flat planes in pure pastel-type hues. Beyond the character, woman, man or androgynous, his art invites for a meditation on human condition and meaning of life.
After a serious illness Mehta becomes an artist in residence in 1983 in Santiniketan in Bengal for a period of two years. In the intellectual and cultural environment of this city founded by Rabindranath Tagore his art changes forever when he mixes the Hindu mysticism with his own metaphysical quest.
The rickshaw has long been for Mehta an abject symbol both by the enslavement of the puller and by the confinement of the seated character. In 1984 the figure in the shadow of the machine is no longer a naked woman but a divinity who exhibits her three legs in sunlight. This oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm was sold for £ 1,97M including premium by Christie's on June 9, 2011.
Mehta begins to express that humanity needs more than ever the return of Durga, the primordial warrior goddess who uses violence to offer peace with her eight to sixteen arms.
The nude female creature sitting on the floor with two heads, two bodies, four arms and two legs is a peaceful Annunciation of Durga. The bull's head in front of her is both an emanation of the slaughterhouse and a memory of Durga's ultimate victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
This oil on canvas 150 x 105 cm also painted in 1984 prefigures the epic themes of the later career of Mehta. It was sold for $ 1.76M including premium by Christie's on March 21, 2012 and had been discussed at that time in this column. It is estimated INR 14 to 18 crores worth US $ 2.3 to 3M for sale on August 23 online from Mumbai by AstaGuru, lot 20. The full catalog of the sale is linked in the tweet.
1984 UNTITLED BY HARING (PYRAMID WITH COMPUTER HEAD)
2021 SOLD FOR £ 4.3M BY CHRISTIE'S
Politically and socially, Keith Haring is an idealist. Inspired by his graffiti debut in the subway, he wants his message to be seen by crowds. From 1982 he obtains public commissions as a muralist in cities all over the world.
Haring works very quickly and without preliminary drawing, constantly reusing the pictograms of his own surreal world. His art pleases the public because it is populated by strange beings that interconnect. Stylized humanoids who dance in groups with raised arms for revering their false gods are promoting joy, hope and naivety.
The artist also integrates his own time. A new wonder has landed : the personal computer. It is the head of a huge caterpillar in a vinyl on tarpaulin 307 x 302 cm painted in 1983. The monster is dangerous but can be tamed : the character who rides it has kept his head, which is not the case of the three dancers. This artwork was sold for £ 860K including premium by Sotheby's on October 12, 2012.
On October 4, 2018 in London, Christie's sold for £ 3.95M an acrylic on an assembly of four canvases dated April 18, 1984 of total size 305 x 305 cm, lot 3. It was sold for £ 4.3M in the same auction room on June 30, 2021, lot 23.
The line painting is performed on a psychedelic bright yellow background. The main figure is an empty triangle bordered at the bottom by a row of enthusiast believers. By the subterfuge of the two-dimensional representation, this figure offers three interpretations. It is the Pyramid that symbolizes ancient mysticisms. It is an esplanade blocking the access to various monsters that move with frenzy and earthiness up to its edges. It is anthropomorphic by its extension in two raised arms which hold a flying saucer and a brain. The head of the Pyramid is the new god, the personal computer.
This work had first been exhibited in a happening in Cologne in 1984 where a nude man painted by Haring walked in the exhibition room and Madonna performed in a suit designed by Haring.
Please watch the video prepared by Christie's to introduce three lots of the 2018 sale discussed by their consignor, the former gallery owner Paul Maenz.
Haring works very quickly and without preliminary drawing, constantly reusing the pictograms of his own surreal world. His art pleases the public because it is populated by strange beings that interconnect. Stylized humanoids who dance in groups with raised arms for revering their false gods are promoting joy, hope and naivety.
The artist also integrates his own time. A new wonder has landed : the personal computer. It is the head of a huge caterpillar in a vinyl on tarpaulin 307 x 302 cm painted in 1983. The monster is dangerous but can be tamed : the character who rides it has kept his head, which is not the case of the three dancers. This artwork was sold for £ 860K including premium by Sotheby's on October 12, 2012.
On October 4, 2018 in London, Christie's sold for £ 3.95M an acrylic on an assembly of four canvases dated April 18, 1984 of total size 305 x 305 cm, lot 3. It was sold for £ 4.3M in the same auction room on June 30, 2021, lot 23.
