1978
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Sport in art French sculpture Sculpture by painters Matisse Zhang Daqian Li Keran Lalanne
See also : Sport in art French sculpture Sculpture by painters Matisse Zhang Daqian Li Keran Lalanne
(1930) - 1978 Back IV by Matisse (posthumous)
2010 SOLD for $ 49M by Christie's
In 1906, Matisse designs an original theme of sculpture: a nude woman standing, life size, seen from behind, leaning against a wall. The subject fascinated him to such a degree that he created three further versions, in 1913, 1916 and 1930. Psychoanalysts could probably tell us the reason of that backside position.
These four naked Backs are changing from realism to stylization, from flexibility to a balance of the masses. The last state is broad and symmetrical, the body barred from head to buttocks by a vertical braid that resembles the tail of a heavy horse.
Twelve bronzes were published from each of the four plasters between 1948 and 1981. On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 49M from a lower estimate of $ 25M a bronze of the Back IV, 189 cm high with a brown patina, cast in 1978.
These four naked Backs are changing from realism to stylization, from flexibility to a balance of the masses. The last state is broad and symmetrical, the body barred from head to buttocks by a vertical braid that resembles the tail of a heavy horse.
Twelve bronzes were published from each of the four plasters between 1948 and 1981. On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 49M from a lower estimate of $ 25M a bronze of the Back IV, 189 cm high with a brown patina, cast in 1978.
1978 Autumn Mountains by Zhang Daqian
2021 SOLD for RMB 196M by China Guardian
Zhang Daqian was keen to express the colors of dawn and twilight on the mountains.
A panoramic Autumn morning painted in 1978 has similarities in its composition and vibrant colors with the 1967 vertical Autumn mountains in twilight sold by Sotheby's for HK $ 200M on December 9, 2023, lot 9.
The 1978 opus, ink and color on paper 88 x 183 cm, was sold for RMB 196M by China Guardian on December 10, 2021, lot 297.
A panoramic Autumn morning painted in 1978 has similarities in its composition and vibrant colors with the 1967 vertical Autumn mountains in twilight sold by Sotheby's for HK $ 200M on December 9, 2023, lot 9.
The 1978 opus, ink and color on paper 88 x 183 cm, was sold for RMB 196M by China Guardian on December 10, 2021, lot 297.
1978 Muhammad Ali by Warhol
2021 SOLD for $ 18M by Christie's
In Marilyn's time, film actors and actresses crystallized the admiration and jealousy of the general public. In 1977 the art collector Richard Weisman manages to convince Andy Warhol that times have changed. Viewers now enjoy the live broadcasts of sporting events, and the era of sports marketing has already begun.
Richard selects ten champions who dominate their sport. He will visit them with Andy and their team. Andy takes the photos with his Polaroid. Back in his 'Factory', he has the canvases painted in acrylic by his collaborators, himself adding expressive scratches in the still wet paint, and at the end of the process they do the silkscreen printing.
The Athletes series, completed in 1979, is made up of ten portraits of champions in a standardized 40 x 40 inches (102 x 102 cm) format. 8 series are realized. The images are multicolored, with variations from one series to another. This grouping of ten elements to constitute a series was also standardized by Andy for his editions of prints since 1967.
These encounters between two worlds that were ignoring each other bring some surprises. O.J. Simpson has a five-day beard, Jack Nicklaus is upset against Andy's incompetence in sports. The meeting with Muhammad Ali begins with an interminable preamble during which it seems impossible to stop the champion from speaking.
A set of ten paintings was sold by Christie's for $ 5.7M on May 11, 2011. Two other sets have later been sold from the deceased estate of Weisman, also by Christie's. One of them was separated in New York on November 13 and 14, 2019 and the other one in London on February 12, 2020.
Comparing these groups provides additional information : the first Weisman set included Vitas Gerulaitis, while the other two sets display the ice hockey player Rod Gilbert. Weisman certainly wanted such a substitution to avoid tennis, already illustrated by Chris Evert, to be represented twice.
Muhammad Ali was the only one to control that his portrait matched well the image of himself that he wanted to leave, just as fearless in his activism as in his sport. He is the only one of the eleven whose sport is not symbolized by an artifact : his bare fists are brandished towards the artist.
