1970
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Abstract art II Twombly Rothko 1957-70 Bacon 1963-70 Richter < 1983 Self portrait Cars 1970s 1980s Porsche Cars in movies
See also : Abstract art II Twombly Rothko 1957-70 Bacon 1963-70 Richter < 1983 Self portrait Cars 1970s 1980s Porsche Cars in movies
1970 Blackboard by TWOMBLY
1
2014 SOLD for $ 70M by Christie's
In May 1969 Twombly had begun his stay in Bolsena by reinterpreting his blackboards without the pseudo-writing in loops. The result is rather austere. A Bolsena blackboard 200 x 240 cm was sold for $ 6.2M by Phillips de Pury on May 10, 2012.
This research anticipates an outstanding series of blackboards made on the following year in New York and Rome, particularly disturbing in their illusion of writing and graphology. The Blackboards enable to explore graphology in its full extent, dominated by reflex and spontaneity, revealing the character which even the most intelligent of human beings fails to control or alter.
The comparison between two canvases painted in 1970 show that the artist is seeking to express the diversity of humanity as well as his own creativity. Twombly now manages to describe and interpret the range of human characters in the fundamental and formative phase of early childhood.
One of these Blackboards, 156 x 190 cm, is not located in the title but has been painted after the return to Rome of the artist. It was sold for $ 70M from a lower estimate of $ 35M by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 20.
Here, the fake writing is made of very regular loops as if they came from an intelligent and quiet schoolchild, but their four lines widens from top to bottom in a false perspective. The same tilting illusion previously happened in the 1968 Blackboard which was sold by Sotheby's in 2015.
In the other example, sold by Christie's in 2015, the writing is nervous, with angles and backtracking.
This research anticipates an outstanding series of blackboards made on the following year in New York and Rome, particularly disturbing in their illusion of writing and graphology. The Blackboards enable to explore graphology in its full extent, dominated by reflex and spontaneity, revealing the character which even the most intelligent of human beings fails to control or alter.
The comparison between two canvases painted in 1970 show that the artist is seeking to express the diversity of humanity as well as his own creativity. Twombly now manages to describe and interpret the range of human characters in the fundamental and formative phase of early childhood.
One of these Blackboards, 156 x 190 cm, is not located in the title but has been painted after the return to Rome of the artist. It was sold for $ 70M from a lower estimate of $ 35M by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 20.
Here, the fake writing is made of very regular loops as if they came from an intelligent and quiet schoolchild, but their four lines widens from top to bottom in a false perspective. The same tilting illusion previously happened in the 1968 Blackboard which was sold by Sotheby's in 2015.
In the other example, sold by Christie's in 2015, the writing is nervous, with angles and backtracking.
2
(Rome)
2021 SOLD for $ 42M by Sotheby's
On May 12, 2021, Sotheby's sold for $ 42M an Untitled (Rome), house paint and wax crayon on canvas 155 x 195 cm executed by Twombly in 1970, lot 110.
This piece appears as the counterpart of the Blackboard opus sold for $ 70M by Christie's in 2014. Their size are nearly identical, and both are displaying four rows of loops with an overall tilting effect.
Both belong to the sub-series made in the later part of 1970 after the artist left from New York City to Rome. Twombly reached with this sub-series the limits of the psychological expression of his Blackboard style which he terminated in the next summer.
The details of the loops are also similar, but the piece for sale has an overlapping of the bands while the other example displays a neat separation. This tiny difference is sufficient to generate an opposite feeling. One of them expresses control, order and intention while the other expresses anarchy, chaos and accident.
This piece appears as the counterpart of the Blackboard opus sold for $ 70M by Christie's in 2014. Their size are nearly identical, and both are displaying four rows of loops with an overall tilting effect.
Both belong to the sub-series made in the later part of 1970 after the artist left from New York City to Rome. Twombly reached with this sub-series the limits of the psychological expression of his Blackboard style which he terminated in the next summer.
The details of the loops are also similar, but the piece for sale has an overlapping of the bands while the other example displays a neat separation. This tiny difference is sufficient to generate an opposite feeling. One of them expresses control, order and intention while the other expresses anarchy, chaos and accident.
3
(New York City)
2015 SOLD for £ 19.7M by Christie's
Located in New York City and executed in 1970, a Blackboard 145 x 178 cm in nervous line with jerky points and backtrackings was sold for $ 17.5M by Sotheby's on May 9, 2012 and for £ 19.7M by Christie's on February 11, 2015, lot 26.
