1966
See also : Bacon Bacon 1963-70 Hockney Self portrait II Warhol Celebrities by Warhol Zao Wou-Ki Richter < 1986 Los Angeles Ferrari > 1962 US cars Cars 1965-67
1966 Four Marlons by Warhol
2014 SOLD for $ 70M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
Andy Warhol is an interpreter of the society of his time. He was a film buff and the pictorial images which made him famous in 1962 were a last resort. He multiplies cinematographic experiences as producer and director and announces in 1965 that he will devote himself entirely to cinema, with a clear tendency for the underground.
The star actor of the Warhol generation is Marlon Brando. In 1953 in The Wild One, Brando and his gang of bikers embody the rebellion against the established order. The young man's relentless gaze symbolizes the new force that can overturn the civilization.
Cinema occupies a large place in Warhol's pictorial art. Even Elvis, the king of music hall, is shown by an image taken from a movie. In 1963 Warhol chose an advertising image for The Wild One, showing Marlon from the front, on his motorcycle. With his leather jacket and his cap, he is the archetype of the new lawless thug. Andy then makes a single painting, on a silver background.
Warhol resumes in 1966 the theme of Marlon, with the same image. Contrary to his habits, he seems to have chosen to revisit this theme himself, without a commission from a dealer and without a prompting from a friend.
He prepares eight opuses of this Marlon by screen printing on raw unprimed linen, bringing a strange color as well as a great shine, with or without the large empty margin designed to unbalance the reading of the image. Only three of them are repeated images.
A Marlon with a left margin, 104 x 117 cm, was sold for $ 23.7M including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2012. A double Marlon 213 x 243 cm with a very wide margin on the left was sold for $ 32.5M including premium on May 13, 2008, also by Christie's.
The two by two quad 206 x 165 cm without margins has no equivalent in that theme. It was sold for $ 70M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 10.
The star actor of the Warhol generation is Marlon Brando. In 1953 in The Wild One, Brando and his gang of bikers embody the rebellion against the established order. The young man's relentless gaze symbolizes the new force that can overturn the civilization.
Cinema occupies a large place in Warhol's pictorial art. Even Elvis, the king of music hall, is shown by an image taken from a movie. In 1963 Warhol chose an advertising image for The Wild One, showing Marlon from the front, on his motorcycle. With his leather jacket and his cap, he is the archetype of the new lawless thug. Andy then makes a single painting, on a silver background.
Warhol resumes in 1966 the theme of Marlon, with the same image. Contrary to his habits, he seems to have chosen to revisit this theme himself, without a commission from a dealer and without a prompting from a friend.
He prepares eight opuses of this Marlon by screen printing on raw unprimed linen, bringing a strange color as well as a great shine, with or without the large empty margin designed to unbalance the reading of the image. Only three of them are repeated images.
A Marlon with a left margin, 104 x 117 cm, was sold for $ 23.7M including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2012. A double Marlon 213 x 243 cm with a very wide margin on the left was sold for $ 32.5M including premium on May 13, 2008, also by Christie's.
The two by two quad 206 x 165 cm without margins has no equivalent in that theme. It was sold for $ 70M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 10.
1966 Where are All his Lovers
2014 SOLD 42 M£ including premium
The sentimental history of Francis Bacon is complex. Dominated by the sadistic Peter, he himself went to be abusive to George. The relationship of Francis with alcohol is not unrelated with this apparent contradiction.
The painting of portraits in large size does not bring the impossible key to the temperament of Francis but enables to track his attempts of communication in life and beyond. He invariably used photos by John Deakin to make recognizable some personal elements of his models within the disasters of heads and bodies.
In 1962, just after the death of Peter in a drinking party, Francis painted Study for Portrait of PL, oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm. The man comfortably seated cross-legged on a sofa is discussing post-mortem while holding a glass of wine. This painting was estimated $ 30 million at Sotheby's on May 14, 2013. It has not been sold.
On February 13 in London, Christie's sells a portrait of George in nearly identical dimensions, painted in 1966 during the sitter's lifetime, lot 10 in the catalog. This painting is announced in the region of £ 30M by the press release.