A complete set was sold for $ 5.7M by Christie's on May 11, 2011, lot 54. The ten elements of this specific set were painted in 1978 in synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas 102 x 102 cm each. Separated from the rest of the set, Muhammad Ali was sold for $ 18M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 36C. The champion is featured in red with blue and yellow fists over a purple ground.
On November 13, 2019 a portrait of Muhammad Ali executed in 1977 was sold by Christie's for $ 10M, lot 5 B. Another example completed by Warhol in 1978, acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen 102 x 102 cm, was sold for £ 5M by Christie's on February 12, 2020, lot 8.
Behind the boxing champion, the greatest is Pelé, fetching $ 860K in 2019 and £ 580K in 2020.
Richard selects ten champions who dominate their sport. He will visit them with Andy and their team. Andy takes the photos with his Polaroid. Back in his 'Factory', he has the canvases painted in acrylic by his collaborators, himself adding expressive scratches in the still wet paint, and at the end of the process they do the silkscreen printing.
The Athletes series, completed in 1979, is made up of ten portraits of champions in a standardized 40 x 40 inches (102 x 102 cm) format. 8 series are realized. The images are multicolored, with variations from one series to another. This grouping of ten elements to constitute a series was also standardized by Andy for his editions of prints since 1967.
These encounters between two worlds that were ignoring each other bring some surprises. O.J. Simpson has a five-day beard, Jack Nicklaus is upset against Andy's incompetence in sports. The meeting with Muhammad Ali begins with an interminable preamble during which it seems impossible to stop the champion from speaking.
A set of ten paintings was sold by Christie's for $ 5.7M on May 11, 2011. Two other sets have later been sold from the deceased estate of Weisman, also by Christie's. One of them was separated in New York on November 13 and 14, 2019 and the other one in London on February 12, 2020.
Comparing these groups provides additional information : the first Weisman set included Vitas Gerulaitis, while the other two sets display the ice hockey player Rod Gilbert. Weisman certainly wanted such a substitution to avoid tennis, already illustrated by Chris Evert, to be represented twice.
Muhammad Ali was the only one to control that his portrait matched well the image of himself that he wanted to leave, just as fearless in his activism as in his sport. He is the only one of the eleven whose sport is not symbolized by an artifact : his bare fists are brandished towards the artist.
A complete set was sold for $ 5.7M by Christie's on May 11, 2011, lot 54. The ten elements of this specific set were painted in 1978 in synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas 102 x 102 cm each. Separated from the rest of the set, Muhammad Ali was sold for $ 18M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 36C. The champion is featured in red with blue and yellow fists over a purple ground.
On November 13, 2019 a portrait of Muhammad Ali executed in 1977 was sold by Christie's for $ 10M, lot 5 B. Another example completed by Warhol in 1978, acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen 102 x 102 cm, was sold for £ 5M by Christie's on February 12, 2020, lot 8.
Behind the boxing champion, the greatest is Pelé, fetching $ 860K in 2019 and £ 580K in 2020.
1978 Magnificent Mountains by LI KERAN
1
Thousands of Rocks
2018 SOLD for RMB 127M by China Guardian
A painting executed in 1978 by Li Keran is based on a mountain scenery in Jiangnan sketched by him in 1956. The artist stated in a postscript : "When I was in the rain after passing through the mountain valley, I saw the lush mountains and lush forests ; I saw the rapids like the sound of an orchestra. I deeply felt the vitality of the mountains and rivers."
This hanging scroll in color 180 x 97 cm was sold for RMB 127M by China Guardian on June 18, 2018, lot 376. The title Thousands of rocks competing for beauty and thousands of valleys competing for flow is a mingle of literati and Maoist interpretation.
This hanging scroll in color 180 x 97 cm was sold for RMB 127M by China Guardian on June 18, 2018, lot 376. The title Thousands of rocks competing for beauty and thousands of valleys competing for flow is a mingle of literati and Maoist interpretation.
2
Magnificent Mountains
2017 SOLD for HK$ 122M by Sotheby's
Magnificent mountains with cascades is the same view as the painting sold for RMB 127M by China Guardian in 2018. An example of difference is the shape and width of the river in the valley. The poem in the upper right corner is different.
