1967
See also : Zhang Daqian Cars Ferrari Cars 1960s Cars 1966-67 Germany II Richter < 1983 Hockney Picasso in Mougins Later Warhols Man and woman
1967 An Abyssal Rothko
2020 SOLD for $ 31M including premium
The Texan millionaire collectors John and Dominique de Menil enabled Rothko to achieve the culmination of his artistic process. The Rothko Chapel, started in 1964, is designed as a place of meditation.
Rothko always wanted the visitor to be mesmerized by his work. When you turn your back on the sun, you don't forget it. Inspired by Rembrandt's night scenes, he understands that dark colors are the best vehicle for transcendent meditation.
This project requires a special attention to light. Rothko sets up a new studio in New York, however a little worried about the difference in light between New York and Houston. His demands about the inner light of the chapel were such that the architect Philip Johnson had to give up.
For his dark hues, Rothko invents pigments that no one had needed before him. His traditional mingling of still wet layers increases the subtlety of his blocks, which can appear as monochrome from a distance but are absolutely not. De Menil will describe this set as an impenetrable abstract fortress on the threshold of the divine.
Rothko is getting old. Soon he can no longer paint on his large canvases himself and has to supervise assistants. Unlike the Seagram Murals, he goes through with this project. The fourteenth and last painting for the Rothko Chapel is ready in 1967. His career was interrupted at the beginning of the next year by a ruptured aneurysm from which he partially healed. The paintings will be installed in the chapel in 1971, one year after his death.
On October 6 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 173 x 153 cm painted in 1967 in the style of the Rothko Chapel, lot 11 estimated $ 30M. The image is made in two registers with various shades of dark red. The upper block is radiating. The lower block, smaller and darker, absorbs the light in a place that the artist had sometimes liked to reserve for a blinding white.
Rothko always wanted the visitor to be mesmerized by his work. When you turn your back on the sun, you don't forget it. Inspired by Rembrandt's night scenes, he understands that dark colors are the best vehicle for transcendent meditation.
This project requires a special attention to light. Rothko sets up a new studio in New York, however a little worried about the difference in light between New York and Houston. His demands about the inner light of the chapel were such that the architect Philip Johnson had to give up.
For his dark hues, Rothko invents pigments that no one had needed before him. His traditional mingling of still wet layers increases the subtlety of his blocks, which can appear as monochrome from a distance but are absolutely not. De Menil will describe this set as an impenetrable abstract fortress on the threshold of the divine.
Rothko is getting old. Soon he can no longer paint on his large canvases himself and has to supervise assistants. Unlike the Seagram Murals, he goes through with this project. The fourteenth and last painting for the Rothko Chapel is ready in 1967. His career was interrupted at the beginning of the next year by a ruptured aneurysm from which he partially healed. The paintings will be installed in the chapel in 1971, one year after his death.
On October 6 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 173 x 153 cm painted in 1967 in the style of the Rothko Chapel, lot 11 estimated $ 30M. The image is made in two registers with various shades of dark red. The upper block is radiating. The lower block, smaller and darker, absorbs the light in a place that the artist had sometimes liked to reserve for a blinding white.
1967 Ferrari 412P
2023 SOLD for $ 30M by Bonhams
The FIA introduced a Prototype class for the 1964 season, while the Grand Touring class got new rules requiring that the entering cars are based on a commercial production exceeding 100 units.
These changes disqualified the 250 GTO. Ferrari made a questionable decision by trying to cover both classes by the same development. The new 250 LM berlinetta was in due course rejected by the FIA as it was indeed not based on the 250 GT SWB. It was raced as a prototype in competition beside its sister model with an open cockpit, the 250 P.
The P series of mid engined rear wheel drive prototypes was operated by Ferrari with various models, all of them in very limited quantities. Many cars including the four 250 Ps were converted to upgraded models.
The 330 P3 with a 4 liter V-12 engine was raced in 1966. It was made in 3 units. In 1967 the 412 was its carbureted version. 330, referring to the individual volume of a cylinder, and 412, meaning 4 liter and 12 cylindres, are technically matching in the dual system of Ferrari nomenclatures.
The 412 P population is 4 including 2 upgraded 330 P3. The other 330 P3, unsuccessful in all its races in its original configuration, had been converted as the unique transitional P3/P4 after the 1966 Le Mans 24 and destroyed in 1968.
