1960
See also : French sculpture Post war French art Women artists Art by women ca 1960 England Bacon Old Flanders and Belgium Magritte Jewels Pink diamond
1960 The Papal Obsession of Francis Bacon
2014 SOLD for $ 45M including premium
The arrival of the papal figures in the art of Francis Bacon goes back to his early period of which almost nothing remains since he destroyed his works. Starting just after the Second World War, this theme is political : a pope is also a man, and the luxury inherent in his position cannot hide a psychological distress.
The model is famous : the portrait of Innocent X by Velazquez. As a precaution, Bacon would not see the original artwork for not altering his creative impetus. For over fifteen years, he executed about fifty paintings on this theme. The earliest were screaming their incompetence at offering a better world.
Around 1960, Bacon's popes become silent, as tragic as the screaming characters. The colors are brushed in powerful gestures that make the face unreadable and unidentifiable. He will proceed in the same way for some portraits of his friends in Soho. The throne becomes neutral but the atmosphere in red and crimson maintains the original message of political absurdity.
A Seated figure, oil on canvas 153 x 119 cm painted in 1960, is estimated $ 40 million for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12, lot 45.
On May 15, 2007, Sotheby's sold for $ 53M including premium a Study from Innocent X painted in 1962, 198 x 142 cm. It was at that time the highest price recorded at auction for any artwork by Bacon. The attitude of the character curled on his throne is altogether burlesque and tragic.
The model is famous : the portrait of Innocent X by Velazquez. As a precaution, Bacon would not see the original artwork for not altering his creative impetus. For over fifteen years, he executed about fifty paintings on this theme. The earliest were screaming their incompetence at offering a better world.
Around 1960, Bacon's popes become silent, as tragic as the screaming characters. The colors are brushed in powerful gestures that make the face unreadable and unidentifiable. He will proceed in the same way for some portraits of his friends in Soho. The throne becomes neutral but the atmosphere in red and crimson maintains the original message of political absurdity.
A Seated figure, oil on canvas 153 x 119 cm painted in 1960, is estimated $ 40 million for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12, lot 45.
On May 15, 2007, Sotheby's sold for $ 53M including premium a Study from Innocent X painted in 1962, 198 x 142 cm. It was at that time the highest price recorded at auction for any artwork by Bacon. The attitude of the character curled on his throne is altogether burlesque and tragic.
(previous purchase 1960) The Mystery of the Little Prince
2013 SOLD 39.3 M$ including premium
On April 16 in New York, Christie's sells a cushion-cut pink diamond weighing 34.65 carats. It is identified as historic, which mostly means that some ancient information is available. Here is the link to the catalog.
This diamond has not been seen publicly since 1960. It was then bought £ 46K at auction by Van Cleef & Arpels, who named it the Princie Diamond by friendship with the young prince of Baroda.
I found on the web a page made before the recent resurgence of the Princie Diamond, in which it is fifth in a list of the most famous pink diamonds, but with a wrong color shade.
Its true color, fancy intense pink, is a pleasant surprise, because this is one of the best and rarest colors. The 24.78 carats Graff Pink, sold CHF 45.4 million including premium (U.S. $ 1.85 million per carat) by Sotheby's on November 16, 2010 is also a fancy intense pink.
The provenance of the Princie was not revealed in 1960. The press release from Christie's tells that the seller was the Nizam of Hyderabad himself, which supports the hypothesis that this diamond had been extracted from Golconda.
Unfortunately, its VS2 clarity is not excellent. The Graff Pink, VVS2, is better by two grades.
On 6 October 2010, Sotheby's sold HK $ 60M including premium a VS2 fancy vivid pink weighing 6.43 carats, which approximately corresponds to U.S. $ 1.15 million per carat.
POST SALE COMMENT
The market is sometimes of a surprising regularity. I gave here above an example at $ 1.15 million per carat for a diamond of same color and same clarity.
The Princie was sold $ 1.135 million per carat including premium. Its exceptional size has generated an extraordinary price: $ 39.3 million including premium.
This diamond has not been seen publicly since 1960. It was then bought £ 46K at auction by Van Cleef & Arpels, who named it the Princie Diamond by friendship with the young prince of Baroda.
I found on the web a page made before the recent resurgence of the Princie Diamond, in which it is fifth in a list of the most famous pink diamonds, but with a wrong color shade.