This hanging scroll in ink and color on paper 170 x 94 cm painted in 1978 was sold for HK $ 122M by Sotheby's on October 2, 2017, lot 1422.
This hanging scroll in ink and color on paper 170 x 94 cm painted in 1978 was sold for HK $ 122M by Sotheby's on October 2, 2017, lot 1422.
1978 Untitled III (1978 nomenclature) by de Kooning
2014 SOLD for $ 14.7M by Christie's
In 1977 Willem de Kooning was busy to interpret in abstraction the scintillating colors of landscape, sea and sky around his home at East Hampton.
That highly creative activity was followed with a reduced activity in the two following years : Untitled I to VI in 1978 and I to VII in 1979, plus several unnumbered works.
Executed ca 1978 in his larger format, an Untitled III was painted with ample gestures in ranges of blues, yellows, whites and grays that mingle in wet on wet transitions to generate the green in a confrontation of liquescence and impasto. The gray is a color of the light hitting the ocean.
In his process of the period, an atmospheric blur is generated by a preparatory sanding of the canvas. The reference to the actual landscape is voluntarily lost by frequent rotations of the canvas during the execution, for a multidirectional effect. Fields of colors are bounded with chromatic bands. In that overall composition, there is no predominating element, no "hot spot" in the wording of the artist.
That oil on canvas 195 x 222 cm was sold for $ 14.7M by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 44. According to the reference to an exhibition in Basel cross checked with an index of de Kooning art, this opus is confirmed as the 1978 Untitled III. Its history begins in February 1979 with an exhibition in Chicago.
Explaining his creativity, de Kooning once stated being "happy to see that the grass is green".
Another Untitled III by de Kooning, oil on canvas 178 x 203 cm painted with a similar technique, passed at Christie's on November 17, 2022, lot 15. A photo by Alexander Liberman features the artist with that painting in April 1978.
That highly creative activity was followed with a reduced activity in the two following years : Untitled I to VI in 1978 and I to VII in 1979, plus several unnumbered works.
Executed ca 1978 in his larger format, an Untitled III was painted with ample gestures in ranges of blues, yellows, whites and grays that mingle in wet on wet transitions to generate the green in a confrontation of liquescence and impasto. The gray is a color of the light hitting the ocean.
In his process of the period, an atmospheric blur is generated by a preparatory sanding of the canvas. The reference to the actual landscape is voluntarily lost by frequent rotations of the canvas during the execution, for a multidirectional effect. Fields of colors are bounded with chromatic bands. In that overall composition, there is no predominating element, no "hot spot" in the wording of the artist.
That oil on canvas 195 x 222 cm was sold for $ 14.7M by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 44. According to the reference to an exhibition in Basel cross checked with an index of de Kooning art, this opus is confirmed as the 1978 Untitled III. Its history begins in February 1979 with an exhibition in Chicago.
Explaining his creativity, de Kooning once stated being "happy to see that the grass is green".
Another Untitled III by de Kooning, oil on canvas 178 x 203 cm painted with a similar technique, passed at Christie's on November 17, 2022, lot 15. A photo by Alexander Liberman features the artist with that painting in April 1978.
1978 Paper Pool by HOCKNEY
1
Piscine de Medianoche
2018 SOLD for $ 11.7M by Sotheby's
In 1978 David Hockney returned to California to settle there on a lasting basis. Passing through New York, he worked for six weeks with Ken Tyler to experiment artistic creation with colored pulp of paper that this papermaker-printer had invented for Ellsworth Kelly.
The artist uses a ladle to pour the wet pulp in metal molds partitioned to create simple figures. The work is adjusted by hand after removing the molds, before being pressed flat. Each image is unique, like the monotypes of the old days.
Hockney executed two series of paper pulps with Tyler. The earlier, to try the technique, is on the theme of sunflowers. Then the Paper Pools, for which he juxtaposes several shades of blue, are displaying swimming pools, most often with a springboard. Steps with shadow (Paper Pool 2), 130 x 85 cm, appears to be still experimental. It was sold for $ 2.4M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2019, lot 140.
He designs his Paper Pools as assemblies of independently prepared elements. The junctions are visible. With this technique, he produced two large format artworks with twelve elements, the Paper Pools 18 and 27, 183 x 434 cm each.
