1958
See also : USA Modern Italian art Abstract art Rothko Rothko 1957-70 Zao Wou-Ki Sanyu Cars 1958-59 California Spider
1958 The Transcending Color of Mark Rothko
2015 SOLD for $ 82M including premium
In 1958, Mark Rothko is famous and unhappy. He is unhappy because he is famous and because he sees the public admiring the game of balance between the bright colors of his signature blocks. He targeted to show the variety of emotions from mystical to profane but is he more than just a designer?
He accepts at first a huge order for the future restaurant in Seagram's building but this step forward certainly increases his confusion. In an extraordinary burst of creativity, he rejects the vivid colors. Rembrandt knew how to throw the light out of the shadow, there is no reason that could prevent Rothko to do it.
On May 15, 2013 in New York, Christie's sold for $ 27M including premium a Black on Maroon 183 x 114 cm that participates in that momentum and is not yet a symptom of the tragic depression of the artist in the following decade.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 35B the No 10 (1958), oil on canvas 239 x 176 cm. An infinite variety of colors predominantly brown interweaves within the rectangles whose structure is superseded by a magnificent halo effect.
When he broke with Seagram's, Rothko said not without wickedness that he wanted to cut hunger to the restaurant's guests. With this No. 10 contemporary of that failed project, the frustrated artist wanted to replace the sensational by the sublime but his art was to become increasingly elitist.
The video shared by Christie's shows the key importance of that year in the creative process of this highly temperamental artist.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
He accepts at first a huge order for the future restaurant in Seagram's building but this step forward certainly increases his confusion. In an extraordinary burst of creativity, he rejects the vivid colors. Rembrandt knew how to throw the light out of the shadow, there is no reason that could prevent Rothko to do it.
On May 15, 2013 in New York, Christie's sold for $ 27M including premium a Black on Maroon 183 x 114 cm that participates in that momentum and is not yet a symptom of the tragic depression of the artist in the following decade.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 35B the No 10 (1958), oil on canvas 239 x 176 cm. An infinite variety of colors predominantly brown interweaves within the rectangles whose structure is superseded by a magnificent halo effect.
When he broke with Seagram's, Rothko said not without wickedness that he wanted to cut hunger to the restaurant's guests. With this No. 10 contemporary of that failed project, the frustrated artist wanted to replace the sensational by the sublime but his art was to become increasingly elitist.
The video shared by Christie's shows the key importance of that year in the creative process of this highly temperamental artist.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1958 The Year of the Seagram Murals
2015 SOLD for $ 40.5M including premium
1958 marked a turning point in the work of Mark Rothko, with two major concerns: increasing the luminescence to avoid assimilation to kitsch and releasing his art from the vertical format less suitable for his new project of the Seagram Murals. It may even seem surprising that the artist had much neglected the horizontal format so conducive to offer an immersion when facing the alignment of the eyes of the viewer.
Looking for strong colors, he achieves an incandescent heat by confronting red and orange. No. 36 (black stripe) is an astonishing abstract landscape, oil on canvas 157 x 170 cm.
The red background is reduced to the edges and inter-blocks of the picture but sets the tone by its aggressive light. The rectangles that widely spread in this new balance of composition are a dazzling orange and a narrower dark red separated by a dominating deep black stripe.
Mark Rothko, by his temperamental personality, did not try to communicate with relatives but with humanity by providing emotions altogether basic and intense. Moved by the strength of the red, he almost reaches his admitted but impossible purpose that the creator of the art and the observer must feel the same mesmerizing effect.
No. 36 is estimated $ 30M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 11, lot 13A. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house.
Looking for strong colors, he achieves an incandescent heat by confronting red and orange. No. 36 (black stripe) is an astonishing abstract landscape, oil on canvas 157 x 170 cm.
The red background is reduced to the edges and inter-blocks of the picture but sets the tone by its aggressive light. The rectangles that widely spread in this new balance of composition are a dazzling orange and a narrower dark red separated by a dominating deep black stripe.
Mark Rothko, by his temperamental personality, did not try to communicate with relatives but with humanity by providing emotions altogether basic and intense. Moved by the strength of the red, he almost reaches his admitted but impossible purpose that the creator of the art and the observer must feel the same mesmerizing effect.
No. 36 is estimated $ 30M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 11, lot 13A. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house.