The huge body of the boxer, probably naked, is writhing on a tiny stool. He communicates with a crooked mouth and an inexpressive gaze. Papers on the rug provide a link to his interlocutor. The physical strength of the body is balanced with the apparent size of the empty room looking enlarged like through a fish eye lens.
On 9 May 2012, Sotheby's sold $ 45 million including premium another portrait of George, again in the same size. Painted in 1976, five years after the suicide of his lover, this haunted image is one of the masterpieces by Francis.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Portraits of George Dyer by Francis Bacon are highly appreciated by the fans of the artist. This one was sold for £ 42M including premium.
The painting of portraits in large size does not bring the impossible key to the temperament of Francis but enables to track his attempts of communication in life and beyond. He invariably used photos by John Deakin to make recognizable some personal elements of his models within the disasters of heads and bodies.
In 1962, just after the death of Peter in a drinking party, Francis painted Study for Portrait of PL, oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm. The man comfortably seated cross-legged on a sofa is discussing post-mortem while holding a glass of wine. This painting was estimated $ 30 million at Sotheby's on May 14, 2013. It has not been sold.
On February 13 in London, Christie's sells a portrait of George in nearly identical dimensions, painted in 1966 during the sitter's lifetime, lot 10 in the catalog. This painting is announced in the region of £ 30M by the press release.
The huge body of the boxer, probably naked, is writhing on a tiny stool. He communicates with a crooked mouth and an inexpressive gaze. Papers on the rug provide a link to his interlocutor. The physical strength of the body is balanced with the apparent size of the empty room looking enlarged like through a fish eye lens.
On 9 May 2012, Sotheby's sold $ 45 million including premium another portrait of George, again in the same size. Painted in 1976, five years after the suicide of his lover, this haunted image is one of the masterpieces by Francis.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Portraits of George Dyer by Francis Bacon are highly appreciated by the fans of the artist. This one was sold for £ 42M including premium.
1966 The Killing Love of Francis Bacon
2017 SOLD for $ 39M including premium
In his relationship with Peter, Francis had the role of the victim of a sadist. After Peter, his choice to love George is an experience with a younger man, stronger and more handsome than him. This connection with a thug without culture disturbs the friends of Francis, which adds to his pleasure.
George enters the intimacy of Francis without being involved in his intellectual community. Addicted to alcohol and tobacco and probably naive, he does not see the danger. Francis, who spoke a lot throughout his career, says to others : "Death is desire" or "You kill the thing you love".
The triptychs with front face and profiles in life size are a suitable format for Francis. In painting the portraits of his friends, he studies to what extent his own passions are out of range from any conventional ideal. The reason why Francis's art is fascinating is that he goes so far in introspection up to overcoming the bounds of decency.
George's first triptych, in 1963 on black ground, already includes the distortions that erase the age of the sitter by demeaning the features of the face. It was sold for $ 52M including premium by Christie's on May 17, 2017.
In 1964, two triptychs on a light back express further the banality and stupidity of the model. One of them was sold for £ 26.7M including premium by Sotheby's on June 30, 2014.
On November 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells a triptych on a black background painted in 1966, lot 40 estimated $ 35M. In left and middle images, the crushed nose and the semi-spherical hollows of the orbits have killed any possibility of empathy.
In the same year in large format, George tries to discuss but his disarticulated and sticky body prevents communication. This Portrait of George Dyer Talking, 198 x 147 cm, was sold for £ 42M including premium by Christie's on February 13, 2014.
George enters the intimacy of Francis without being involved in his intellectual community. Addicted to alcohol and tobacco and probably naive, he does not see the danger. Francis, who spoke a lot throughout his career, says to others : "Death is desire" or "You kill the thing you love".
The triptychs with front face and profiles in life size are a suitable format for Francis. In painting the portraits of his friends, he studies to what extent his own passions are out of range from any conventional ideal. The reason why Francis's art is fascinating is that he goes so far in introspection up to overcoming the bounds of decency.
George's first triptych, in 1963 on black ground, already includes the distortions that erase the age of the sitter by demeaning the features of the face. It was sold for $ 52M including premium by Christie's on May 17, 2017.