Piscine de Medianoche, Paper Pool 30, in 6 elements in format 183 x 217 cm overall, was sold for $ 11.7M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 11.
The Paper Pool series was edited in high quantities in lithography in 1980.
After his 1978 session with Tyler, Hockney will not reuse paper pulp but the fragmentation will certainly inspire his gigantic landscapes in oil on canvas of the 2000s, composed of elements adjusted by computer.
The artist uses a ladle to pour the wet pulp in metal molds partitioned to create simple figures. The work is adjusted by hand after removing the molds, before being pressed flat. Each image is unique, like the monotypes of the old days.
Hockney executed two series of paper pulps with Tyler. The earlier, to try the technique, is on the theme of sunflowers. Then the Paper Pools, for which he juxtaposes several shades of blue, are displaying swimming pools, most often with a springboard. Steps with shadow (Paper Pool 2), 130 x 85 cm, appears to be still experimental. It was sold for $ 2.4M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2019, lot 140.
He designs his Paper Pools as assemblies of independently prepared elements. The junctions are visible. With this technique, he produced two large format artworks with twelve elements, the Paper Pools 18 and 27, 183 x 434 cm each.
Piscine de Medianoche, Paper Pool 30, in 6 elements in format 183 x 217 cm overall, was sold for $ 11.7M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 11.
The Paper Pool series was edited in high quantities in lithography in 1980.
After his 1978 session with Tyler, Hockney will not reuse paper pulp but the fragmentation will certainly inspire his gigantic landscapes in oil on canvas of the 2000s, composed of elements adjusted by computer.
2
Day Pool with Three Blues
2019 SOLD for $ 10.5M by Christie's
Day Pool with Three Blues, Paper Pool 7, in 6 small and 3 larger elements in format 183 x 217 cm overall, was sold for $ 10.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2019, lot 24 B.
Sprungbrett mit Schatten, Paper Pool 14, in 6 elements in format 183 x 217 cm overall, was sold for $ 7.3M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 14 C.
Green Pool with Diving Board and shadow, Paper Pool 3-L from a series of fifteen unique variants, 127 x 82 cm, was sold for $ 2.9M by Christie's on November 16, 2018, lot 697.
Sprungbrett mit Schatten, Paper Pool 14, in 6 elements in format 183 x 217 cm overall, was sold for $ 7.3M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 14 C.
Green Pool with Diving Board and shadow, Paper Pool 3-L from a series of fifteen unique variants, 127 x 82 cm, was sold for $ 2.9M by Christie's on November 16, 2018, lot 697.
1978 Hippopotame Bar by Lalanne
2023 SOLD for $ 7.6M by Christie's
Despite its scarcity, the Hippo Bar looks like a synthesis of the zoomorphic functional furniture by François-Xavier Lalanne.
Bar and hippopotamus went indeed early in his career, separately. The tubular non animal bar commissioned by Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé in 1965 was sold for € 2.75M by Christie's on February 25, 2009, lot 348. This style had some limited following. The Mayersdorff bar, made in 1966, was sold by Christie's on May 17, 2018 for $ 4.6M, lot 3 B.
The zoomorphic bars include the Bar aux Autruches, edited in 1970. An example was sold for € 6.2M by Sotheby's in 2017, lot 40.
The history of the hippopotamus in Lalanne design starts in 1968 with the life size bathtub in blue resin prepared for Marcel Duchamp and supplied to his widow in 1969. Lalanne commented that the river horse is better suited than a zebra for that application.
Duchamp's bathtub was an operational failure. It is too large to be installed in the bathroom, and Teeny, Marcel's widow, leaves it in her living room. In 1969 Lalanne makes a hippopotamus bathtub in brass and copper. This unique piece 128 x 84 x 290 cm was sold for $ 4.3M by Christie's on November 12, 2019, lot 13 M.
The obese belly of the hippopotamus looks like a French commode galbée, isn't it ? It may also cheerfully carry on its shelves and trays glasses, shakers, bottles, ice, bar spoons and juicers.
The Hippopotame II Bar was cast in bronze in 8 units in 1986. It is 100 x 200 x 80 cm as a closed animal and 148 x 220 x 92 cm as an opened bar. The interior compartments are hinged. The 1/8 in patinated bronze was sold for $ 7.6M from a lower estimate of $ 3M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 50A.