The 412 Ps were not retained for the works team. They were respectively supplied to NART and Filipinetti for the upgraded 330s, and to Ecurie Francorchamps and Maranello Concessionaires for the original 412s. The top speed of the model was 310 km/h.
The Maranello Concessionaires example is coached as a berlinetta by Fantuzzi. A painstaking 9 year restoration included the refurbishment of its original bodywork and livery to its earliest racing configuration. It is road legal and has been regularly used.
Despite an active racing history in period when it contributed to Ferrari's 1967 World's Constructors Championship short win against Porsche, it retains in matching numbers its 4 liter V-12 engine, the chassis and the gearbox. It was sold for $ 30M by Bonhams on August 18, 2023, lot 67.
A new change by the FIA in 1968 limited to 3 liters the capacity in the Prototype class. The Ferrari 4 liter P range was replaced by the 3 liter 312 P and Maranello Concessionaires terminated their racing team. 312 is equivalent to 250 in terms of Ferrari references.
These changes disqualified the 250 GTO. Ferrari made a questionable decision by trying to cover both classes by the same development. The new 250 LM berlinetta was in due course rejected by the FIA as it was indeed not based on the 250 GT SWB. It was raced as a prototype in competition beside its sister model with an open cockpit, the 250 P.
The P series of mid engined rear wheel drive prototypes was operated by Ferrari with various models, all of them in very limited quantities. Many cars including the four 250 Ps were converted to upgraded models.
The 330 P3 with a 4 liter V-12 engine was raced in 1966. It was made in 3 units. In 1967 the 412 was its carbureted version. 330, referring to the individual volume of a cylinder, and 412, meaning 4 liter and 12 cylindres, are technically matching in the dual system of Ferrari nomenclatures.
The 412 P population is 4 including 2 upgraded 330 P3. The other 330 P3, unsuccessful in all its races in its original configuration, had been converted as the unique transitional P3/P4 after the 1966 Le Mans 24 and destroyed in 1968.
The 412 Ps were not retained for the works team. They were respectively supplied to NART and Filipinetti for the upgraded 330s, and to Ecurie Francorchamps and Maranello Concessionaires for the original 412s. The top speed of the model was 310 km/h.
The Maranello Concessionaires example is coached as a berlinetta by Fantuzzi. A painstaking 9 year restoration included the refurbishment of its original bodywork and livery to its earliest racing configuration. It is road legal and has been regularly used.
Despite an active racing history in period when it contributed to Ferrari's 1967 World's Constructors Championship short win against Porsche, it retains in matching numbers its 4 liter V-12 engine, the chassis and the gearbox. It was sold for $ 30M by Bonhams on August 18, 2023, lot 67.
A new change by the FIA in 1968 limited to 3 liters the capacity in the Prototype class. The Ferrari 4 liter P range was replaced by the 3 liter 312 P and Maranello Concessionaires terminated their racing team. 312 is equivalent to 250 in terms of Ferrari references.
1967 Ferrari GTB/4 NART Spider
2013 SOLD for $ 27.5M by RM Auctions
The special series produced by Ferrari in the mid-1960s include the prettiest cars of all time, designed alternately by Pininfarina and Scaglietti. They also mark the end of a golden age. The rapid increase in production costs pushes to standardization and an industrial make is now unavoidable.
The models 275, 330 and 365 have replaced the 250. The latest Speciale are using these chassis. Alongside prototypes and concept cars, some of them have a target to try new ideas that can then be used in volume production.
Ferrari has always endeavored to flatter its American customers. The designations America, Superamerica and California attributed to high end variants are a convincing evidence of that fact.
Former winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Luigi Chinetti was a skilled agent of Ferrari in the United States. In 1958, he created the North American Racing Team (NART) that achieved very good results, in Europe also.
For his network of passionate customers, Chinetti negotiated in 1967 with Ferrari a special order for a new sports model to be built by Scaglietti on the 275 GTB chassis. This project was somehow a remake of the successful 250 GT California Spider created almost ten years earlier. Techniques have changed in the mean time. Unfortunately, production costs have risen. Times are hard for Ferrari, which had to put an end to the 250 GTO and escaped very narrowly an acquisition by Ford.