In 1964, two triptychs on a light back express further the banality and stupidity of the model. One of them was sold for £ 26.7M including premium by Sotheby's on June 30, 2014.
On November 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells a triptych on a black background painted in 1966, lot 40 estimated $ 35M. In left and middle images, the crushed nose and the semi-spherical hollows of the orbits have killed any possibility of empathy.
In the same year in large format, George tries to discuss but his disarticulated and sticky body prevents communication. This Portrait of George Dyer Talking, 198 x 147 cm, was sold for £ 42M including premium by Christie's on February 13, 2014.
1966 Hidden Hedonism in California
2020 SOLD for £ 24M including premium
In 1964 the young David Hockney searches for a Heaven on earth. His plane flies over San Bernardino. His first vision of California is the pattern of pools hidden behind the bungalows, which allow the residents to discreetly practice all forms of hedonism under the bright sun.
Back in California in 1966, David is very excited by an instantaneous color photo on the cover of a swimming pool construction manual. The foreground is a diving board. The water is agitated by the splash that has just been caused by an invisible diver.
The artist copies the photo into a first painted version, A Little Splash, 40 x 50 cm. The painting liberates the theme from its documentary aspect. This scene where no character is left visible symbolizes with much more power the joy of living. The four edges of the canvas are not painted, in order to imitate the framing of a photo.
The effect is spectacular. David painstakingly executes two large acrylics, The Splash, 183 x 183 cm, before the end of the year, and A Bigger Splash, 242 x 244 cm, in the following year. The artist later had fun reminding that he spent two weeks expressing a splash that could not last more than two seconds.
The Splash was sold for £ 2.9M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 2006, a very high price for this artist at that time, and is estimated £ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 11, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Hockney offers in his art an interpretation of his fantasy, without seeking realism. For example, the horizon remains inspired by the photographic model but is extended through the bungalow without it being possible to decide whether it is a perspective or a reflection. A similar surreal illusion appears in a work from the same period, Beverly Hills Housewife, sold for $ 7.9M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2009.
A minimalist architecture better represents Californian homes. The roof in The Splash, still in conformance with the photo from the swimming pool marketing, is indeed too classic. It will be removed in the Bigger Splash and the BH Housewife paintings.
Back in California in 1966, David is very excited by an instantaneous color photo on the cover of a swimming pool construction manual. The foreground is a diving board. The water is agitated by the splash that has just been caused by an invisible diver.
The artist copies the photo into a first painted version, A Little Splash, 40 x 50 cm. The painting liberates the theme from its documentary aspect. This scene where no character is left visible symbolizes with much more power the joy of living. The four edges of the canvas are not painted, in order to imitate the framing of a photo.
The effect is spectacular. David painstakingly executes two large acrylics, The Splash, 183 x 183 cm, before the end of the year, and A Bigger Splash, 242 x 244 cm, in the following year. The artist later had fun reminding that he spent two weeks expressing a splash that could not last more than two seconds.
The Splash was sold for £ 2.9M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 2006, a very high price for this artist at that time, and is estimated £ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 11, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Hockney offers in his art an interpretation of his fantasy, without seeking realism. For example, the horizon remains inspired by the photographic model but is extended through the bungalow without it being possible to decide whether it is a perspective or a reflection. A similar surreal illusion appears in a work from the same period, Beverly Hills Housewife, sold for $ 7.9M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2009.
A minimalist architecture better represents Californian homes. The roof in The Splash, still in conformance with the photo from the swimming pool marketing, is indeed too classic. It will be removed in the Bigger Splash and the BH Housewife paintings.
1966 The Marlon Myth
2012 SOLD 23.7 M$ including premium
The image of Marlon Brando recovered by Andy Warhol in 1966 is a result of his consideration of the threats against the American dream. The challenge is everywhere, against the war in Vietnam, for racial equality, against the social establishment, for non-violence.
In his 1953 film the Wild One, Marlon is the leader of a team of motorcyclists busy to terrorize. The young man is the archetype and the archangel of the new rebels without a cause. Andy uses a publicity still on which the modern gang leader rides his Triumph.