Its true color, fancy intense pink, is a pleasant surprise, because this is one of the best and rarest colors. The 24.78 carats Graff Pink, sold CHF 45.4 million including premium (U.S. $ 1.85 million per carat) by Sotheby's on November 16, 2010 is also a fancy intense pink.
The provenance of the Princie was not revealed in 1960. The press release from Christie's tells that the seller was the Nizam of Hyderabad himself, which supports the hypothesis that this diamond had been extracted from Golconda.
Unfortunately, its VS2 clarity is not excellent. The Graff Pink, VVS2, is better by two grades.
On 6 October 2010, Sotheby's sold HK $ 60M including premium a VS2 fancy vivid pink weighing 6.43 carats, which approximately corresponds to U.S. $ 1.15 million per carat.
POST SALE COMMENT
The market is sometimes of a surprising regularity. I gave here above an example at $ 1.15 million per carat for a diamond of same color and same clarity.
The Princie was sold $ 1.135 million per carat including premium. Its exceptional size has generated an extraordinary price: $ 39.3 million including premium.
1960 The Mystery of the Pink Room
2012 SOLD 23.5 M£ including premium
The art of Klein was mystical. His monochromes were the elements of a trinity. The colors he selected were the IKB intense blue, the madder pink and gold, more expressive than the three primary colors of Chevreul.
He spreads his color on canvas. Suddenly, like Kandinsky discovering by chance (according to legend) that he had just invented abstract art, Klein is rising to the rank of a fundamental artistic figure a sponge soaked with paint which he just used.
Thus begins around 1959 the series of RE (Reliefs Eponges or Sponge Reliefs) by Yves Klein: transforming his panels into sculpture, the artist dispositions sponges and pebbles as a set that remains beautifully monochrome.
He then creates a new universe full of these strange figures pushing him in the following of the mineral world of Tanguy. But Tanguy died in 1955, and the space conquest had meanwhile started with its imaginary craters and lifeless rocks.
Fontana did not miss it. He briefly owned a blue sponge relief of 1959, 104 x 105 x 10 cm, which is now estimated £ 6M, for sale by Christie's in London on June 27. Here is the link to the catalog.
In 1961 in Krefeld, an exhibition demonstrates the clash of colors of Klein's trinity by ably attributing a different room to each color. Two artworks made in 1960 are particularly noticed.
The blue room is dominated by Archisponge, 200 x 165 cm, which was sold $ 21.4 million including premium at Sotheby's on November 11, 2008. The catalog did not indicate the thickness.
In the same next sale as above, on June 27 in London, Christie's sells the masterpiece of the pink room, 199 x 153 x 16 cm. Here is the link to the catalog. The estimate is not published.
Its mysterious title, Le Rose du Bleu, does not doubt the purity of the madder pigment but indicates that the artist attempts a unified vision of his Pink with the immaterial symbol of his basic Blue.
Both artworks for the next sale are shown in the film shared by Christie's Multimedia.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good results for both Sponge Reliefs: £ 23.5 million including premium for the pink, and £ 7.7 million including premium for the blue.
He spreads his color on canvas. Suddenly, like Kandinsky discovering by chance (according to legend) that he had just invented abstract art, Klein is rising to the rank of a fundamental artistic figure a sponge soaked with paint which he just used.
Thus begins around 1959 the series of RE (Reliefs Eponges or Sponge Reliefs) by Yves Klein: transforming his panels into sculpture, the artist dispositions sponges and pebbles as a set that remains beautifully monochrome.
He then creates a new universe full of these strange figures pushing him in the following of the mineral world of Tanguy. But Tanguy died in 1955, and the space conquest had meanwhile started with its imaginary craters and lifeless rocks.
Fontana did not miss it. He briefly owned a blue sponge relief of 1959, 104 x 105 x 10 cm, which is now estimated £ 6M, for sale by Christie's in London on June 27. Here is the link to the catalog.
In 1961 in Krefeld, an exhibition demonstrates the clash of colors of Klein's trinity by ably attributing a different room to each color. Two artworks made in 1960 are particularly noticed.
The blue room is dominated by Archisponge, 200 x 165 cm, which was sold $ 21.4 million including premium at Sotheby's on November 11, 2008. The catalog did not indicate the thickness.
In the same next sale as above, on June 27 in London, Christie's sells the masterpiece of the pink room, 199 x 153 x 16 cm. Here is the link to the catalog. The estimate is not published.