1970 Rothko's Penultimate Painting
2014 SOLD for $ 40M by Sotheby's
From the later 1940s, Mark Rothko had managed to express by the relations between colors his global vision of all emotions and cultures. From the spring of 1968, everything goes wrong. He is cardiac, drinker, smoker, irritable, depressive, almost impotent. His wife leaves on the 1969 new year's day. He paints in black on gray his new tragic feeling on the meaning of life.
Yet at the beginning of 1970, this highly effective colorist lives a sort of mental restart. The penultimate of the three oils on canvas painted in this very short period, 173 x 137 cm, was sold for $ 40M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 10, 2014, lot 6, then coming from the Mellon collection. It was sold for $ 38M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 10 B.
This vibrant work catches the light by dark glowing colors, in a spectacular departure from the black on gray. It expresses the threat of nightfall by its three dark green regions on a rich saturated indigo blue background.
His last canvas, 152 x 145 cm, belonging to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., is its counterpart in red over red and acrylic. Both together constitute the translation of his despair into the sublime and his final effort to stage a large-scale abstract scenery. Rothko sliced his arms with a razor on February 25, 1970.
Yet at the beginning of 1970, this highly effective colorist lives a sort of mental restart. The penultimate of the three oils on canvas painted in this very short period, 173 x 137 cm, was sold for $ 40M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 10, 2014, lot 6, then coming from the Mellon collection. It was sold for $ 38M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 10 B.
This vibrant work catches the light by dark glowing colors, in a spectacular departure from the black on gray. It expresses the threat of nightfall by its three dark green regions on a rich saturated indigo blue background.
His last canvas, 152 x 145 cm, belonging to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., is its counterpart in red over red and acrylic. Both together constitute the translation of his despair into the sublime and his final effort to stage a large-scale abstract scenery. Rothko sliced his arms with a razor on February 25, 1970.
1970 Two Studies for a Self Portrait by Bacon
2016 SOLD for $ 35M by Sotheby's
Francis Bacon often undertook to explain his art, with passion. He is a painter, viscerally, and would not consider any other occupation.
Like his fellow Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon desires to express life. Their methods are nevertheless in total opposition. Francis does not wish to compose an image : he seeks the spontaneity. He does not inspect the model on live but is working from photographs. Each personality is complex and a single image is not enough : this is the root cause of the choice of the artist to make triptychs and, less frequently, diptychs.
In 1969, Francis Bacon paints from three instantaneous photos the portrait in triptych of Lucian Freud, which was sold for $ 142M by Christie's in 2013. Francis is 60 years old. His quest for immediacy is already accompanied by the anxiety on his inability to stop his own aging.
In real life, he takes fun at the expense of George Dyer but his Soho friends have also aged. Henrietta is increasingly ugly. A surprising portrait on which the woman is slipping away backwards from the picture frame remained unsold at Christie's on October 19, 2008. Francis looks again at his own face. A self-portrait with a sad gaze, 35 x 40 cm, was sold for $ 33M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2007, lot 19.
In 1970, Francis is desperately seeking a solution to his equation of time. He paints less and less because his old themes are no longer acceptable to him. He executes a self-portrait in diptych 35 x 30 cm per element. His attire is relaxed but the position of the head is haughty : Francis is alone in front of himself. The exuberant expressionist colors accentuate the total control of his art.
Titled Two studies for a self portrait, this work was sold for $ 35M from a lower estimate of $ 22M by Sotheby's on May 11, 2016, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The optimistic interpretation made by Sotheby's may be questioned but their conclusion that it is the finest self-portrait by Francis Bacon is highly acceptable.
Like his fellow Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon desires to express life. Their methods are nevertheless in total opposition. Francis does not wish to compose an image : he seeks the spontaneity. He does not inspect the model on live but is working from photographs. Each personality is complex and a single image is not enough : this is the root cause of the choice of the artist to make triptychs and, less frequently, diptychs.
In 1969, Francis Bacon paints from three instantaneous photos the portrait in triptych of Lucian Freud, which was sold for $ 142M by Christie's in 2013. Francis is 60 years old. His quest for immediacy is already accompanied by the anxiety on his inability to stop his own aging.
In real life, he takes fun at the expense of George Dyer but his Soho friends have also aged. Henrietta is increasingly ugly. A surprising portrait on which the woman is slipping away backwards from the picture frame remained unsold at Christie's on October 19, 2008. Francis looks again at his own face. A self-portrait with a sad gaze, 35 x 40 cm, was sold for $ 33M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2007, lot 19.