This rare 275 GTB/4 NART Spider (also spelled Spyder) appears as an outstanding post-GTO model fitted to arouse passions. Completed in January 1967 and repainted in dark metallic burgundy, the first car is driven in the same year by Faye Dunaway in The Thomas Crown Affair and admired without limit by one of Ferrari's most knowledgeable fans, Steve McQueen.
The price tag was $ 14,400 compared to the 9,200 for a standard 275 GTB. The American market did not meet the expectations of Chinetti who had hoped to order 25 units. Not only this series was limited to 10 cars but the last of them did not even join the North American NART whatever the reason. Released from factory in 1968, it was sold to a Spanish customer. Please watch the video shared by RM Auctions before it passed at auction on May 14, 2016, lot 254.
The original owner of the eighth 275 GTB/4 NART Spider enjoyed it so much that he refused to sell it to anybody including Steve McQueen despairing to replace the damaged sixth example. It remained in his family until it was sold for $ 27.5M for the benefit of charities by RM Auctions on August 16/17, 2013. Please watch the video shared by Petrolicious for the auction house.
Ferrari does not so much like the spiders and gives no further action after the delivery of that custom order which may be considered as a Speciale. Nevertheless this small convertible model is very efficient and highly elegant, and would later be imitated. Some owners of 275 GTB in more standard variants will even wish to rebuild their car like a NART Spider.
In the opposite, the 330 GTC Speciale coupe designed by Pininfarina is exhibited by Ferrari at the Brussels Motor Show in 1967. Only four cars are ordered by customers and hand built by Pininfarina. This highly rare car is a transitional model with a sloping nose that elongates the silhouette and an increased comfort including curved windows and air conditioning. The third 330 GTC Speciale was sold for $ 3.4M by Gooding on January 30, 2016, lot 145.
The models 275, 330 and 365 have replaced the 250. The latest Speciale are using these chassis. Alongside prototypes and concept cars, some of them have a target to try new ideas that can then be used in volume production.
Ferrari has always endeavored to flatter its American customers. The designations America, Superamerica and California attributed to high end variants are a convincing evidence of that fact.
Former winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Luigi Chinetti was a skilled agent of Ferrari in the United States. In 1958, he created the North American Racing Team (NART) that achieved very good results, in Europe also.
For his network of passionate customers, Chinetti negotiated in 1967 with Ferrari a special order for a new sports model to be built by Scaglietti on the 275 GTB chassis. This project was somehow a remake of the successful 250 GT California Spider created almost ten years earlier. Techniques have changed in the mean time. Unfortunately, production costs have risen. Times are hard for Ferrari, which had to put an end to the 250 GTO and escaped very narrowly an acquisition by Ford.
This rare 275 GTB/4 NART Spider (also spelled Spyder) appears as an outstanding post-GTO model fitted to arouse passions. Completed in January 1967 and repainted in dark metallic burgundy, the first car is driven in the same year by Faye Dunaway in The Thomas Crown Affair and admired without limit by one of Ferrari's most knowledgeable fans, Steve McQueen.
The price tag was $ 14,400 compared to the 9,200 for a standard 275 GTB. The American market did not meet the expectations of Chinetti who had hoped to order 25 units. Not only this series was limited to 10 cars but the last of them did not even join the North American NART whatever the reason. Released from factory in 1968, it was sold to a Spanish customer. Please watch the video shared by RM Auctions before it passed at auction on May 14, 2016, lot 254.
The original owner of the eighth 275 GTB/4 NART Spider enjoyed it so much that he refused to sell it to anybody including Steve McQueen despairing to replace the damaged sixth example. It remained in his family until it was sold for $ 27.5M for the benefit of charities by RM Auctions on August 16/17, 2013. Please watch the video shared by Petrolicious for the auction house.
Ferrari does not so much like the spiders and gives no further action after the delivery of that custom order which may be considered as a Speciale. Nevertheless this small convertible model is very efficient and highly elegant, and would later be imitated. Some owners of 275 GTB in more standard variants will even wish to rebuild their car like a NART Spider.