Its mysterious title, Le Rose du Bleu, does not doubt the purity of the madder pigment but indicates that the artist attempts a unified vision of his Pink with the immaterial symbol of his basic Blue.
Both artworks for the next sale are shown in the film shared by Christie's Multimedia.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good results for both Sponge Reliefs: £ 23.5 million including premium for the pink, and £ 7.7 million including premium for the blue.
1960-1966 The Flag of Modern Art
2010 SOLD 28.6 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Listen to what Christie's said in a press release issued on March 2:
"Jasper Johns' Flag paintings are credited as the first icons of Pop Art, ending the supremacy of the Abstract Expressionism of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, and opening the gates to the everyday consumer images of Warhol and Lichtenstein."
In this year 2010 when the price of iconic lots of all categories has no limitations, this statement may seem prophetic.
Leo Castelli, who was the dealer for Johns, had kept a Flag of 1958. His son just sold it to Steven Cohen in a private sale for a price that could be about $ 110 million. This information was published and illustrated yesterday in The New York Times.
Christie's release announced a Flag painted between 1960 and 1966, for sale on May 11 in New York. Measuring 43 x 66 cm, it is twice smaller than the Castelli-Cohen's. Do not talk price today for this lot: let the market find its breath ... or not!
The technique of encaustic and newspaper on canvas creates a unique texture to these works, such as to fascinate the observer as much as a Rothko can do.
POST SALE COMMENT
The sale of the collection of Michael Crichton had been well publicized. This has helped the Flag, which was estimated $ 10 million, to reach $ 28.6 million including premium.
It was neither one of the first nor of the largest in the series, and its exact date has not been identified. In these circumstances, I conclude that the result is excellent.
Listen to what Christie's said in a press release issued on March 2:
"Jasper Johns' Flag paintings are credited as the first icons of Pop Art, ending the supremacy of the Abstract Expressionism of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, and opening the gates to the everyday consumer images of Warhol and Lichtenstein."
In this year 2010 when the price of iconic lots of all categories has no limitations, this statement may seem prophetic.
Leo Castelli, who was the dealer for Johns, had kept a Flag of 1958. His son just sold it to Steven Cohen in a private sale for a price that could be about $ 110 million. This information was published and illustrated yesterday in The New York Times.
Christie's release announced a Flag painted between 1960 and 1966, for sale on May 11 in New York. Measuring 43 x 66 cm, it is twice smaller than the Castelli-Cohen's. Do not talk price today for this lot: let the market find its breath ... or not!
The technique of encaustic and newspaper on canvas creates a unique texture to these works, such as to fascinate the observer as much as a Rothko can do.
POST SALE COMMENT
The sale of the collection of Michael Crichton had been well publicized. This has helped the Flag, which was estimated $ 10 million, to reach $ 28.6 million including premium.
It was neither one of the first nor of the largest in the series, and its exact date has not been identified. In these circumstances, I conclude that the result is excellent.
1960 Projection in Black and White
2017 SOLD for $ 20M including premium
Modern life creates new shapes that excite the formal research of the photographers. Franz Kline is close to them but he is a draftsman and a painter. He takes many sketches of the industrial structures of New York City and of his native Pennsylvania : beams of bridges, pylons, derricks.
At first this leads to nothing. Elaine de Kooning narrated the click. In 1948 Willem projects on a wall the image of a chair made by Franz. With the poor episcope of that time the geometry is jostled and the lines are bogged down. Franz is thrilled by this abstract projection of his ordinary figurative drawing.
Franz is neither a theoretician nor a surrealist. The lines of his projection compose a two-dimensional space to which an apparent impulse brings a three-dimensional illusion. Franz's painstaking work should not have been equated with the spontaneity of the Action painting of which he is often considered a leader. The rhythm of jazz is a fantasy that sometimes fits into his own style. On the other hand the jagged edges of his stripes bring him closer to Still and Rothko.
His paintings become monumental. An Untitled 200 x 280 cm painted in 1957 was sold for $ 40.4M including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2012.
On November 15 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 21 B Light Mechanic, oil on canvas 234 x 172 cm painted in 1960. The worn beams in deep black of his abstract mechanics are underlined by a subtle light gray projection that could have to be generated by the old episcope on another screen further away.
At first this leads to nothing. Elaine de Kooning narrated the click. In 1948 Willem projects on a wall the image of a chair made by Franz. With the poor episcope of that time the geometry is jostled and the lines are bogged down. Franz is thrilled by this abstract projection of his ordinary figurative drawing.