The line painting is performed on a psychedelic bright yellow background. The main figure is an empty triangle bordered at the bottom by a row of enthusiast believers. By the subterfuge of the two-dimensional representation, this figure offers three interpretations. It is the Pyramid that symbolizes ancient mysticisms. It is an esplanade blocking the access to various monsters that move with frenzy and earthiness up to its edges. It is anthropomorphic by its extension in two raised arms which hold a flying saucer and a brain. The head of the Pyramid is the new god, the personal computer.
This work had first been exhibited in a happening in Cologne in 1984 where a nude man painted by Haring walked in the exhibition room and Madonna performed in a suit designed by Haring.
Please watch the video prepared by Christie's to introduce three lots of the 2018 sale discussed by their consignor, the former gallery owner Paul Maenz.
1984 Water Worshipper by Basquiat
2017 SOLD for HK$ 42M by Sotheby's
The art of Jean-Michel Basquiat was in rapid transformation. Full of symbols which are only accessed by minority, he had been the funny street illustrator of New York City, the glorifier of black sport champions and imaginary tribal kings and the castigator of the Mississippi slavery.
In 1984 he desires to reinterpret the cultural heritage of his race. In the previous year he had developed the use of mixed media on wood elements from doors, window frames or fences, and increased the complexity of his narration.
Water Worshipper opposed two figures, the worshipper on a black background on the left side and a weird deity on a white background on the right. The acrylic and oilstick painting is composed like viewed in an oblique. It is underlined by a plinth made of five rows of wooden boards for an overall size of 210 x 274 x 10.2 cm.
A few pieces of collage in silkscreen ink are resulting from his increasing collaboration with Warhol that included four hand works in that period.
The deity is identified as the Voodoo goddess of water Mami Wata. She is a bust in a frame closely imitating the logo of a brand of navy cigarettes reminding the tobacco slavery. The childish drawing of a ship within that frame is castigating the slave trade. The teeth are the bars of a jail window.The merry worshipper is stretching his arms for welcoming that tragic idol.
This artwork had an international career at auction with Sotheby's. It was sold for € 2.4M on December 7, 2010, lot 9, for £ 2.5M on February 12, 2014, lot 36 and for HK $ 42M on April 2, 2017, lot 1042. It is estimated HK $ 62M for sale on April 27, 2022 Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's before it passed on April 27, 2022, lot 1124.
In 1984 he desires to reinterpret the cultural heritage of his race. In the previous year he had developed the use of mixed media on wood elements from doors, window frames or fences, and increased the complexity of his narration.
Water Worshipper opposed two figures, the worshipper on a black background on the left side and a weird deity on a white background on the right. The acrylic and oilstick painting is composed like viewed in an oblique. It is underlined by a plinth made of five rows of wooden boards for an overall size of 210 x 274 x 10.2 cm.
A few pieces of collage in silkscreen ink are resulting from his increasing collaboration with Warhol that included four hand works in that period.
The deity is identified as the Voodoo goddess of water Mami Wata. She is a bust in a frame closely imitating the logo of a brand of navy cigarettes reminding the tobacco slavery. The childish drawing of a ship within that frame is castigating the slave trade. The teeth are the bars of a jail window.The merry worshipper is stretching his arms for welcoming that tragic idol.
This artwork had an international career at auction with Sotheby's. It was sold for € 2.4M on December 7, 2010, lot 9, for £ 2.5M on February 12, 2014, lot 36 and for HK $ 42M on April 2, 2017, lot 1042. It is estimated HK $ 62M for sale on April 27, 2022 Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's before it passed on April 27, 2022, lot 1124.
1984 Alighiero Boetti stops the Passing Time
2013 unsold
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
When an artwork is too unusual, so do not expect too high a price. Bonhams was passionate about Anno 1984 by Alighiero Boetti, but failed to sell it on 13 October 2011.
Anno 1984 is now estimated £ 600K, for sale by Sotheby's in London on October 17. Here are the link to the new catalog and to an interesting video shared in 2011 by Bonhams.
And below, as usual in such cases, please find my previous text:
The art of Boetti is varied, but everything he did is unclassifiable. His first name, which is authentic, was itself an invitation to metaphysics or cosmography.
By his strange studies of letters and words and through his Mappas, he wants to express the world and its global knowledge. He is not the only Italian modern artist wanting to achieve a conceptual art. He may be considered in the following of Fontana, Burri and Manzoni.