1958 Pine after Rain by Pan Tianshou
2019 SOLD for RMB 206M by China Guardian
1958 Dark Emotions
2013 SOLD for $ 27M including premium by Christie's
PRE 2020 SALE DISCUSSION
In 1957 Mark Rothko was outraged by his own fame. His interpretation of basic emotions is not perceived. On the contrary, the public and the art critics admire the dramatic confrontation of his blocks of bright colors, those reds, blues and yellows to which white brings the window of transcendental light.
His style and technique change. Luminosity can also emanate from a dark area when he introduces layers of transparent glaze between layers of colors. He maintains his block structure, but the monochrome is replaced by an inextricable mingle of colors created by the diffusion of almost similar pigments into each other. The edges of the blocks add a frayed confrontation with the background color.
At the end of the year, he tests the deepest blues and reds against large black blocks. At the beginning of 1958, his preference goes for a red turning to brown. Four Darks in Red was painted just before he was commissioned for the decoration of the restaurant in the Seagram building under construction.
Rothko is very enthusiastic about this project which will allow him to test his new conceptions on a very large surface, like Monet with the Grandes Décorations. Unfortunately his deliberate rejection of the general public feeds his megalomania and he believes that his mysticism meets the sublime frescoes of Fra Angelico.
Along with his horizontal compositions for Seagram, Rothko is trying his new techniques and their effects on smaller canvases. Thus the Black on Maroon 267 x 381 cm for Seagram is accompanied by a vertical Untitled 183 x 114 cm with the same hues.
Rothko abandons the Seagram project in 1959 in a fit of anger that he will not credibly explain. Donated by the artist to the Tate Gallery, the Black and Maroon was co-signed in 2012 by a modern Herostratus.
The Untitled was sold for $ 27M including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013, lot 55, and is estimated $ 25M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on October 28, lot 13.
In 1957 Mark Rothko was outraged by his own fame. His interpretation of basic emotions is not perceived. On the contrary, the public and the art critics admire the dramatic confrontation of his blocks of bright colors, those reds, blues and yellows to which white brings the window of transcendental light.
His style and technique change. Luminosity can also emanate from a dark area when he introduces layers of transparent glaze between layers of colors. He maintains his block structure, but the monochrome is replaced by an inextricable mingle of colors created by the diffusion of almost similar pigments into each other. The edges of the blocks add a frayed confrontation with the background color.
At the end of the year, he tests the deepest blues and reds against large black blocks. At the beginning of 1958, his preference goes for a red turning to brown. Four Darks in Red was painted just before he was commissioned for the decoration of the restaurant in the Seagram building under construction.
Rothko is very enthusiastic about this project which will allow him to test his new conceptions on a very large surface, like Monet with the Grandes Décorations. Unfortunately his deliberate rejection of the general public feeds his megalomania and he believes that his mysticism meets the sublime frescoes of Fra Angelico.
Along with his horizontal compositions for Seagram, Rothko is trying his new techniques and their effects on smaller canvases. Thus the Black on Maroon 267 x 381 cm for Seagram is accompanied by a vertical Untitled 183 x 114 cm with the same hues.
Rothko abandons the Seagram project in 1959 in a fit of anger that he will not credibly explain. Donated by the artist to the Tate Gallery, the Black and Maroon was co-signed in 2012 by a modern Herostratus.
The Untitled was sold for $ 27M including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013, lot 55, and is estimated $ 25M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on October 28, lot 13.
1958 Action and Jazz for Franz Kline
2014 SOLD for $ 26.5M including premium
Franz Kline was a sensory man, not a theorist. Along with Pollock he is the main artist of the Action painting that gives priority to the gesture, but his process is quite different. Through Kline's hands, the action creates an endlessly reworked sketch. When the rhythm and balance of the line please him, he copies it in oil on large surfaces.
Kline was close to De Kooning but most of his major works are in black and white. Legend has it that he kept pure colors on his palette but preferred to abandon them when they did not bring him some extra sensation.
As Pollock, Kline let jazz soaking him. In 1958, he expressed his admiration for King Oliver who had died twenty years earlier. For this oil on canvas 251 x 196 cm, the pure colors are worthy of De Kooning but the altogether abstract and hot atmosphere is his own. This is one of his masterpieces.
King Oliver by Franz Kline is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12, lot 23. I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
Kline was close to De Kooning but most of his major works are in black and white. Legend has it that he kept pure colors on his palette but preferred to abandon them when they did not bring him some extra sensation.