Franz is neither a theoretician nor a surrealist. The lines of his projection compose a two-dimensional space to which an apparent impulse brings a three-dimensional illusion. Franz's painstaking work should not have been equated with the spontaneity of the Action painting of which he is often considered a leader. The rhythm of jazz is a fantasy that sometimes fits into his own style. On the other hand the jagged edges of his stripes bring him closer to Still and Rothko.
His paintings become monumental. An Untitled 200 x 280 cm painted in 1957 was sold for $ 40.4M including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2012.
On November 15 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 21 B Light Mechanic, oil on canvas 234 x 172 cm painted in 1960. The worn beams in deep black of his abstract mechanics are underlined by a subtle light gray projection that could have to be generated by the old episcope on another screen further away.
1960 The Mystery of the Opposites
2017 SOLD for £ 14.4M including premium
In his deeply original way René Magritte is the less hermetic of the surrealists. His art is nothing more than lines and colors. His exegetes are far more complicated than himself. His themes disconcert by the incongruous mingling of the opposites : day and night, flesh and rock, animal and vegetable, or an object that floats freely in the sky.
In 1960, Magritte is looking for new themes involving the four primordial substances : water, air, earth, fire. The cloud, which is altogether immaterial and opaque, perpetually malleable, is a major figure of his Olympus.
On February 28 in London, Christie's sells La Corde sensible, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm which is a large size for this artist, lot 110 estimated £ 14M. Let us remind that the title of a work by Magritte is always a result of chance without a meaningful connection with the image.
The well-centered cloud is at its normal position in the sky above a landscape. It appears as laying and slightly entering into a monumental crystal coupe.
The mystery is multiple : Is the glass empty or full ? Is the cloud the cream of a cocktail ? What Gulliver will approach his lips onto this impossible vapor ? What is the true distance to the glass ? What is the reality of the landscape? What is the reality of our own world ? By its absence of animal or human being, La Corde sensible provides no mark.
In 1960, Magritte is looking for new themes involving the four primordial substances : water, air, earth, fire. The cloud, which is altogether immaterial and opaque, perpetually malleable, is a major figure of his Olympus.
On February 28 in London, Christie's sells La Corde sensible, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm which is a large size for this artist, lot 110 estimated £ 14M. Let us remind that the title of a work by Magritte is always a result of chance without a meaningful connection with the image.
The well-centered cloud is at its normal position in the sky above a landscape. It appears as laying and slightly entering into a monumental crystal coupe.
The mystery is multiple : Is the glass empty or full ? Is the cloud the cream of a cocktail ? What Gulliver will approach his lips onto this impossible vapor ? What is the true distance to the glass ? What is the reality of the landscape? What is the reality of our own world ? By its absence of animal or human being, La Corde sensible provides no mark.
1960 Mitchell with or without Birds
2018 SOLD for $ 14M including premium
Joan Mitchell moved permanently to Paris in 1959, the year when she also began her affair with Riopelle. Her studio in rue Frémicourt is far from intellectual communities, perhaps to better preserve the authenticity and originality of her abstract creativity inspired by the colors of nature.
Despite the illusion of spontaneity close to the Action Painting, her art is the result of a meticulous preparation. Her style changes after she arrives in Paris. It brings her solution to the great ambition of the abstract expressionists to offer the visitor an infinite vision without frame : it gathers a multicolored centrifugal energy in the center of very large canvases whose edges are only reached by apparent splashes.
On November 13 in New York, Christie's sells a 296 x 200 cm oil on canvas painted in 1960, lot 14 B estimated $ 12M. An Untitled 240 x 204 cm painted in the same year and same style was sold for $ 12M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2014.
Joan gave titles to the works which she considered the most evocative. The painting that comes on sale is named 12 Hawks at 3 O'Clock. The title in English cannot be linked to some Parisian surrealist poetry. The work also has no particularity at that time position on a clock dial.
In her attention to nature, Joan included the birds. 12 hawks at 3:00 is certainly referring to reserves for the protection of raptors in which birdwatchers recorded the flight of birds with that level of detail.
Joan had always stated a great admiration for Le Champ de Blé aux Corbeaux, considered as the ultimate and premonitory work by Vincent van Gogh. In the final phase of her life, she will paint a colorful composition inspired by this artwork, titled No Birds in a poignant effort to force optimism.