In 1970, Francis is desperately seeking a solution to his equation of time. He paints less and less because his old themes are no longer acceptable to him. He executes a self-portrait in diptych 35 x 30 cm per element. His attire is relaxed but the position of the head is haughty : Francis is alone in front of himself. The exuberant expressionist colors accentuate the total control of his art.
Titled Two studies for a self portrait, this work was sold for $ 35M from a lower estimate of $ 22M by Sotheby's on May 11, 2016, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The optimistic interpretation made by Sotheby's may be questioned but their conclusion that it is the finest self-portrait by Francis Bacon is highly acceptable.
1970 PICASSO
1
September 1970 Buste de Matador
2021 SOLD for HK$ 140M by Sotheby's
Aged 89 Pablo Picasso attends a corrida de toros in Fréjus. How could he have abandoned for so long his former craze for bullfighting ? The matador is a symbol of virility and bravery as well as the musketeer, and less obsolete. He is also an emblem of Spain.
With his sequined coat (traje de luces), the matador is the symbol of the Spanish entertainment. The last homogeneous series executed by Picasso explores this theme in fifteen paintings made between September 27 and October 23, 1970. Nevertheless it is the human being and not the bull or the faena that excites the artist in what will be his last thematic series
The matador thus succeeds the mosquetero, with whom he has in common the sword, a symbol of virility and indirectly of the nostalgia of the aging artist. In addition the mosquetero had a pipe, the use of which is now forbidden to Pablo by his doctors.
The matador benefits from a mid length composition, which is simpler, less crazy and ultimately much more optimistic. The mosquetero was the memory of the glorious past. The matador is the conscientious libertador of the new Spain, wounded by Franco's civil war.
The hard work does not weaken. Pablo dates four oils on canvas on September 27 alone. The first three are studies for the fourth.
This Buste de Matador IV, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm, is based on the very dynamic contrast of two complementary colors, light blue and dark orange. This painting was sold for HK $ 140M from a lower estimate of HK $ 100M by Sotheby's on April 18, 2021, lot 8005.
With his sequined coat (traje de luces), the matador is the symbol of the Spanish entertainment. The last homogeneous series executed by Picasso explores this theme in fifteen paintings made between September 27 and October 23, 1970. Nevertheless it is the human being and not the bull or the faena that excites the artist in what will be his last thematic series
The matador thus succeeds the mosquetero, with whom he has in common the sword, a symbol of virility and indirectly of the nostalgia of the aging artist. In addition the mosquetero had a pipe, the use of which is now forbidden to Pablo by his doctors.
The matador benefits from a mid length composition, which is simpler, less crazy and ultimately much more optimistic. The mosquetero was the memory of the glorious past. The matador is the conscientious libertador of the new Spain, wounded by Franco's civil war.
The hard work does not weaken. Pablo dates four oils on canvas on September 27 alone. The first three are studies for the fourth.
This Buste de Matador IV, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm, is based on the very dynamic contrast of two complementary colors, light blue and dark orange. This painting was sold for HK $ 140M from a lower estimate of HK $ 100M by Sotheby's on April 18, 2021, lot 8005.
2
October 1970 Le Matador
2018 SOLD for £ 16.5M by Sotheby's
In his Matador series, Picasso revisits various styles from his long career as he had done fifteen years earlier in Les Femmes d'Alger. As for that example the final opus is the most complex and the best completed. On February 28, 2018, Sotheby's sold for £ 16.5M this oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm dated October 23, 1970, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This robust man is much larger than life. He holds the sword, an essential instrument of his function. Except for his fanciful musketeer's hat, his clothes copy a portrait of a matador painted by Goya around 1797. The background is not plain as in the previous paintings of the series : the torero poses in the middle of the sand colored arena and a pattern of hatching simulates the spectators who are waiting for the action on the seats.
With his wide open eyes and his clenched mouth, the attitude of the man is severe. His game is dangerous. Despite the poor health of the artist, this work with a good psychological expression is a picturesque evocation of the Spanish culture and not a presentiment of his next appointment with death.
This final piece in the series is a portrait in an almost realistic style, without the dual perspective of the face.
This robust man is much larger than life. He holds the sword, an essential instrument of his function. Except for his fanciful musketeer's hat, his clothes copy a portrait of a matador painted by Goya around 1797. The background is not plain as in the previous paintings of the series : the torero poses in the middle of the sand colored arena and a pattern of hatching simulates the spectators who are waiting for the action on the seats.