As Pollock, Kline let jazz soaking him. In 1958, he expressed his admiration for King Oliver who had died twenty years earlier. For this oil on canvas 251 x 196 cm, the pure colors are worthy of De Kooning but the altogether abstract and hot atmosphere is his own. This is one of his masterpieces.
King Oliver by Franz Kline is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12, lot 23. I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
1958 To Fellini by Guston
2013 SOLD for $ 26M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1958 After Plowing by Pan Tianshou
2017 SOLD for RMB 160M including premium by China Guardian
narrated in 2018 before Poly sale of a later variant (see below)
Pan Tianshou mixes traditional techniques with modern themes. His ink and color paintings on paper leave large empty spaces that further enhance the beauty of the drawing.
Since 1957 he is for the second time the head of the National Academy. Suspected of being a Kuomintang spy, he is viciously persecuted by the Cultural Revolution from 1966 until his death in 1971. A 358 x 150 cm landscape painted in 1963 was sold for RMB 290M including premium by China Guardian on November 20, 2018.
Animals are allegories. Perched at the top of the rock, the eagle or raven is an aggressive vigil. The buffalo exhausted by its plowing work receives as its only reward from the humans the right to have a rest in the pond.
With a Chinese title meaning After Plowing, a buffalo painted in 1958, 227 x 121 cm, was sold for RMB 160M including premium by China Guardian on June 19, 2017. The animal with the rope of slavery in the nostrils keeps its head down and has a sad gaze.
With a less politically risky title meaning Buffalo in Spring, the 248 x 101 cm painting made in 1961 is almost identical, with variations in the foliage and another position of the poem. It passed on December 7, 2018 at Poly in Beijing, lot 2524. It had been illustrated in the China Daily article announcing the sale.
Since 1957 he is for the second time the head of the National Academy. Suspected of being a Kuomintang spy, he is viciously persecuted by the Cultural Revolution from 1966 until his death in 1971. A 358 x 150 cm landscape painted in 1963 was sold for RMB 290M including premium by China Guardian on November 20, 2018.
Animals are allegories. Perched at the top of the rock, the eagle or raven is an aggressive vigil. The buffalo exhausted by its plowing work receives as its only reward from the humans the right to have a rest in the pond.
With a Chinese title meaning After Plowing, a buffalo painted in 1958, 227 x 121 cm, was sold for RMB 160M including premium by China Guardian on June 19, 2017. The animal with the rope of slavery in the nostrils keeps its head down and has a sad gaze.
With a less politically risky title meaning Buffalo in Spring, the 248 x 101 cm painting made in 1961 is almost identical, with variations in the foliage and another position of the poem. It passed on December 7, 2018 at Poly in Beijing, lot 2524. It had been illustrated in the China Daily article announcing the sale.
1958 The Second Birth of Zao Wou-Ki
2013 SOLD 90 M RMB including premium
Zao Wou-ki was deeply shocked by his divorce in early 1957. The oil on canvas titled Nous Deux, 161 x 200 cm, called for the dawn of his second career in a world inhabited by strange and indecipherable calligraphic signs. Nous Deux was sold for HK $ 35M including premium at Christie's on May 24, 2009 .
Nous Deux is one of his last works that had an explicit title. From this turning point, Zao expresses his inner fire and leaves the viewer with the task of interpreting it, or just admiring.
Abstraction is an oil on canvas, 130 x 162 cm, painted in 1958. This explosion of glowing fire is like the origin of the world in a dark environment, such as Matta also could have dreamed it. The fake calligrams from Nous Deux become smoky debris floating in front of the bright colors.
For Zao, this artwork was also the starting point of his life as a famous artist. Exhibited alongside Hartung at the Galerie Charpentier, it ensured an immediate success for this 37 year old artist. This masterpiece spent afterward half a century in the Art Institute of Chicago which is deaccessioning it now.
Abstraction is the star lot of the first great sale made by Sotheby's in Beijing, on December 1. It is estimated RMB yuan 35M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
Sotheby's had rightly highlighted the importance of this specific Abstraction in the art of Zao Wou-ki. It is a great success: RMB 90M including premium.
Nous Deux is one of his last works that had an explicit title. From this turning point, Zao expresses his inner fire and leaves the viewer with the task of interpreting it, or just admiring.