In 1986 the Hippopotame Bar was cast in bronze in 8 units, 100 x 200 x 73 cm as a closed animal and 140 x 150 x 73 cm as an opened bar. The number 4/8 was acquired by a woman as a gift to her husband for their 40th wedding anniversary and had been kept in that family. It was sold for € 6.1M by Sotheby's on November 23, 2021, lot 23. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Bar and hippopotamus went indeed early in his career, separately. The tubular non animal bar commissioned by Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé in 1965 was sold for € 2.75M by Christie's on February 25, 2009, lot 348. This style had some limited following. The Mayersdorff bar, made in 1966, was sold by Christie's on May 17, 2018 for $ 4.6M, lot 3 B.
The zoomorphic bars include the Bar aux Autruches, edited in 1970. An example was sold for € 6.2M by Sotheby's in 2017, lot 40.
The history of the hippopotamus in Lalanne design starts in 1968 with the life size bathtub in blue resin prepared for Marcel Duchamp and supplied to his widow in 1969. Lalanne commented that the river horse is better suited than a zebra for that application.
Duchamp's bathtub was an operational failure. It is too large to be installed in the bathroom, and Teeny, Marcel's widow, leaves it in her living room. In 1969 Lalanne makes a hippopotamus bathtub in brass and copper. This unique piece 128 x 84 x 290 cm was sold for $ 4.3M by Christie's on November 12, 2019, lot 13 M.
The obese belly of the hippopotamus looks like a French commode galbée, isn't it ? It may also cheerfully carry on its shelves and trays glasses, shakers, bottles, ice, bar spoons and juicers.
The Hippopotame II Bar was cast in bronze in 8 units in 1986. It is 100 x 200 x 80 cm as a closed animal and 148 x 220 x 92 cm as an opened bar. The interior compartments are hinged. The 1/8 in patinated bronze was sold for $ 7.6M from a lower estimate of $ 3M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 50A.
In 1986 the Hippopotame Bar was cast in bronze in 8 units, 100 x 200 x 73 cm as a closed animal and 140 x 150 x 73 cm as an opened bar. The number 4/8 was acquired by a woman as a gift to her husband for their 40th wedding anniversary and had been kept in that family. It was sold for € 6.1M by Sotheby's on November 23, 2021, lot 23. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1978 School by Andrews
2025 SOLD for £ 6.1M by Christie's
Settling in London from 1961 to 1977 before moving to Norfolk, Michael Andrews was somehow associated with the Soho circle of Bacon, Freud and Auerbach. An elusive artist with a low production, he was much esteemed by his more famous fellows.
The preferred theme of Andrews was the social relationship which he represented in small series.
School, started in 1977, is a series of four in which the human communities are superseded by shoals, the color of the fish being an equivalent to the uniform of schoolchildren. The fish were copied from 35 mm slide projection and stencil.
School III, opposing yellow butterfly fish and blue damsel fish, acrylic on canvas 152 x 213 cm painted in 1978, was sold for £ 3.1M by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 14.
The final element, Stage IV, is the climax of the series. It stages in the blue midwater a gang of barracuda warriors attacking a peaceful group of tuna over an underwater mottled reef.
This luminous acrylic on canvas 175 x 175 cm executed in 1978 was sold for £ 6.1M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Christie's on March 5, 2025, lot 21.
The preferred theme of Andrews was the social relationship which he represented in small series.
School, started in 1977, is a series of four in which the human communities are superseded by shoals, the color of the fish being an equivalent to the uniform of schoolchildren. The fish were copied from 35 mm slide projection and stencil.
School III, opposing yellow butterfly fish and blue damsel fish, acrylic on canvas 152 x 213 cm painted in 1978, was sold for £ 3.1M by Christie's on March 7, 2024, lot 14.
The final element, Stage IV, is the climax of the series. It stages in the blue midwater a gang of barracuda warriors attacking a peaceful group of tuna over an underwater mottled reef.
This luminous acrylic on canvas 175 x 175 cm executed in 1978 was sold for £ 6.1M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Christie's on March 5, 2025, lot 21.