With his wide open eyes and his clenched mouth, the attitude of the man is severe. His game is dangerous. Despite the poor health of the artist, this work with a good psychological expression is a picturesque evocation of the Spanish culture and not a presentiment of his next appointment with death.
This final piece in the series is a portrait in an almost realistic style, without the dual perspective of the face.
1970 Porsche 917K
2017 SOLD for $ 14M by Gooding
Porsche had never won the 24 hours of Le Mans. A change in regulations announced after the 1968 season by the ACO for the two classes 3 liters and 5 liters is seized as an opportunity. Porsche creates in parallel the models 908 and 917.
The rule for the 5 liter homologation requires that the model is produced in 25 identical units. Porsche's motivation is so intense that they line up their twenty-five 917 in the yard of the factory as early as April 1969. Success is still questionable because the 917 is very difficult to drive. None of them finished the 24 hours of Le Mans 1969 and a driver died during that race.
Porsche immediately conceived the necessary improvements, resulting in two variants of the chassis for each of the two models : K for Kurz Heck and LH for Lang Heck. The short variant is faster in top speed but less stable. Many drivers will prefer the LH.
On August 18, 2017, Gooding sold for $ 14M a historically important 917K, lot 44. Please watch the video shared by Gooding.
This car assembled in 1970 was immediately entered in the training and test sessions at Le Mans, Nürburgring and Ehra-Lessien in April and May, demonstrating the exceptional speed achieved by the 917K model.
It is purchased in June 1970 by Jo Siffert who does not use it in competition but leases it for the preparation of the film Le Mans. It is one of three 917K starring in this movie for which they also served as camera cars for shooting at full speed. This 917K was Siffert's favorite car and led his funeral procession in October 1971.
The car was found 30 years later in a Parisian suburb, covered with dust but untouched except for the absence of the engine. The next owner bought an original engine from the same series. The complete restoration was supervised by a former Porsche engineer who still had access to the factory archives of the 917 program.
The rule for the 5 liter homologation requires that the model is produced in 25 identical units. Porsche's motivation is so intense that they line up their twenty-five 917 in the yard of the factory as early as April 1969. Success is still questionable because the 917 is very difficult to drive. None of them finished the 24 hours of Le Mans 1969 and a driver died during that race.
Porsche immediately conceived the necessary improvements, resulting in two variants of the chassis for each of the two models : K for Kurz Heck and LH for Lang Heck. The short variant is faster in top speed but less stable. Many drivers will prefer the LH.
On August 18, 2017, Gooding sold for $ 14M a historically important 917K, lot 44. Please watch the video shared by Gooding.
This car assembled in 1970 was immediately entered in the training and test sessions at Le Mans, Nürburgring and Ehra-Lessien in April and May, demonstrating the exceptional speed achieved by the 917K model.
It is purchased in June 1970 by Jo Siffert who does not use it in competition but leases it for the preparation of the film Le Mans. It is one of three 917K starring in this movie for which they also served as camera cars for shooting at full speed. This 917K was Siffert's favorite car and led his funeral procession in October 1971.
The car was found 30 years later in a Parisian suburb, covered with dust but untouched except for the absence of the engine. The next owner bought an original engine from the same series. The complete restoration was supervised by a former Porsche engineer who still had access to the factory archives of the 917 program.
The Le Mans movie was produced by Steve McQueen's company Solar Productions. It is the most authentic depictions of motorsport ever captured. Another involved production company had prevented the actor to participate to the actual event in June 1970, due to the risk of a severe accident.
The plot places his character, driver Michael Delaney, behind the wheel of multiple Porsches over the course of the simulated race. The film was released in 1971.
One of these cars had been built by Porsche in 1969 for the FIA homologation of the 917 and converted to short tail specification 917K by the factory in April 1970.
That example was purchased new by McQueen and Solar and extensively used in the race sequences. Camera mounts and brackets were added. He departed from it after the movie. Afterward the 917K competed in and won off-screen races.
Reestablished in its blue and orange Gulf Oil livery of the movie and submitted in 2024 to a rebuild of its mechanical components and frame, it passed at Mecum on January 18, 2025, lot S237, from the collection of the Porsche-loving comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The V-12 engine is still in matching numbers. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Robb Report reported that Mr Seinfeld sold privately the Porsche after the Mecum auction for a price in the region of $ 25M.