In the opposite, the 330 GTC Speciale coupe designed by Pininfarina is exhibited by Ferrari at the Brussels Motor Show in 1967. Only four cars are ordered by customers and hand built by Pininfarina. This highly rare car is a transitional model with a sloping nose that elongates the silhouette and an increased comfort including curved windows and air conditioning. The third 330 GTC Speciale was sold for $ 3.4M by Gooding on January 30, 2016, lot 145.
1967 Lawn Being Sprinkled by Hockney
2024 SOLD for $ 28.6M by Christie's
From his short mission in Egypt in 1963, David Hockney was impressed by the use of water for living in the warmest countries. Water has no proper permanent shape. It takes the form of its containers and escapes in droplets and mist.
For expressing his beloved California, David fronts the challenge of the ephemeral shape of water. A diver leaves a splash over him when he disappears below the surface, something like a peaceful eruption.
A lawn in California is critically needing water. In 1967 David expresses it in three paintings. Two of them have a couple of jets of suspended droplets that blur the view of the building behind.
The third opus is geometrically daring, with three rows of sprinklers in a quincunx pattern, each element throwing a triangular jet of vaporized water. The background is made of a poor dark barn without window like a nightmare of Hopper plus a multicolored fence. A palm tree and a pole represent the outer world.
Titled by the artist Lawn being sprinkled, this acrylic on canvas 152 x 152 cm was sold for $ 28.6M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 10 B.
For expressing his beloved California, David fronts the challenge of the ephemeral shape of water. A diver leaves a splash over him when he disappears below the surface, something like a peaceful eruption.
A lawn in California is critically needing water. In 1967 David expresses it in three paintings. Two of them have a couple of jets of suspended droplets that blur the view of the building behind.
The third opus is geometrically daring, with three rows of sprinklers in a quincunx pattern, each element throwing a triangular jet of vaporized water. The background is made of a poor dark barn without window like a nightmare of Hopper plus a multicolored fence. A palm tree and a pole represent the outer world.
Titled by the artist Lawn being sprinkled, this acrylic on canvas 152 x 152 cm was sold for $ 28.6M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 10 B.
1967 ZHANG DAQIAN
1
Temple at the Mountain Peak
2021 SOLD for HK$ 210M by Christie's
Zhang Daqian found a quiet shelter when he moved to the vicinity of Sao Paolo. The cultural links with his home country were nevertheless broken. Even his frequent travels had to exclude the Continental China.
His lush Garden of the Eight Virtues is an attempt to maintain a spirit of Chinese contemplation in his exile in the attire of an elderly scholar. From bottom to upwards, he looks at the lake, the pavilions on the shore, the towering imaginary mountains layered with forest, and the sky. In these conditions this former traditionalist develops an unprecedented pictural style, although he indulges in stating Tang and Song influences.
Some new paintings evoke the ancient China by their title and by the insertion at the completion of the creative process of small scattered houses according to the traditional style of drawing.
Ancient Temples amidst Clouds, ink and colors on gold paper 172 x 90 cm painted in 1965, is typical of the new style. The mountain is an overlapping splash of saturated twilight green and blue while the other sections are neat drawings. The buildings scattered atop come from his imagination, symbolizing the link to heavens operated by the monks. This hanging scroll was sold for HK $ 102M by Christie's on May 30, 2017, lot 8001.
Temple at the Mountain Peak looks like a remake of Ancient Temples amidst Clouds. It was painted for the use of a friend in 1967 in the same techniques but smaller size, 128 x 63 cm. The valley is more detailed but the temples are half hidden and the resplendent sky has been canceled. The artist had it mounted with enameled knobs in cloisonné blue and white.
This piece was sold by Christie's for HK $ 61M on November 30, 2010, lot 2644, and for HK $ 210M on May 24, 2021, lot 22. The catalogue suggests an inspiration from a trip made in California a few months earlier. This statement may be questioned.
His lush Garden of the Eight Virtues is an attempt to maintain a spirit of Chinese contemplation in his exile in the attire of an elderly scholar. From bottom to upwards, he looks at the lake, the pavilions on the shore, the towering imaginary mountains layered with forest, and the sky. In these conditions this former traditionalist develops an unprecedented pictural style, although he indulges in stating Tang and Song influences.
Some new paintings evoke the ancient China by their title and by the insertion at the completion of the creative process of small scattered houses according to the traditional style of drawing.