The time is still for experimentation. In a new refinement, Andy uses a raw linen canvas, creating a particular shining in his monochrome printing.
A double Marlon, 213 x 243 cm, was sold for $ 32M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2008. The left margin, much larger than the image, and the monochromy position this view in the following of the disasters, as if Andy had made his choice between his attraction to the first movies played by Marlon and the threats brought by the thugs.
With a less obsessive margin, a simple Marlon, 104 x 117 cm, is estimated $ 15M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 14.
POST SALE COMMENT
After the early successes, 1966 is a transition period for Warhol. The Marlon series express his desires and doubts. This beautiful example has been sold $ 23.7 million including premium.
In his 1953 film the Wild One, Marlon is the leader of a team of motorcyclists busy to terrorize. The young man is the archetype and the archangel of the new rebels without a cause. Andy uses a publicity still on which the modern gang leader rides his Triumph.
The time is still for experimentation. In a new refinement, Andy uses a raw linen canvas, creating a particular shining in his monochrome printing.
A double Marlon, 213 x 243 cm, was sold for $ 32M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2008. The left margin, much larger than the image, and the monochromy position this view in the following of the disasters, as if Andy had made his choice between his attraction to the first movies played by Marlon and the threats brought by the thugs.
With a less obsessive margin, a simple Marlon, 104 x 117 cm, is estimated $ 15M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 14.
POST SALE COMMENT
After the early successes, 1966 is a transition period for Warhol. The Marlon series express his desires and doubts. This beautiful example has been sold $ 23.7 million including premium.
1966 18.11.66 by Zao Wou-Ki
2020 SOLD for HK$ 114M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1966 Portrait of Isabel
2013 SOLD 11.3 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Isabel Rawsthorne was the artistic link between Paris and Soho, and between Giacometti and Bacon.
Arriving in Paris in 1934, the young English woman was a model for famous artists. Alberto Giacometti was mad about her. She was an artist in her own right and exhibited in London in 1949 with Francis Bacon.
She had many qualities to please Bacon. Widow and wife of famous composers, she was known to drink as much as they did. Francis dreamed of Paris. An activist and liberated woman, Isabel was welcomed in the Parisian avant-gardeswhere she met Bataille, Balthus, Sartre and Beauvoir, and many others.
With her, Alberto had invented the post-realistic psychological portrait. The portraitist should now totally empathize with his model, who should be recognized for his temperament more than by his physical appearance.
Francis appreciated Alberto and brought Isabel at the top of his pantheon. Far away from the disgusting erotic images of Muriel or Henrietta, he glorifies Isabel by showing her head in a triptych, a technique that he could only execute for friends very close to him: George, Lucian, and of course himself.
On June 26 in London, Sotheby's sells the fourth Isabel triptych, painted in 1966 in his usual format as three separate oils on canvas 35 x 30 cm each.
Francis mixes as always the look of the model with the future decomposition of the flesh. At 54, Isabel is no longer the beautiful girl whom Derain and Picasso had admired. The triptych by Francis is displaying a wonderful and friendly truth. It is estimated £ 10M.
The art of Francis should not be reduced to a nymphomaniac homosexuality. He is also the strongest portraitist of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
The triptych of Isabel was sold exactly at its lower estimate, £ 11.3 million including premium.
Isabel Rawsthorne was the artistic link between Paris and Soho, and between Giacometti and Bacon.
Arriving in Paris in 1934, the young English woman was a model for famous artists. Alberto Giacometti was mad about her. She was an artist in her own right and exhibited in London in 1949 with Francis Bacon.
She had many qualities to please Bacon. Widow and wife of famous composers, she was known to drink as much as they did. Francis dreamed of Paris. An activist and liberated woman, Isabel was welcomed in the Parisian avant-gardeswhere she met Bataille, Balthus, Sartre and Beauvoir, and many others.
With her, Alberto had invented the post-realistic psychological portrait. The portraitist should now totally empathize with his model, who should be recognized for his temperament more than by his physical appearance.
Francis appreciated Alberto and brought Isabel at the top of his pantheon. Far away from the disgusting erotic images of Muriel or Henrietta, he glorifies Isabel by showing her head in a triptych, a technique that he could only execute for friends very close to him: George, Lucian, and of course himself.