Despite the illusion of spontaneity close to the Action Painting, her art is the result of a meticulous preparation. Her style changes after she arrives in Paris. It brings her solution to the great ambition of the abstract expressionists to offer the visitor an infinite vision without frame : it gathers a multicolored centrifugal energy in the center of very large canvases whose edges are only reached by apparent splashes.
On November 13 in New York, Christie's sells a 296 x 200 cm oil on canvas painted in 1960, lot 14 B estimated $ 12M. An Untitled 240 x 204 cm painted in the same year and same style was sold for $ 12M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2014.
Joan gave titles to the works which she considered the most evocative. The painting that comes on sale is named 12 Hawks at 3 O'Clock. The title in English cannot be linked to some Parisian surrealist poetry. The work also has no particularity at that time position on a clock dial.
In her attention to nature, Joan included the birds. 12 hawks at 3:00 is certainly referring to reserves for the protection of raptors in which birdwatchers recorded the flight of birds with that level of detail.
Joan had always stated a great admiration for Le Champ de Blé aux Corbeaux, considered as the ultimate and premonitory work by Vincent van Gogh. In the final phase of her life, she will paint a colorful composition inspired by this artwork, titled No Birds in a poignant effort to force optimism.
1960-1961 User Guide of the Blue Women
2010 SOLD 12.4 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Yves Klein was a judoka, passionate about the relationship between human being and human body. This explains his performance leap into the void, October 1960, which might seem incongruous with the rest of his works.
The realization of his monochrome paintings is also linked to his appeal for performance. To find inspiration when he painted a work, he had young nude women twirling around him.
Always looking for new techniques, he had the strange idea of using these females as he did with his brushes and sponges. They daubed themselves with a thick layer of the IKB deep blue paint that he had patented. In this equipment, they would press their naked bodies against the support of the work, paper or canvas. Such performances took place at the studio or in art galleries, and were sometimes cinematographed.
When the motion was vertical, the position of the chest and stomach was clearly visible. This justifies the term Anthropométries coined by the artist for this series. The same name applies to similar works, where the model was wallowing flat on a horizontal surface, in movements carefully guided by the master of ceremony dressed in formal attire.
In the latter case, the result becomes abstract. Christie's sells a good example on May 11 in New York, estimated $ 8 million. This large IKB on paper laid down on canvas, 1960 or 1961, 198 x 270 cm, is titled le Buffle (the Buffalo), an allusion to bestiality that might seem offensive to his kind models.
After Pollock, after Rothko, with Fontana, before Warhol, Klein has been instrumental in revolutionizing the artistic language.
POST SALE COMMENT
This result of a happening had seemed interesting for its technique, but I think that the ghostly bodyprints made vertically are more exciting. I consider that the price obtained, $ 12.4 million including premium, is excellent.
Yves Klein was a judoka, passionate about the relationship between human being and human body. This explains his performance leap into the void, October 1960, which might seem incongruous with the rest of his works.
The realization of his monochrome paintings is also linked to his appeal for performance. To find inspiration when he painted a work, he had young nude women twirling around him.
Always looking for new techniques, he had the strange idea of using these females as he did with his brushes and sponges. They daubed themselves with a thick layer of the IKB deep blue paint that he had patented. In this equipment, they would press their naked bodies against the support of the work, paper or canvas. Such performances took place at the studio or in art galleries, and were sometimes cinematographed.
When the motion was vertical, the position of the chest and stomach was clearly visible. This justifies the term Anthropométries coined by the artist for this series. The same name applies to similar works, where the model was wallowing flat on a horizontal surface, in movements carefully guided by the master of ceremony dressed in formal attire.
In the latter case, the result becomes abstract. Christie's sells a good example on May 11 in New York, estimated $ 8 million. This large IKB on paper laid down on canvas, 1960 or 1961, 198 x 270 cm, is titled le Buffle (the Buffalo), an allusion to bestiality that might seem offensive to his kind models.
After Pollock, after Rothko, with Fontana, before Warhol, Klein has been instrumental in revolutionizing the artistic language.
POST SALE COMMENT
This result of a happening had seemed interesting for its technique, but I think that the ghostly bodyprints made vertically are more exciting. I consider that the price obtained, $ 12.4 million including premium, is excellent.
1960 Prepared for Competizione
2012 SOLD 11.3 M$ including premium
Better than any other brand, Ferrari perfectly managed to entice their wealthy clients who dreamed being assimilated with the champions of the circuits.