The plot places his character, driver Michael Delaney, behind the wheel of multiple Porsches over the course of the simulated race. The film was released in 1971.
One of these cars had been built by Porsche in 1969 for the FIA homologation of the 917 and converted to short tail specification 917K by the factory in April 1970.
That example was purchased new by McQueen and Solar and extensively used in the race sequences. Camera mounts and brackets were added. He departed from it after the movie. Afterward the 917K competed in and won off-screen races.
Reestablished in its blue and orange Gulf Oil livery of the movie and submitted in 2024 to a rebuild of its mechanical components and frame, it passed at Mecum on January 18, 2025, lot S237, from the collection of the Porsche-loving comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The V-12 engine is still in matching numbers. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Robb Report reported that Mr Seinfeld sold privately the Porsche after the Mecum auction for a price in the region of $ 25M.
1970 Wolken by RICHTER
1
Contre-Jour
2022 SOLD for £ 11.2M by Sotheby's
Gerhard Richter redefines art, appropriating shabby photos whose meaning is important to him or more often to nobody. He thus becomes a specialist in blurred images of monumental size.
However, he does not want to lose any filiation with the great masters of the past. The clouds catch his attention. Their shape and color are constantly changing and yet they are perfectly identifiable. Through the clouds, Richter finds Friedrich, Constable and Turner.
After trials in limited dimensions and quantities in 1968 and 1969, the artist explores more systematically the clouds in 1970. For this sole year, his catalogue raisonné includes fifteen paintings on this theme, with various effects : pink, blue, green blue, atmosphere, backlight, abstract.
Wolken (contre-jour), oil on canvas 80 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 11.2M from a lower estimate of £ 6M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2022, lot 105. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The slightly veiled bright sun in the middle of the image is spectacularly surrounded by dark rain clouds with the illusion of a sliding sky. This view is based on two photos, the blue sky and white clouds in daylight and the dark masses at sunrise or sunset. The pictorial rendering is luminescent.
However, he does not want to lose any filiation with the great masters of the past. The clouds catch his attention. Their shape and color are constantly changing and yet they are perfectly identifiable. Through the clouds, Richter finds Friedrich, Constable and Turner.
After trials in limited dimensions and quantities in 1968 and 1969, the artist explores more systematically the clouds in 1970. For this sole year, his catalogue raisonné includes fifteen paintings on this theme, with various effects : pink, blue, green blue, atmosphere, backlight, abstract.
Wolken (contre-jour), oil on canvas 80 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 11.2M from a lower estimate of £ 6M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2022, lot 105. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The slightly veiled bright sun in the middle of the image is spectacularly surrounded by dark rain clouds with the illusion of a sliding sky. This view is based on two photos, the blue sky and white clouds in daylight and the dark masses at sunrise or sunset. The pictorial rendering is luminescent.
2
Fenster Quadriptych
2020 SOLD for £ 10.4M by Sotheby's
Within the Wolken the opus 266 subtitled Fenster is the most ambitious, and the only one to meet one of Richter's fundamental ambitions : to simulate an architectural environment.
This quadriptych of oils on canvas of individual dimension 200 x 100 cm appears like a large fragmented window which opens onto nothing. In turn, this nothingness takes on an emotional meaning by making the visitor believe that he sees the sky at sunset from the upper floors of a skyscraper, evaporating the city. This work anticipates the fragmented pools by David Hockney by almost ten years and the panels of snow-capped mountain scenery by Cui Ruzhuo by four decades.
Wolken (Fenster) was sold for £ 6.2M by Christie's on October 13, 2014 and for £ 10.4M by Sotheby's on July 28, 2020, lot 20.
The pink triptych opus 267 of the same dimension of elements as the 266 was sold for $ 5M by Christie's on May 11, 2011.
This quadriptych of oils on canvas of individual dimension 200 x 100 cm appears like a large fragmented window which opens onto nothing. In turn, this nothingness takes on an emotional meaning by making the visitor believe that he sees the sky at sunset from the upper floors of a skyscraper, evaporating the city. This work anticipates the fragmented pools by David Hockney by almost ten years and the panels of snow-capped mountain scenery by Cui Ruzhuo by four decades.
Wolken (Fenster) was sold for £ 6.2M by Christie's on October 13, 2014 and for £ 10.4M by Sotheby's on July 28, 2020, lot 20.
The pink triptych opus 267 of the same dimension of elements as the 266 was sold for $ 5M by Christie's on May 11, 2011.
