1968
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Abstract art II Twombly Richter Richter < 1983 Picasso in Mougins Ruscha Zhang Daqian Alps
See also : Abstract art II Twombly Richter Richter < 1983 Picasso in Mougins Ruscha Zhang Daqian Alps
1968 Blackboard by TWOMBLY
1
(New York City)
2015 SOLD for $ 71M by Sotheby's
Life is not expressed in figuration. Cy Twombly tries the rhythm in a musicalist approach. His long stays in Italy provide the model of the antique graffiti, the street art from the antique times : their juxtaposition let imagine some shapes and movements, details can be pornographic, and their fast and furtive execution is an example of a graphical application of the subconscious.
From 1966 he pursues his semiotic research towards psychoanalysis. On the black canvas that resembles the chalkboard of infant schools, he draws in white his messages which are indecipherable in direct reading but must speak to the mind of the viewer.
An automatic writing can be done in pencil on paper, but modern art appeals for large formats. He paints canvases in a uniform dark gray on which he draws with a wax crayon the figures of his subconscious. These artworks are described under the generic term Blackboards chosen by art critics, not by the artist.
The first tests combine the jerky action of the hand, expressing the reflex, with geometric figures that make a link with the former graffiti of the artist. This mixed meaning blurs his intention to express life. His Blackboards do not need to rely on the persistence of ancient impulses. The most significant Blackboards will be performed in New York City.
An early example, 173 x 216 cm, painted in 1968, has been sold for $ 8.7M by Sotheby's on November 9, 2005. An oblique line of high jerky loops runs throughout the width.
On November 11, 2015, Sotheby's sold at lot 18 for $ 71M a Blackboard painted with a white wax crayon by Twombly, also in 1968, but later in its maturity than the example above.
The line consists in an entanglement of proto-writings in repetitive loops forming six endless horizontal lines within very regular limits. The gradual width of the six lines adds an illusion that the image is tilted with respect to its canvas. This opus is also one of the largest, 173 x 229 cm.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
From 1966 he pursues his semiotic research towards psychoanalysis. On the black canvas that resembles the chalkboard of infant schools, he draws in white his messages which are indecipherable in direct reading but must speak to the mind of the viewer.
An automatic writing can be done in pencil on paper, but modern art appeals for large formats. He paints canvases in a uniform dark gray on which he draws with a wax crayon the figures of his subconscious. These artworks are described under the generic term Blackboards chosen by art critics, not by the artist.
The first tests combine the jerky action of the hand, expressing the reflex, with geometric figures that make a link with the former graffiti of the artist. This mixed meaning blurs his intention to express life. His Blackboards do not need to rely on the persistence of ancient impulses. The most significant Blackboards will be performed in New York City.
An early example, 173 x 216 cm, painted in 1968, has been sold for $ 8.7M by Sotheby's on November 9, 2005. An oblique line of high jerky loops runs throughout the width.
On November 11, 2015, Sotheby's sold at lot 18 for $ 71M a Blackboard painted with a white wax crayon by Twombly, also in 1968, but later in its maturity than the example above.
The line consists in an entanglement of proto-writings in repetitive loops forming six endless horizontal lines within very regular limits. The gradual width of the six lines adds an illusion that the image is tilted with respect to its canvas. This opus is also one of the largest, 173 x 229 cm.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
2
(New York City)
2016 SOLD for $ 37M by Sotheby's
Many Blackboards were prepared in New York City. This series is prolific, demonstrating that the artist feels being close to achieve his goal. Comparing his works facilitates the interpretation of his thought.
A Blackboard painted in 1968 was sold for $ 71M by Sotheby's in 2015. Its structure is one of the most complex with six horizontal lines, each one being composed of a tight pattern of endless loops.
On May 11, 2016, Sotheby's sold as lot 21 for $ 37M a painting of nearly identical composition, made in the same year in a smaller format, 152 x 173 cm. The flexibility of the loops is the same, certainly not by imitation but by the effect of the same musical influence, proving that the artist completely controls the reflex movement of his hand in the more or less spirited performance of his proto-writing .