Abstraction is an oil on canvas, 130 x 162 cm, painted in 1958. This explosion of glowing fire is like the origin of the world in a dark environment, such as Matta also could have dreamed it. The fake calligrams from Nous Deux become smoky debris floating in front of the bright colors.
For Zao, this artwork was also the starting point of his life as a famous artist. Exhibited alongside Hartung at the Galerie Charpentier, it ensured an immediate success for this 37 year old artist. This masterpiece spent afterward half a century in the Art Institute of Chicago which is deaccessioning it now.
Abstraction is the star lot of the first great sale made by Sotheby's in Beijing, on December 1. It is estimated RMB yuan 35M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
Sotheby's had rightly highlighted the importance of this specific Abstraction in the art of Zao Wou-ki. It is a great success: RMB 90M including premium.
1958-1959 The Pleated Kaolin of Piero Manzoni
2014 SOLD for £ 12.6M including premium
In the late 1950s, artists achieve the ancient anti-bourgeois dream of removing figures and emotion from art. Everything is allowed in materials and methods, from the use of objects by Rauschenberg or Cornell to the flamethrowers and the women brushes of Klein.
In 1958 and 1959, the series of Achromes by Piero Manzoni releases the art from the color. His wish for an absolute purity makes his approach different from the mysticism of Klein and Fontana and from Burri's disgust.
Manzoni managed to run on his canvas a magma of kaolin, this material which already a millennium earlier had brought the absolute white to the Chinese potters. Same as with Fontana's lacerations, the creative act of the artist is not fully absent: the fabric is pleated before being coated. When the paste dries, it solidifies the interstices of the furrows.
Manzoni does not act during the drying, except for monitoring the climatic conditions. The details of the texture such as thickness, bubbles and drippings escape the artist's gesture.
The largest Achrome paintings are technical feats as a homogeneous layer is needed to provide the effect of purity desired by the artist. Their pattern is a wide central horizontal band of tight grooves while the top and bottom of the artwork remain smooth, like a river flowing between its banks or like a long hair.
An Achrome painted in 1958, 116 x 148 cm, with interesting undulations of the furrows, was sold for $ 14M including premium by Christie's on 15 May 2013. Another one from the same year, 114 x 145 cm, was sold for $ 10M including premium by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008.
A similar Achrome, 110 x 150 cm with a bright contrast in some furrows is estimated £ 5M for sale on October 17 in London by Sotheby's, lot 12.
In 1958 and 1959, the series of Achromes by Piero Manzoni releases the art from the color. His wish for an absolute purity makes his approach different from the mysticism of Klein and Fontana and from Burri's disgust.
Manzoni managed to run on his canvas a magma of kaolin, this material which already a millennium earlier had brought the absolute white to the Chinese potters. Same as with Fontana's lacerations, the creative act of the artist is not fully absent: the fabric is pleated before being coated. When the paste dries, it solidifies the interstices of the furrows.
Manzoni does not act during the drying, except for monitoring the climatic conditions. The details of the texture such as thickness, bubbles and drippings escape the artist's gesture.
The largest Achrome paintings are technical feats as a homogeneous layer is needed to provide the effect of purity desired by the artist. Their pattern is a wide central horizontal band of tight grooves while the top and bottom of the artwork remain smooth, like a river flowing between its banks or like a long hair.
An Achrome painted in 1958, 116 x 148 cm, with interesting undulations of the furrows, was sold for $ 14M including premium by Christie's on 15 May 2013. Another one from the same year, 114 x 145 cm, was sold for $ 10M including premium by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008.
A similar Achrome, 110 x 150 cm with a bright contrast in some furrows is estimated £ 5M for sale on October 17 in London by Sotheby's, lot 12.
1958 The Time of the Oracles
2019 SOLD for HK$ 116M including premium
Born in a very ancient Chinese family, Zao Wou-Ki's father was a great connoisseur of art and calligraphy. Owning a painting by Mi Fu, he had also been one of the earliest collectors of Oracle bones just after their characterization as a primordial form of writing.
In France in the 1950s, Zao soon renounces figurative art and expresses feelings, nature and seasons by harmonies of colors. The originality of his art in comparison with the expressionists is to apply to oil on canvas the techniques and wrist movements of Chinese calligraphy.
From 1955 Zao regularly overpaints his colors with a pseudo-writing, most often without any similarity with the antique or modern pictographs, thus adding a dimension of mystery to his expressions of the forces of nature and the creation of the universe. These paintings are identified as the series of the Oracle Bones.