On June 26 in London, Sotheby's sells the fourth Isabel triptych, painted in 1966 in his usual format as three separate oils on canvas 35 x 30 cm each.
Francis mixes as always the look of the model with the future decomposition of the flesh. At 54, Isabel is no longer the beautiful girl whom Derain and Picasso had admired. The triptych by Francis is displaying a wonderful and friendly truth. It is estimated £ 10M.
The art of Francis should not be reduced to a nymphomaniac homosexuality. He is also the strongest portraitist of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
The triptych of Isabel was sold exactly at its lower estimate, £ 11.3 million including premium.
1966 Ferrari versus FIA
2017 SOLD for $ 14.5M including premium
The tussle between Enzo Ferrari and the FIA begins in 1962 with the 250 GTO whose very name, O meaning Omologato, indicates Ferrari's challenge to force the hand regarding the compliance with the rules. The best car can not be excluded from competitions, can it ? The FIA gives up. Momentarily only : in 1964 the approval of the 250 LM in GT is rejected.
Also in 1964 the 275 range with a 3.3 liter engine succeeds the 250 without interrupting the development of competition models in small or very small series.
The 275 GTB/C Speziale (C meaning Competizione) was realized in 1964 to prepare for the 1965 season. It was essentially an adaptation of the engine of the 250 LM on a shortened chassis of the 275 GTB. The effort is already focused on any possibility of weight gain. The FIA accepts its homologation with reluctance.
In 1966 another 275 GTB/C model goes further for a new weight gain of about 150 kg. The engineer Forghieri, who had developed the 250 GTO, now designed a chassis and body in very thin aluminum while the robustness of the rear is managed with fiberglass. The realization of the bodywork is a tour de force by Scaglietti. Its Achilles heel is the wire wheel. The approval is partial due to inconsistencies in the dossier concerning the carburetors.
Twelve 275 GTB/C are produced. Most of them will have a good competition history. One of them, maintained in great condition and considered as the most original of the group after a limited use, was sold for € 5,7M including premium by RM Auctions on May 10, 2014.
Collectors prefer cars with a racing history in period. The skill of Wayne Obry and his MPI company in Wisconsin enables to restore the used Ferraris in their original ex-factory configuration and performances. A 275 GTB/C restored by Obry is estimated $ 12M for sale by Gooding at Pebble Beach on August 19, lot 120.
Please watch the video in still views shared by the auction house. Here is also the link to the press release.
Also in 1964 the 275 range with a 3.3 liter engine succeeds the 250 without interrupting the development of competition models in small or very small series.
The 275 GTB/C Speziale (C meaning Competizione) was realized in 1964 to prepare for the 1965 season. It was essentially an adaptation of the engine of the 250 LM on a shortened chassis of the 275 GTB. The effort is already focused on any possibility of weight gain. The FIA accepts its homologation with reluctance.
In 1966 another 275 GTB/C model goes further for a new weight gain of about 150 kg. The engineer Forghieri, who had developed the 250 GTO, now designed a chassis and body in very thin aluminum while the robustness of the rear is managed with fiberglass. The realization of the bodywork is a tour de force by Scaglietti. Its Achilles heel is the wire wheel. The approval is partial due to inconsistencies in the dossier concerning the carburetors.
Twelve 275 GTB/C are produced. Most of them will have a good competition history. One of them, maintained in great condition and considered as the most original of the group after a limited use, was sold for € 5,7M including premium by RM Auctions on May 10, 2014.
Collectors prefer cars with a racing history in period. The skill of Wayne Obry and his MPI company in Wisconsin enables to restore the used Ferraris in their original ex-factory configuration and performances. A 275 GTB/C restored by Obry is estimated $ 12M for sale by Gooding at Pebble Beach on August 19, lot 120.
Please watch the video in still views shared by the auction house. Here is also the link to the press release.
1966 Gerhard Richter explores the Anti-Art
2010 SOLD 13.2 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In 1966, the art market did not know that Gerhard Richter will be one of the most important painters and theorists of the end of the century. His work will be complete, from figurative to abstract and from monochromatic to bright colors.