This artwork is experimental. The line is blue on a gray background darker than usual. The intent of this change is not only aesthetic. An additional white wax is used by contrast in the lower left of the image to simulate vertical signs of wear of the board in an opposite movement from the tilted orientation of the blue loops.
The artist did not reuse this feature. Bought to Castelli in 1969 by its current owner, the unique Blackboard in blue had never been exhibited or published.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
A Blackboard painted in 1968 was sold for $ 71M by Sotheby's in 2015. Its structure is one of the most complex with six horizontal lines, each one being composed of a tight pattern of endless loops.
On May 11, 2016, Sotheby's sold as lot 21 for $ 37M a painting of nearly identical composition, made in the same year in a smaller format, 152 x 173 cm. The flexibility of the loops is the same, certainly not by imitation but by the effect of the same musical influence, proving that the artist completely controls the reflex movement of his hand in the more or less spirited performance of his proto-writing .
This artwork is experimental. The line is blue on a gray background darker than usual. The intent of this change is not only aesthetic. An additional white wax is used by contrast in the lower left of the image to simulate vertical signs of wear of the board in an opposite movement from the tilted orientation of the blue loops.
The artist did not reuse this feature. Bought to Castelli in 1969 by its current owner, the unique Blackboard in blue had never been exhibited or published.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
3
2023 SOLD for $ 27M by Sotheby's
1968 was a highly experimental year in the so-called Blackboard series of paintings by Cy Twombly.
A few examples feature a blossoming roughly heart shaped, instead of the signature loops, in an arrangement of upward bending interrupted rows. Their gestural doodles in white on black in the reminiscence of the action painting cannot be considered as a proto-writing.
One of them, an oil-based house paint and wax crayon on canvas 172 x 220 cm untitled and un-located, had been owned by Robert Rauschenberg. It was sold for $ 27M by Sotheby's on November 8, 2023, lot 17 in the sale of the Fisher Landau collection.
Its pattern anticipates the Blooming series painted in blood red, exhibited in 2007, of which an example was sold for $ 59M by Sotheby's in 2021.
A few examples feature a blossoming roughly heart shaped, instead of the signature loops, in an arrangement of upward bending interrupted rows. Their gestural doodles in white on black in the reminiscence of the action painting cannot be considered as a proto-writing.
One of them, an oil-based house paint and wax crayon on canvas 172 x 220 cm untitled and un-located, had been owned by Robert Rauschenberg. It was sold for $ 27M by Sotheby's on November 8, 2023, lot 17 in the sale of the Fisher Landau collection.
Its pattern anticipates the Blooming series painted in blood red, exhibited in 2007, of which an example was sold for $ 59M by Sotheby's in 2021.
1968 Domplatz Mailand by Richter
2013 SOLD for $ 37M by Sotheby's
Gerhard Richter is the true rebel of art. Some artists before him including Rauschenberg had introduced disgust as a variant of artistic impression. Richter goes much further. He debases the art to reveal its profound nature.
In 1962, he considers that a bad photo does not lie because it is too ugly to deserve retouching. It expresses real life, the reality of a fleeting moment which had probably been important for its author.
The anti-art by Richter consists to disproportionately enlarge black and white photos, blurry and often without any interest but in a great variety, by using a hyperrealistic technique already perfectly controlled.
The strength of the anti-artistic message of Richter is so great and so new that he finds customers. Domplatz Mailand, an oil on canvas 275 x 290 cm painted in 1968, was commissioned by the Milanese offices of Siemens.
The image is a masterpiece of ugliness with a particularly unpleasant blur. The original photo was lost, thankfully! This photo by an unidentified tourist may be repeated by anyone, without blurring motion, with a more relevant composition than truncating both the cathedral on the right and the buildings on the left.
With this quality and its very large size, Mailand Domplatz is the culmination of the first period of Richter. Afterward he managed to radically shake the established tradition of landscape painting.
Domplatz Mailand was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2013. It is illustrated in a blog post shared by the auction house.