His visit to the United States in 1957 after his break with his wife does not interrupt this trend but considerably increases his international notoriety. After meeting with American abstract painters, he appreciates that a work of art does not need a title to convey a feeling.
The untitled Oracle Bones painted in 1958 offer a great diversity of expression. A 130 x 162 cm painting shows a violent explosion of intense colors as well as a transformation of the proto-writing into a throwing of ashes. It was sold for RMB 90M including premium by Sotheby's on December 1, 2013.
The oil on canvas 114 x 163 cm painted in the same year, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on March 31, appears as an antithesis to the example above. The sweetness of the background painted in cream white enhanced with light brown and jade green brings a peaceful atmosphere accentuated by the calligraphic sharpness of the large central pseudo-writing.
This artwork is estimated HK $ 60M, lot 1026. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In France in the 1950s, Zao soon renounces figurative art and expresses feelings, nature and seasons by harmonies of colors. The originality of his art in comparison with the expressionists is to apply to oil on canvas the techniques and wrist movements of Chinese calligraphy.
From 1955 Zao regularly overpaints his colors with a pseudo-writing, most often without any similarity with the antique or modern pictographs, thus adding a dimension of mystery to his expressions of the forces of nature and the creation of the universe. These paintings are identified as the series of the Oracle Bones.
His visit to the United States in 1957 after his break with his wife does not interrupt this trend but considerably increases his international notoriety. After meeting with American abstract painters, he appreciates that a work of art does not need a title to convey a feeling.
The untitled Oracle Bones painted in 1958 offer a great diversity of expression. A 130 x 162 cm painting shows a violent explosion of intense colors as well as a transformation of the proto-writing into a throwing of ashes. It was sold for RMB 90M including premium by Sotheby's on December 1, 2013.
The oil on canvas 114 x 163 cm painted in the same year, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on March 31, appears as an antithesis to the example above. The sweetness of the background painted in cream white enhanced with light brown and jade green brings a peaceful atmosphere accentuated by the calligraphic sharpness of the large central pseudo-writing.
This artwork is estimated HK $ 60M, lot 1026. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1958 Femme Debout by Giacometti
2020 SOLD for £ 10.7M including premium by Sotheby's
1958 La Jambe by Giacometti
2012 SOLD for $ 11.3M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1958 Luxuriance of a Chrysanthemum
2014 SOLD 81 MHK$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In Paris, Sanyu has not forgotten his Chinese origin. In the 1950s, he devotes his art to a synthesis of Western and Eastern figurative elements, with an authenticity specially interesting because he was no longer looking for fame. The bright colors in front of which he dispositions his figures are inspired by abstract expressionism.
Now his potted chrysanthemums are included among the masterpieces of exiled Chinese painting.
He uses the oil on masonite, a Western technique. Still life on tabletop is not a Chinese theme. The chrysanthemum is the link to the Chinese imagery. It reveals its power when it is raising up with luxuriance towards the sky or ceiling, with colors inspired by the traditional art of lacquer.
On April 5 in Hong Kong, an amazing example is for sale by Sotheby's. In large size for this artist, 130 x 74 cm, this painting is estimated HK $ 40M.
Fortunately for the historian, this painting comes with a dated information, which is not often the case for the later art by Sanyu. In March 1958, it was chosen by the artist to illustrate his quest for East meets West within a modern art exhibition in Camargue.
Here is the link to the catalogue.
POST SALE COMMENT
This important specimen from an iconic series was sold for HK$ 80M including premium.
In Paris, Sanyu has not forgotten his Chinese origin. In the 1950s, he devotes his art to a synthesis of Western and Eastern figurative elements, with an authenticity specially interesting because he was no longer looking for fame. The bright colors in front of which he dispositions his figures are inspired by abstract expressionism.
Now his potted chrysanthemums are included among the masterpieces of exiled Chinese painting.
He uses the oil on masonite, a Western technique. Still life on tabletop is not a Chinese theme. The chrysanthemum is the link to the Chinese imagery. It reveals its power when it is raising up with luxuriance towards the sky or ceiling, with colors inspired by the traditional art of lacquer.
On April 5 in Hong Kong, an amazing example is for sale by Sotheby's. In large size for this artist, 130 x 74 cm, this painting is estimated HK $ 40M.
Fortunately for the historian, this painting comes with a dated information, which is not often the case for the later art by Sanyu. In March 1958, it was chosen by the artist to illustrate his quest for East meets West within a modern art exhibition in Camargue.