He was 34 years old. One hundred years before him, the traditionalists reviled the painters who were preparing their works by the photography in a quest for realism. Richter did the opposite. He choses a banal photo, black and white, in a first step which excludes the artistic creation. It projects the image onto the canvas which he paints, then he scrambles it by energetic brush strokes.
A painting by Richter resembles a bad image from a newspaper or from broadcast blurred up to the limit of readability. It is an artistic feat, first because the vagueness encourages the audience to imagine the real, second because at that time the bad images had already invaded our daily lives.
The Weserburg Museum of Bremen, founded in 1991, aims to support contemporary artistic creation. It could be proud to own an outstanding work of Richter. In a bold cultural gesture, it is commissioning Sotheby's to sell it.Richter was the rising star of 1966, and the museum prefers to discover and encourage the artists of today.
In more than 2 meters wide, Matrosen shows a group of sailors, in two rows like the photo of a sports team or a college class. This painting is estimated $ 6M, and the illustration is shared by Artdaily in an article prepared after a press conference organized by the museum. This will be one of the highlights of the evening sale in New York on November 9.
POST SALE COMMENT
The price, $ 13.2 million including premium, is an acknowledgement of the originality and depth of the artistic ideas of Richter at the outset of his career.
In 1966, the art market did not know that Gerhard Richter will be one of the most important painters and theorists of the end of the century. His work will be complete, from figurative to abstract and from monochromatic to bright colors.
He was 34 years old. One hundred years before him, the traditionalists reviled the painters who were preparing their works by the photography in a quest for realism. Richter did the opposite. He choses a banal photo, black and white, in a first step which excludes the artistic creation. It projects the image onto the canvas which he paints, then he scrambles it by energetic brush strokes.
A painting by Richter resembles a bad image from a newspaper or from broadcast blurred up to the limit of readability. It is an artistic feat, first because the vagueness encourages the audience to imagine the real, second because at that time the bad images had already invaded our daily lives.
The Weserburg Museum of Bremen, founded in 1991, aims to support contemporary artistic creation. It could be proud to own an outstanding work of Richter. In a bold cultural gesture, it is commissioning Sotheby's to sell it.Richter was the rising star of 1966, and the museum prefers to discover and encourage the artists of today.
In more than 2 meters wide, Matrosen shows a group of sailors, in two rows like the photo of a sports team or a college class. This painting is estimated $ 6M, and the illustration is shared by Artdaily in an article prepared after a press conference organized by the museum. This will be one of the highlights of the evening sale in New York on November 9.
POST SALE COMMENT
The price, $ 13.2 million including premium, is an acknowledgement of the originality and depth of the artistic ideas of Richter at the outset of his career.
1966 The Comedy of Art
2018 SOLD for $ 12.5M including premium
Edward Hopper was passionate about theater and cinema. The roles played by the actors brought him the human relations which he struggled to express in real life. Jo, married in 1924, was his unique muse and the manager of his work. It was difficult for them to live together as their temperaments were so different, but they succeeded.
In 1966 Edward revisits these two themes in a self-portrait with Jo. On a large empty stage, they make their final bow while holding their hands each other. Death was coming : Edward left in 1967 and Jo in 1968.
They have white clothes like Pierrot and Pierrette, the melancholic clown and his muse from the Commedia dell'Arte. The long cloth fits Edward's tall figure. Faces are wrinkled and made up. He is wearing the hat of Watteau's Pierrot.
This oil on canvas 74 x 102 cm is a poignant tribute to theater and the last fantasy of this austere illustrator of life. It has long belonged to Sinatra. It is estimated $ 12M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 16, lot 15.
In 1966 Edward revisits these two themes in a self-portrait with Jo. On a large empty stage, they make their final bow while holding their hands each other. Death was coming : Edward left in 1967 and Jo in 1968.
They have white clothes like Pierrot and Pierrette, the melancholic clown and his muse from the Commedia dell'Arte. The long cloth fits Edward's tall figure. Faces are wrinkled and made up. He is wearing the hat of Watteau's Pierrot.