In 1962, he considers that a bad photo does not lie because it is too ugly to deserve retouching. It expresses real life, the reality of a fleeting moment which had probably been important for its author.
The anti-art by Richter consists to disproportionately enlarge black and white photos, blurry and often without any interest but in a great variety, by using a hyperrealistic technique already perfectly controlled.
The strength of the anti-artistic message of Richter is so great and so new that he finds customers. Domplatz Mailand, an oil on canvas 275 x 290 cm painted in 1968, was commissioned by the Milanese offices of Siemens.
The image is a masterpiece of ugliness with a particularly unpleasant blur. The original photo was lost, thankfully! This photo by an unidentified tourist may be repeated by anyone, without blurring motion, with a more relevant composition than truncating both the cathedral on the right and the buildings on the left.
With this quality and its very large size, Mailand Domplatz is the culmination of the first period of Richter. Afterward he managed to radically shake the established tradition of landscape painting.
Domplatz Mailand was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2013. It is illustrated in a blog post shared by the auction house.
PICASSO
1
October 1968 Mousquetaire à la Pipe
2019 SOLD for $ 20.8M by Sotheby's
In his ambition to become and remain the greatest artist, Pablo Picasso was much dependent of his most famous predecessors, adapting their imagination to his own styles. In 1966 after a disabling illness, he retrieved Velazquez and Rembrandt, and behind them an idealized image of the seventeenth century. Through Velazquez he also sees his native Spain.
He hardly moves anymore. Jacqueline and Mougins constitute the surrounding of his life. His doctor forbids him to smoke. In the wide world, life continues with a new and ephemeral truculence brought by the sexual freedom.
He then enters a period of intense creativity, with glaring colors. His art is populated with picturesque characters : the musketeers, the impressionists, his naked wife, later the matadors. This cartoon-like style pleases the public. Art critics see it as a fantasy but no matter : now Picasso works a lot for himself, against his own aging.
On May 14, 2019, Sotheby's sold for $ 20.8M Mousquetaire à la pipe, oil on canvas 145 x 96 cm painted in 1968, lot 40. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This musketeer on bust length is engaging and funny. The drawing is very effective : a few loops for a wig like that of Louis XIV, the mustache that goes up like a smile, five small strokes for the goatee. The difference between the two eyes can be interpreted as a start for a wink.
He is also somehow a self-portrait, like the previous harlequin, minotaur and sailor. He is a twin brother to a substitute for a Rembrandt's self-portrait that Picasso painted alongside Jacqueline in the nude in 1967, and which was sold for £ 13.7M by Christie's in 2018.
He hardly moves anymore. Jacqueline and Mougins constitute the surrounding of his life. His doctor forbids him to smoke. In the wide world, life continues with a new and ephemeral truculence brought by the sexual freedom.
He then enters a period of intense creativity, with glaring colors. His art is populated with picturesque characters : the musketeers, the impressionists, his naked wife, later the matadors. This cartoon-like style pleases the public. Art critics see it as a fantasy but no matter : now Picasso works a lot for himself, against his own aging.
On May 14, 2019, Sotheby's sold for $ 20.8M Mousquetaire à la pipe, oil on canvas 145 x 96 cm painted in 1968, lot 40. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This musketeer on bust length is engaging and funny. The drawing is very effective : a few loops for a wig like that of Louis XIV, the mustache that goes up like a smile, five small strokes for the goatee. The difference between the two eyes can be interpreted as a start for a wink.
He is also somehow a self-portrait, like the previous harlequin, minotaur and sailor. He is a twin brother to a substitute for a Rembrandt's self-portrait that Picasso painted alongside Jacqueline in the nude in 1967, and which was sold for £ 13.7M by Christie's in 2018.
2
November 1968 Mousquetaire à la Pipe
2021 SOLD for $ 35M by Christie's
On November 5, 1968, Picasso completed two paintings of the Musketeer with a pipe. The opus II, oil and Ripolin on canvas 146 x 96 cm, was sold for $ 35M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 34C.