1984: Boetti chose that year to also try to stop the passing time. The year of the legendary novel by Orwell was awaited by the intellectuals. Boetti made a one-of-a-kind work, a missing link that contributes to build the history ofart between Warhol's Campbell's Soups and the recuperations of Richard Prince.
Throughout that year, the artist and his collaborators buy magazines. Each month, with great regularity, Boetti redrawsin pencil on paper 18 covers, not removing their titles. The whole of the year, arranged in two registers, is a work of 2x 9 m, assembled on linen and coated.
When an artwork is too unusual, so do not expect too high a price. Bonhams was passionate about Anno 1984 by Alighiero Boetti, but failed to sell it on 13 October 2011.
Anno 1984 is now estimated £ 600K, for sale by Sotheby's in London on October 17. Here are the link to the new catalog and to an interesting video shared in 2011 by Bonhams.
And below, as usual in such cases, please find my previous text:
The art of Boetti is varied, but everything he did is unclassifiable. His first name, which is authentic, was itself an invitation to metaphysics or cosmography.
By his strange studies of letters and words and through his Mappas, he wants to express the world and its global knowledge. He is not the only Italian modern artist wanting to achieve a conceptual art. He may be considered in the following of Fontana, Burri and Manzoni.
1984: Boetti chose that year to also try to stop the passing time. The year of the legendary novel by Orwell was awaited by the intellectuals. Boetti made a one-of-a-kind work, a missing link that contributes to build the history ofart between Warhol's Campbell's Soups and the recuperations of Richard Prince.
Throughout that year, the artist and his collaborators buy magazines. Each month, with great regularity, Boetti redrawsin pencil on paper 18 covers, not removing their titles. The whole of the year, arranged in two registers, is a work of 2x 9 m, assembled on linen and coated.
1984-1985 The Post-Modernist House of Jeffrey Smart
2014 SOLD for AUD 1.28M including premium
The art of Jeffrey Smart is the product of two influences that are far from being contradictory, architecture and abstraction.
Born in Adelaide, he began his career as a painter showing the transience of buildings that have lost their role, as Hopper had done. The human element is rare, especially present to ensure the scale enhanced by the shadows of dawn.
From 1948 to 1951 he studied in Paris with Fernand Léger.
Without ever renouncing his Australian citizenship, Smart settled permanently in Italy in 1964, Tuscany has one of the most pleasant scenery in the world. Yet he imagines in that lovely place the buildings and factories of the future whose walls will be decorated in any style of abstract art.
Forgetting the past to observe the future, Smart, unlike Hopper, became a witness of his time.
His identifiable portraits are scarce and his self-portraits still rarer. On August 27 in Sydney, Deutscher and Hackett sells Self-portrait at Papini's, oil and synthetic colors on canvas 85 x 115 cm painted in 1984-1985, estimated AUD 700K.
Among a brilliant contrast of bold colors, abstraction is represented here by a big screen in two sheets in the Op Art style. On the left, the door of the workshop of the petrol service station, composed of blue vertical boards, demonstrates that art also lies in the most usual objects. The artist stands between both as if to express the artistic compatibility of intellectual movements and popular artifacts.
Born in Adelaide, he began his career as a painter showing the transience of buildings that have lost their role, as Hopper had done. The human element is rare, especially present to ensure the scale enhanced by the shadows of dawn.
From 1948 to 1951 he studied in Paris with Fernand Léger.
Without ever renouncing his Australian citizenship, Smart settled permanently in Italy in 1964, Tuscany has one of the most pleasant scenery in the world. Yet he imagines in that lovely place the buildings and factories of the future whose walls will be decorated in any style of abstract art.
Forgetting the past to observe the future, Smart, unlike Hopper, became a witness of his time.
His identifiable portraits are scarce and his self-portraits still rarer. On August 27 in Sydney, Deutscher and Hackett sells Self-portrait at Papini's, oil and synthetic colors on canvas 85 x 115 cm painted in 1984-1985, estimated AUD 700K.
Among a brilliant contrast of bold colors, abstraction is represented here by a big screen in two sheets in the Op Art style. On the left, the door of the workshop of the petrol service station, composed of blue vertical boards, demonstrates that art also lies in the most usual objects. The artist stands between both as if to express the artistic compatibility of intellectual movements and popular artifacts.