Ancient Temples amidst Clouds, ink and colors on gold paper 172 x 90 cm painted in 1965, is typical of the new style. The mountain is an overlapping splash of saturated twilight green and blue while the other sections are neat drawings. The buildings scattered atop come from his imagination, symbolizing the link to heavens operated by the monks. This hanging scroll was sold for HK $ 102M by Christie's on May 30, 2017, lot 8001.
Temple at the Mountain Peak looks like a remake of Ancient Temples amidst Clouds. It was painted for the use of a friend in 1967 in the same techniques but smaller size, 128 x 63 cm. The valley is more detailed but the temples are half hidden and the resplendent sky has been canceled. The artist had it mounted with enameled knobs in cloisonné blue and white.
This piece was sold by Christie's for HK $ 61M on November 30, 2010, lot 2644, and for HK $ 210M on May 24, 2021, lot 22. The catalogue suggests an inspiration from a trip made in California a few months earlier. This statement may be questioned.
2
Autumn Mountains in Twilight
2023 SOLD for HK$ 200M by Sotheby's
Mr and Mrs Kao Ling-mei assembled the Mei Yun Tang collection of works by Zhang Daqian. A selection of 25 works fetched HK $ 330M at Sotheby's on May 27, 2013, led by a Taoist Goddess made in 1955, sold for HK $ 74M, lot 7, and by An Invitation to Rusticate, a framed splashed ink on paper 67 x 188 cm made in 1966, sold for HK $ 72M, lot 24.
A keen traveller, Zhang expressed his impressions of the great landscapes on earth, sometimes many years later. The Invitation is based on Sao Paulo, near his residence, in the follow of the Swiss landscapes of 1965.
During the summer of 1967 the artist and his family visited California including the Yosemite. Autumn mountains in twilight, splashed and mingled colors on paper 174 x 104 cm painted in Brazil in September 1967, expresses in the warm red and gold colors of sunset the majestic verticality of the towering 900 m high El Capitan rock of the Yosemite, with accents of drifting white clouds. A comparison with the Autumn mountain at dusk by pre-Song artist Guan Tong also appealed Zhang.
Such rendering of an actual landscape parts from the near abstraction of the Swiss lake and precedes the 1969 view of the Yiwulu Mountains, sold for HK $ 163M by Sotheby's in 2019.
Autumn Mountains in Twilight was gifted by the artist to the late Mrs Kao and included in a large size portfolio published by Kao in Taiwan in 1968. It was sold for HK $ 200M on December 9, 2023 by Sotheby's, lot 9 in the second selection of works from the late Kao's Mei Yun Tang collection.
A keen traveller, Zhang expressed his impressions of the great landscapes on earth, sometimes many years later. The Invitation is based on Sao Paulo, near his residence, in the follow of the Swiss landscapes of 1965.
During the summer of 1967 the artist and his family visited California including the Yosemite. Autumn mountains in twilight, splashed and mingled colors on paper 174 x 104 cm painted in Brazil in September 1967, expresses in the warm red and gold colors of sunset the majestic verticality of the towering 900 m high El Capitan rock of the Yosemite, with accents of drifting white clouds. A comparison with the Autumn mountain at dusk by pre-Song artist Guan Tong also appealed Zhang.
Such rendering of an actual landscape parts from the near abstraction of the Swiss lake and precedes the 1969 view of the Yiwulu Mountains, sold for HK $ 163M by Sotheby's in 2019.
Autumn Mountains in Twilight was gifted by the artist to the late Mrs Kao and included in a large size portfolio published by Kao in Taiwan in 1968. It was sold for HK $ 200M on December 9, 2023 by Sotheby's, lot 9 in the second selection of works from the late Kao's Mei Yun Tang collection.
1967 Dschungel by Polke
2015 SOLD for $ 27M by Sotheby's
Dschungel (Jungle) is a dispersion on canvas 160 x 245 cm painted in 1967 by Sigmar Polke. The painting, including dark leaves in the foreground, is entirely built with small dots of color, as if it were an advertisement poster.
Parting away from the signature blur by Polke and Richter, the unidentified tropical scenery in backlighting is dominated by a huge sun rising or setting over the sea with a spectacular halo.
Dschungel was sold by Sotheby's for £ 5.75M on June 29, 2011 and for $ 27M on May 12, 2015, lot 8.