The seated figure is sharply dressed in the military fashion of Velazquez time, including the 17th century thick curled wig. He looks towering with his top of the head and bent left leg that reach the frame. He is inviting to pleasure with his candid wide open eyes, the cool seating attitude, the elegant curving of the long pipe stem and the vibrant blue hues.
An Homme à la Pipe, oil and Ripolin on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted by Picasso on November 27, 1968, was sold for $ 15.4M in the same sale as above, lot 58C. The painting is made of appealing near childish curves, swirls, lines and spots in a full range of pure colors. A transparent smoke is raising over the pipe. This seated figure is obviously a Mousquetaire although this qualifier is not in the title.
The seated figure is sharply dressed in the military fashion of Velazquez time, including the 17th century thick curled wig. He looks towering with his top of the head and bent left leg that reach the frame. He is inviting to pleasure with his candid wide open eyes, the cool seating attitude, the elegant curving of the long pipe stem and the vibrant blue hues.
An Homme à la Pipe, oil and Ripolin on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted by Picasso on November 27, 1968, was sold for $ 15.4M in the same sale as above, lot 58C. The painting is made of appealing near childish curves, swirls, lines and spots in a full range of pure colors. A transparent smoke is raising over the pipe. This seated figure is obviously a Mousquetaire although this qualifier is not in the title.
1968 Mist at Dawn by Zhang Daqian
2021 SOLD for HK$ 215M by Sotheby's
Zhang Daqian developed in the mid 1960s his new style of expressing the mountains in color splashes.
In the following years, he goes back to more figuration in a subtle blend of splash and line. A panoramic interpretation 264 x 76 cm of Lake Achensee made in 1968 in ink and colors on silk was sold for RMB 100M by China Guardian on May 17, 2010.
Mist at dawn, splashed ink and color on paper 100 x 140 cm painted in Brazil in 1968, is a pinnacle of abstraction in the art of Zhang Daqian.
Zhang had been much impressed by the Swiss mountains and had a perfect memory of atmospheres and colors. He interprets here the extreme condition of high wind in the mist just before sunrise.
At first glance the result looks like a wandering of ochre flames in front of splashes of dark blue mingled with malachite green powder. By prolonging the inspection, the shape of the mountains and a cluster of clouds are revealed amidst the rare colors of a stormy dawn sky, at the moment when daylight comes out of a dark chaos.
This opus was sold for HK $ 215M by Sotheby's on October 11, 2021, lot 3065. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the following years, he goes back to more figuration in a subtle blend of splash and line. A panoramic interpretation 264 x 76 cm of Lake Achensee made in 1968 in ink and colors on silk was sold for RMB 100M by China Guardian on May 17, 2010.
Mist at dawn, splashed ink and color on paper 100 x 140 cm painted in Brazil in 1968, is a pinnacle of abstraction in the art of Zhang Daqian.
Zhang had been much impressed by the Swiss mountains and had a perfect memory of atmospheres and colors. He interprets here the extreme condition of high wind in the mist just before sunrise.
At first glance the result looks like a wandering of ochre flames in front of splashes of dark blue mingled with malachite green powder. By prolonging the inspection, the shape of the mountains and a cluster of clouds are revealed amidst the rare colors of a stormy dawn sky, at the moment when daylight comes out of a dark chaos.
This opus was sold for HK $ 215M by Sotheby's on October 11, 2021, lot 3065. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1968 Lying Figure with Hypodermic Syringe by Bacon
2016 SOLD for £ 20.2M by Christie's
Francis Bacon, a notorious homosexual, also explored the flesh of women. Henrietta Moraes belongs to his hedonistic group of friends in Soho. John Deakin shoots the photos.
In 1963, Henrietta certainly can not anticipate that she will support the questioning of the artist about the deterioration of the body. She is drug addicted and Francis already foresees an accelerated aging when he paints her figure in the nude with a syringe stuck in her arm.