Here is the link to the catalogue.
POST SALE COMMENT
This important specimen from an iconic series was sold for HK$ 80M including premium.
1958 Under the Californian Sun
2019 SOLD for $ 10M including premium
Ferrari is relying on its 250 GT to offer high-end commercial models. The berlinetta, which will soon be nicknamed TdF, appears in 1956 and the Cabriolet Pinin Farina in 1957. The Ferrari dealers in the United States, Von Neumann on the West Coast and Chinetti in the East, welcome these novelties with the utmost interest.
Von Neumann and Chinetti conclude that the new Ferraris do not respond to the evolution of the American market. The Cabriolet Pinin Farina targets a clientele of billionaires and should not be compared with a sports car. The berlinetta interposes its hardtop between its seaters and the Californian sun. It is even more unfortunate when considering that celebrities enjoy the convertibles for better agglutinating the paparazzi around the luxury and elegance of their privileged lives.
Enzo Ferrari is not convinced. In December 1957, however, he releases a prototype that meets the demands of his US partners. Scaglietti, the coachbuilder who was assembling the TdF, had used the same chassis model to build a cabriolet, without bringing other technical innovations. Nevertheless this car intended for an American use already includes the option of covered headlamps, prohibited in Italy.
The prototype is delivered in January 1958 to an American customer via Chinetti. It was sold for $ 6.6M including premium by Gooding on August 19, 2012.
Scaglietti begins assembling a series in June 1958 with an average rate of two cars per month, without making any other prototype. Enzo remains reluctant but is pragmatic. If Scaglietti does not make this Speciale, the customers will commission him to transform their berlinettas and Ferrari will lose the commercial control of this model.
The new 250 GT is finally announced as a separate model in December 1958, under the name Ferrari 250 Granturismo Spyder California which can be abbreviated as Ferrari 250 California. The term 'cabriolet' is carefully avoided to maintain the sales of the very expensive 250 GT Cabriolet Pinin Farina. The word Spyder, with a Y like for the Porsche Spyder, appeals new customers who desire a dual use in road and competition. This model is now designated Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider.
Built in November 1958, a California Spider was sold for $ 8.8M including premium by RM on January 18, 2014. Listed by the same auction house on August 20, 2016, it was not sold. It is estimated $ 11M for sale by Gooding at Pebble Beach on August 16, lot 44. Here is the link to the press release. It is driven by David Gooding in the video shared by the auction house.
Von Neumann and Chinetti conclude that the new Ferraris do not respond to the evolution of the American market. The Cabriolet Pinin Farina targets a clientele of billionaires and should not be compared with a sports car. The berlinetta interposes its hardtop between its seaters and the Californian sun. It is even more unfortunate when considering that celebrities enjoy the convertibles for better agglutinating the paparazzi around the luxury and elegance of their privileged lives.
Enzo Ferrari is not convinced. In December 1957, however, he releases a prototype that meets the demands of his US partners. Scaglietti, the coachbuilder who was assembling the TdF, had used the same chassis model to build a cabriolet, without bringing other technical innovations. Nevertheless this car intended for an American use already includes the option of covered headlamps, prohibited in Italy.
The prototype is delivered in January 1958 to an American customer via Chinetti. It was sold for $ 6.6M including premium by Gooding on August 19, 2012.
Scaglietti begins assembling a series in June 1958 with an average rate of two cars per month, without making any other prototype. Enzo remains reluctant but is pragmatic. If Scaglietti does not make this Speciale, the customers will commission him to transform their berlinettas and Ferrari will lose the commercial control of this model.
The new 250 GT is finally announced as a separate model in December 1958, under the name Ferrari 250 Granturismo Spyder California which can be abbreviated as Ferrari 250 California. The term 'cabriolet' is carefully avoided to maintain the sales of the very expensive 250 GT Cabriolet Pinin Farina. The word Spyder, with a Y like for the Porsche Spyder, appeals new customers who desire a dual use in road and competition. This model is now designated Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider.
Built in November 1958, a California Spider was sold for $ 8.8M including premium by RM on January 18, 2014. Listed by the same auction house on August 20, 2016, it was not sold. It is estimated $ 11M for sale by Gooding at Pebble Beach on August 16, lot 44. Here is the link to the press release. It is driven by David Gooding in the video shared by the auction house.