Polke did not have holidays in the idyllic jungle and has not seen New York yet. He warns against the false promises made by the consumer society. Only the rich benefit from capitalism. Stadtbild II, painted in 1968, is a demonstrator of that evolution in Polke's political sensitivity after he completed his studies in Düsseldorf.
The theme looks opposite to the Jungle as its skyscrapers lit in the night are now superseding the tropical sun, but the contrasts of colors are similarly striking and both artworks question the society by referring to the travel posters. Stadtbild II, dispersion on canvas 150 x 126 cm, was sold for £ 4.6M in the same 2011 sale as Dschungel, and for $ 8M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 20 B.
Parting away from the signature blur by Polke and Richter, the unidentified tropical scenery in backlighting is dominated by a huge sun rising or setting over the sea with a spectacular halo.
Dschungel was sold by Sotheby's for £ 5.75M on June 29, 2011 and for $ 27M on May 12, 2015, lot 8.
Polke did not have holidays in the idyllic jungle and has not seen New York yet. He warns against the false promises made by the consumer society. Only the rich benefit from capitalism. Stadtbild II, painted in 1968, is a demonstrator of that evolution in Polke's political sensitivity after he completed his studies in Düsseldorf.
The theme looks opposite to the Jungle as its skyscrapers lit in the night are now superseding the tropical sun, but the contrasts of colors are similarly striking and both artworks question the society by referring to the travel posters. Stadtbild II, dispersion on canvas 150 x 126 cm, was sold for £ 4.6M in the same 2011 sale as Dschungel, and for $ 8M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 20 B.
1967 Musical Waking with Picasso
2011 SOLD 23 M$ including premium
Since the Middle Ages, music accompanies the joy of living in love. In the morning, the musician is enchanting the lovers with the aubade. In the evening, he concludes the day with the serenade.
Jacqueline Picasso, naked, is still in bed. Beside her, a fiery bearded Faun plays the flute, symbolic instrument of original music. The hirsute character is her husband, Pablo, who is both the musician and the lover of this aubade.
Jacqueline is in ecstasy, both eyes wide open. On this oil on canvas 130 x 195 cm painted in 1967, the woman's face is barely cubist, but one of her cheeks is distorted as if it were drawn by the flute.
Picasso, then 86 years old, wanted to stay young forever and continue to enjoy the sensory pleasures. The friendly side of this otherwise exuberant work is the gift of music to the beloved.
This painting is estimated $ 18M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is outstanding when considering its period in the life of Picasso. It marks the ridiculous and inevitable conflict between sexuality and aging. It was sold $ 23M including premium.
Jacqueline Picasso, naked, is still in bed. Beside her, a fiery bearded Faun plays the flute, symbolic instrument of original music. The hirsute character is her husband, Pablo, who is both the musician and the lover of this aubade.
Jacqueline is in ecstasy, both eyes wide open. On this oil on canvas 130 x 195 cm painted in 1967, the woman's face is barely cubist, but one of her cheeks is distorted as if it were drawn by the flute.
Picasso, then 86 years old, wanted to stay young forever and continue to enjoy the sensory pleasures. The friendly side of this otherwise exuberant work is the gift of music to the beloved.
This painting is estimated $ 18M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is outstanding when considering its period in the life of Picasso. It marks the ridiculous and inevitable conflict between sexuality and aging. It was sold $ 23M including premium.
1967 Beyond Germany
2019 SOLD for $ 20.5M including premium
From 1963 to 1967 Gerhard Richter realizes his series of photo-paintings, appropriations in oil on canvas in giant format of bad black and white photos. For some images like Düsenjäger painted in 1963, he explains his choice with a personal memory. The rest is more difficult to decode, probably related to intimate feelings.
This unprecedented practice of blurred paintings on themes of extreme banality brings him fame and customers. He diversifies his techniques without losing his desire to shock, as for example with his Farbtafeln.
On November 13 in New York, Christie's sells one of the latest photo-paintings, oil on canvas 180 x 180 cm painted in 1967, lot 12 B estimated $ 18M.
This gray image shows the ferry from the Hamburg-Copenhagen transport line during the swallowing of a train, in a row between the terminal and the Baltic. Inaugurated four years before, this line named Vogelfluglinie is still a recent topic. The blur leads to the limits of readability.