Henrietta is lying on a bed, her head and breasts in close up. Francis used this image several times until 1969. The photo, like the Dorian Gray of Oscar Wilde, has not aged. It is not the same story with the paintings. At the same time, Francis is looking on the body of George Dyer as an illusory maintenance of an eternal male youth.
The 1968 image of Henrietta is titled Version No. 2 of lying figure with hypodermic syringe. This oil on canvas 198 x 148 cm was sold for $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2006 and for £ 20.2M by Christie's on June 30, 2016, lot 6.
A meeting with De Kooning in early 1968 had convinced Francis against his own figurative style that a tangle of colors could evoke the female flesh. Henrietta became an accumulation that we imagine teeming. We have to compare her image with the other versions of the same theme for perceiving that she is a naked woman and confirming her attitude. The full sharpness of the syringe unchanged from the 1963 original version makes it by contrast a poignant reflection on the ravages of time.
In 1963, Henrietta certainly can not anticipate that she will support the questioning of the artist about the deterioration of the body. She is drug addicted and Francis already foresees an accelerated aging when he paints her figure in the nude with a syringe stuck in her arm.
Henrietta is lying on a bed, her head and breasts in close up. Francis used this image several times until 1969. The photo, like the Dorian Gray of Oscar Wilde, has not aged. It is not the same story with the paintings. At the same time, Francis is looking on the body of George Dyer as an illusory maintenance of an eternal male youth.
The 1968 image of Henrietta is titled Version No. 2 of lying figure with hypodermic syringe. This oil on canvas 198 x 148 cm was sold for $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2006 and for £ 20.2M by Christie's on June 30, 2016, lot 6.
A meeting with De Kooning in early 1968 had convinced Francis against his own figurative style that a tangle of colors could evoke the female flesh. Henrietta became an accumulation that we imagine teeming. We have to compare her image with the other versions of the same theme for perceiving that she is a naked woman and confirming her attitude. The full sharpness of the syringe unchanged from the 1963 original version makes it by contrast a poignant reflection on the ravages of time.
1968 oil on paper by Rothko
2023 SOLD for $ 24M by Sotheby's
Threatened by hypertension and excess, Mark Rothko's health deteriorates in early 1968. He does not listen to the doctors' recommendations about his living conditions. In January 1969 Mark and his wife will separate. He takes refuge in his studio.
He nevertheless applies one of the prescriptions : to avoid fatigue, he limits the format of his paintings to 40 inches high. He now uses oil on a paper to be mounted on a canvas. Indeed the most important American abstract artists, Pollock and Rothko, both appreciated that paper could offer a better final brightness than canvas. Certainly for reasons of fragility and of conservation of the paper, their career was however mostly done with canvases.
He once again reaches the sublime by making a glowing light gushing through saturated colors. Although his colors become increasingly dark in the follow of the worsening of his depression, he still feels how transcendental his art is.
Rothko brings to this new phase his experience of two decades in the choice of pigments. Many of his works in this pathetic series have a dark texture that does not exclude a high radiance. Clear compositions are rarer and may reflect short lived phases of optimism.
An early example painted in 1968, oil on paper laid down on canvas 100 x 66 cm, was sold for $ 24M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 12. Three fields of rich dark color, varying in tonality, are emerging from a brilliant ground of cobalt sapphire blue.
The vibrating reds then have a dominant role, even when their surface is restricted to the edge and the interstices.
An example in pearly white and orange of this quest for ultimate brightness features a thin scarlet red that contributes to the powerful balance. This oil on paper 99 x 65 cm mounted on canvas executed in 1969 was sold for $ 19M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 5. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In a last remission he will gradually return to larger sizes. A large red and yellow oil on paper 134 x 103 cm was sold for $ 11M by Christie's on November 15, 2017, lot 36 B. A red and burgundy over blue on paper 122 x 103 cm mounted on panel was sold for $ 10.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2019, lot 15.
He nevertheless applies one of the prescriptions : to avoid fatigue, he limits the format of his paintings to 40 inches high. He now uses oil on a paper to be mounted on a canvas. Indeed the most important American abstract artists, Pollock and Rothko, both appreciated that paper could offer a better final brightness than canvas. Certainly for reasons of fragility and of conservation of the paper, their career was however mostly done with canvases.