The star model launched in 1958 cleverly maintains this ambiguity: the Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder is a 250, like the Testa Rossa, and not even a spyder as it is a cabriolet.
Two chassis versions existed: LWB (long wheel base) and SWB (short wheel base). These models often come in the auctions and provide opportunities to keep the odds on the favorite version of the market. Remember in this exciting exercise to make sure that the car is with "matching numbers", meaning that it is offered with its original equipment.
There are even better. 12 of these grand touring cars were made in a Competizione configuration, specially benefiting from a lightweight alloy body. 9 of them are LWB and 3 are SWB. They are the best Ferrari cars of their time, making a transition between the 250 TR and the fabulous 250 GTO, created in 1962.
In August 2010 at Pebble Beach, Gooding sold $ 7.26 million including premium a Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spyder Competizione of 1959.
The car of the same model for sale by Gooding on August 18, also at Pebble Beach, was made on the following year, 1960. It is estimated $ 7M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
There is no doubt: the rare configuration for "Competizione" provides an advantage over the basic model. The price obtained is remarkable: $ 10.25 million hammer, 11.3 million including premium.
The comparison with the 2010 result mentioned above concerning a similar example demonstrates the growth of the market for top end collection cars.
The star model launched in 1958 cleverly maintains this ambiguity: the Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder is a 250, like the Testa Rossa, and not even a spyder as it is a cabriolet.
Two chassis versions existed: LWB (long wheel base) and SWB (short wheel base). These models often come in the auctions and provide opportunities to keep the odds on the favorite version of the market. Remember in this exciting exercise to make sure that the car is with "matching numbers", meaning that it is offered with its original equipment.
There are even better. 12 of these grand touring cars were made in a Competizione configuration, specially benefiting from a lightweight alloy body. 9 of them are LWB and 3 are SWB. They are the best Ferrari cars of their time, making a transition between the 250 TR and the fabulous 250 GTO, created in 1962.
In August 2010 at Pebble Beach, Gooding sold $ 7.26 million including premium a Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spyder Competizione of 1959.
The car of the same model for sale by Gooding on August 18, also at Pebble Beach, was made on the following year, 1960. It is estimated $ 7M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
There is no doubt: the rare configuration for "Competizione" provides an advantage over the basic model. The price obtained is remarkable: $ 10.25 million hammer, 11.3 million including premium.
The comparison with the 2010 result mentioned above concerning a similar example demonstrates the growth of the market for top end collection cars.
1960 An Anger of Joan Mitchell
2011 SOLD 9.3 M$ including premium
Joan Mitchell settles in Paris in 1959 with Jean-Paul Riopelle. Welcomed by the artistic community, she manages to realize her violent temper, becoming one of the best artists of abstract expressionism.
From her training and beginnings in the United States, she learned the lesson of Jackson Pollock, with significant differences for the aesthetic effect of the art. Her pure colors are bright. Concentrated in the middle of the canvas, they provide the illusion of an explosion with many drips. Less spontaneous than Pollock, Mitchell reworked her paintings until reaching the desired balance between colors.
An oil painting of large size, 243 x 200 cm, made circa 1960 in her early Parisian life, was sold $ 3.2 million including premium at Christie's on May 16, 2007.
This work is now estimated $ 4M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 9. Considering that its presentation at Christie's four years ago helped to better appreciate this particularly creative period in the career of Mitchell, this gain is reasonable.
POST SALE COMMENT
As in 2007, this painting is confirmed as a masterpiece of Joan Mitchell. Sold $ 9.3 million including premium, it demonstrates the dramatic and deserved evolution of the rating of this artist.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
From her training and beginnings in the United States, she learned the lesson of Jackson Pollock, with significant differences for the aesthetic effect of the art. Her pure colors are bright. Concentrated in the middle of the canvas, they provide the illusion of an explosion with many drips. Less spontaneous than Pollock, Mitchell reworked her paintings until reaching the desired balance between colors.
An oil painting of large size, 243 x 200 cm, made circa 1960 in her early Parisian life, was sold $ 3.2 million including premium at Christie's on May 16, 2007.
This work is now estimated $ 4M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 9. Considering that its presentation at Christie's four years ago helped to better appreciate this particularly creative period in the career of Mitchell, this gain is reasonable.
POST SALE COMMENT
As in 2007, this painting is confirmed as a masterpiece of Joan Mitchell. Sold $ 9.3 million including premium, it demonstrates the dramatic and deserved evolution of the rating of this artist.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