Unique in Richter's imagery, this dehumanized picture comes in full opposition with his erotic and pornographic inspirations of the same period. The line of the bird flight could have been an invitation to travel beyond Germany. It is instead a witness to some repulsive ugliness in modern life. With Richter, everything seems simple but nothing is simple.
This unprecedented practice of blurred paintings on themes of extreme banality brings him fame and customers. He diversifies his techniques without losing his desire to shock, as for example with his Farbtafeln.
On November 13 in New York, Christie's sells one of the latest photo-paintings, oil on canvas 180 x 180 cm painted in 1967, lot 12 B estimated $ 18M.
This gray image shows the ferry from the Hamburg-Copenhagen transport line during the swallowing of a train, in a row between the terminal and the Baltic. Inaugurated four years before, this line named Vogelfluglinie is still a recent topic. The blur leads to the limits of readability.
Unique in Richter's imagery, this dehumanized picture comes in full opposition with his erotic and pornographic inspirations of the same period. The line of the bird flight could have been an invitation to travel beyond Germany. It is instead a witness to some repulsive ugliness in modern life. With Richter, everything seems simple but nothing is simple.
1967-1968 Big Electric Chair by Warhol
2014 SOLD for $ 20.4M by Sotheby's
Andy Warhol becomes famous in 1962 with his multiple paintings of Marilyn Monroe, started just after the death of the actress from a single image transferred to silkscreen. Geldzahler suggests that the artist treats the theme of death more explicitly. His macabre series is identified as Death and Disaster.
Paradoxically the most shocking image does not display death but only its instrument. In 1964 Warhol prepares a screen from a photo of the Sing Sing electric chair, in the middle of its big empty room, without any human presence. He makes 32 monochrome paintings 56 x 71 cm, each one in another color, conceived to be exhibited together. The chilling blue version was sold for $ 11.6M by Christie's on November 10, 2015.
In 1967 Warhol prepares for the next year a new exhibition that will focus on the two extreme themes, life and death, symbolized by the flowers and by the electric chair. He executes in 1967 and 1968 14 large paintings 137 x 188 cm of the electric chair based on an enlargement of the central part of the original image.
Most of these paintings are monochrome. One of them is an exception. The background consists of three oblique stripes that symbolize life : blue of the sky, green of the grass, pink of the flesh. The chair is printed twice, in army green and dark purple, more threatening by their very low contrast with the background.
This Big Electric Chair was sold for $ 20.4M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2014 and for $ 19M by Christie's on November 13, 2019, lot 20 B.
All the Warhol chairs were painted after the decommissioning of the Sing Sing instrument, decided in 1963. Indeed other similar chairs continued to function in the world, but it will never be clear whether Warhol had an activivist intent behind this morbid theme. In June 1968 the assassination attempt on Warhol by Valerie Solanas is a real encounter between the artist and death.
Paradoxically the most shocking image does not display death but only its instrument. In 1964 Warhol prepares a screen from a photo of the Sing Sing electric chair, in the middle of its big empty room, without any human presence. He makes 32 monochrome paintings 56 x 71 cm, each one in another color, conceived to be exhibited together. The chilling blue version was sold for $ 11.6M by Christie's on November 10, 2015.
In 1967 Warhol prepares for the next year a new exhibition that will focus on the two extreme themes, life and death, symbolized by the flowers and by the electric chair. He executes in 1967 and 1968 14 large paintings 137 x 188 cm of the electric chair based on an enlargement of the central part of the original image.
Most of these paintings are monochrome. One of them is an exception. The background consists of three oblique stripes that symbolize life : blue of the sky, green of the grass, pink of the flesh. The chair is printed twice, in army green and dark purple, more threatening by their very low contrast with the background.
This Big Electric Chair was sold for $ 20.4M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2014 and for $ 19M by Christie's on November 13, 2019, lot 20 B.
All the Warhol chairs were painted after the decommissioning of the Sing Sing instrument, decided in 1963. Indeed other similar chairs continued to function in the world, but it will never be clear whether Warhol had an activivist intent behind this morbid theme. In June 1968 the assassination attempt on Warhol by Valerie Solanas is a real encounter between the artist and death.