He once again reaches the sublime by making a glowing light gushing through saturated colors. Although his colors become increasingly dark in the follow of the worsening of his depression, he still feels how transcendental his art is.
Rothko brings to this new phase his experience of two decades in the choice of pigments. Many of his works in this pathetic series have a dark texture that does not exclude a high radiance. Clear compositions are rarer and may reflect short lived phases of optimism.
An early example painted in 1968, oil on paper laid down on canvas 100 x 66 cm, was sold for $ 24M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 12. Three fields of rich dark color, varying in tonality, are emerging from a brilliant ground of cobalt sapphire blue.
The vibrating reds then have a dominant role, even when their surface is restricted to the edge and the interstices.
An example in pearly white and orange of this quest for ultimate brightness features a thin scarlet red that contributes to the powerful balance. This oil on paper 99 x 65 cm mounted on canvas executed in 1969 was sold for $ 19M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 5. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In a last remission he will gradually return to larger sizes. A large red and yellow oil on paper 134 x 103 cm was sold for $ 11M by Christie's on November 15, 2017, lot 36 B. A red and burgundy over blue on paper 122 x 103 cm mounted on panel was sold for $ 10.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2019, lot 15.
1968 Burning Gas Station by Ruscha
2023 SOLD for $ 22.3M by Christie's
At the time of the birth of the Pop Art around Leo Castelli, other artists including Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella, managed to define and execute new artistic solutions.
Trained in lettering and advertising, Ruscha opted for the artist's book. His first book, edited in 1963, is a collection of 26 black and white photos of the serial gasoline stations on the road from his native Oklahoma to his beloved Los Angeles, viewed by him as "islands" in the flat Texas plains. In the next year his second black and white photobook mingles two themes in contradiction, small fires and a single image of a glass of milk. What is important is not a narration but the form.
From 1966 Ruscha transfers in paintings his geometric vision of one of the Standard Oil gasoline stations. The composition in a panoramic format is made around the straight diagonal line of the perspective of the top of the building prolongated by the advertising panel of the brand. This dramatic perspective simulates the speed of a non stopping vehicle on the road.
The fifth and provisionally final opus is a night view of the station with a huge smoke canceling most of the row of the pumps. The fire threatens both the dazzling white building and the bright red panel with the STANDARD lettering, acting as a painted synthesis from the first two photobooks.
This oil on canvas 51 x 100 cm painted in 1968 was sold for $ 22.3M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 20A.
An earlier opus had mingled the same themes but with an unconvincing position of the flames coming horizontally out of the two floors of the building. The other three pictures had no burning. Ruscha confessed later that his burning station had been a reference to Magritte.
Trained in lettering and advertising, Ruscha opted for the artist's book. His first book, edited in 1963, is a collection of 26 black and white photos of the serial gasoline stations on the road from his native Oklahoma to his beloved Los Angeles, viewed by him as "islands" in the flat Texas plains. In the next year his second black and white photobook mingles two themes in contradiction, small fires and a single image of a glass of milk. What is important is not a narration but the form.
From 1966 Ruscha transfers in paintings his geometric vision of one of the Standard Oil gasoline stations. The composition in a panoramic format is made around the straight diagonal line of the perspective of the top of the building prolongated by the advertising panel of the brand. This dramatic perspective simulates the speed of a non stopping vehicle on the road.
The fifth and provisionally final opus is a night view of the station with a huge smoke canceling most of the row of the pumps. The fire threatens both the dazzling white building and the bright red panel with the STANDARD lettering, acting as a painted synthesis from the first two photobooks.
This oil on canvas 51 x 100 cm painted in 1968 was sold for $ 22.3M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 20A.
An earlier opus had mingled the same themes but with an unconvincing position of the flames coming horizontally out of the two floors of the building. The other three pictures had no burning. Ruscha confessed later that his burning station had been a reference to Magritte.