This oil on canvas 74 x 102 cm is a poignant tribute to theater and the last fantasy of this austere illustrator of life. It has long belonged to Sinatra. It is estimated $ 12M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 16, lot 15.
1966 17.1.66 by Zao Wou-Ki
2019 SOLD for HK$ 99M including premium by Christie's
1966 Triumph for the Mk II
2018 SOLD for $ 9.8M including premium
In 1963 Ferrari is for sale. Ford Motor Company is interested but Enzo Ferrari himself is frustrating the negotiations. Henry Ford II (HF2) is furious. He wants to beat Ferrari in its most prestigious playground, at Le Mans.
Ford, which does not have an experience in developing a competition car, finds the necessary alliances including with Lola Cars, Shelby and Kar Kraft, and hires as project manager John Wyer who had ensured the achievements of Aston Martin. The development is entrusted to the new Ford Advanced Vehicles division created in England for this project identified with the reference GT40.
The first series, in 1964, is the Mk I with a 4.7 liter V8 engine. Aerodynamics is poorly designed and the results are bad. Meanwhile the arch-rival Ferrari won at Le Mans in 1965 for the sixth year in a row.
HF2 is stubborn. In 1966 you have to win at any price. The Mk II series is equipped with a 7-liter Ford V8 engine. Carroll Shelby replaced Wyer and transferred the maintenance to the United States. The technical problems observed on the early Mk I have been dealt with and the performances of the Mk IIs at Daytona and Sebring are promising.
The triumph occurred at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1966 in the presence of the boss. No less than eight Mk II and five Mk I entrusted to several private teams are qualified after the practice. Of these cars only three finish the race, all of them Mk II, but they occupy brilliantly the first three positions. For the first time an American brand has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
There is no reason to minimize this success, and the GT40 will win again the next three editions, in 1967 with a Mk IV and with a return of the Mk I in 1968 and 1969 following a rule change limiting the power. However it should also be reminded the very poor result of Ferrari in 1966, the first car of this brand being outpaced not only by the three Ford but also by four Porsche 906.
On August 24 in Monterey, RM Sotheby's sells a car from the winning trio : the Mk II ranked 3rd at Le Mans in 1966. After that race it was used as a promotional car and then as a development car for the Mk IIB series. Timed at 326 Km/h at Mulsanne in 1967, it meets HF2's target that his GT40 exceed 320 Km/h. It is estimated $ 9M, lot 124.
Ford, which does not have an experience in developing a competition car, finds the necessary alliances including with Lola Cars, Shelby and Kar Kraft, and hires as project manager John Wyer who had ensured the achievements of Aston Martin. The development is entrusted to the new Ford Advanced Vehicles division created in England for this project identified with the reference GT40.
The first series, in 1964, is the Mk I with a 4.7 liter V8 engine. Aerodynamics is poorly designed and the results are bad. Meanwhile the arch-rival Ferrari won at Le Mans in 1965 for the sixth year in a row.
HF2 is stubborn. In 1966 you have to win at any price. The Mk II series is equipped with a 7-liter Ford V8 engine. Carroll Shelby replaced Wyer and transferred the maintenance to the United States. The technical problems observed on the early Mk I have been dealt with and the performances of the Mk IIs at Daytona and Sebring are promising.
The triumph occurred at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1966 in the presence of the boss. No less than eight Mk II and five Mk I entrusted to several private teams are qualified after the practice. Of these cars only three finish the race, all of them Mk II, but they occupy brilliantly the first three positions. For the first time an American brand has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
There is no reason to minimize this success, and the GT40 will win again the next three editions, in 1967 with a Mk IV and with a return of the Mk I in 1968 and 1969 following a rule change limiting the power. However it should also be reminded the very poor result of Ferrari in 1966, the first car of this brand being outpaced not only by the three Ford but also by four Porsche 906.
On August 24 in Monterey, RM Sotheby's sells a car from the winning trio : the Mk II ranked 3rd at Le Mans in 1966. After that race it was used as a promotional car and then as a development car for the Mk IIB series. Timed at 326 Km/h at Mulsanne in 1967, it meets HF2's target that his GT40 exceed 320 Km/h. It is estimated $ 9M, lot 124.
