1983
1983 Wax on Flag by Jasper Johns
2014 SOLD for $ 36M including premium
Artistic creation has no limits in New York in 1954. Very young artists endeavor to reject into the past the Abstract Expressionism that was yet barely ten years old.
After meeting Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, aged 24, had one of the most successful intuitions of modern art. Duchamp had introduced the ready mades in artistic creation. Johns will remove the object under its own appearance.
The three colors of the American flag are to Johns an incentive for new art. His flags identical to the official pieces are painted on all kinds of materials including newspapers.
Like Cézanne, he works within the contours as in a cloisonné. Unlike Pollock and Rothko, the first meticulous gesture must be the right one. Any dripping is therefore intentional, which requires a fast drying : Johns painted in wax.
Leo Castelli understands how much the art can be changed by this innovation. Favoring the material instead of shape and color, Johns anticipates Manzoni's achromes and Ryder's white on white while his treatment of a recognizable object is announcing the pop art.
Castelli owned until his death in 1999 one of the earliest Flags by Johns. It was sold in private sale to Steve Cohen in March 2010. Details were not released but the price of $ 110M has not been denied.
On November 11 in New York, Sotheby's sells a small Flag 30 x 45 cm, lot 9 estimated $ 15M. Painted in 1983, it is a rare example of encaustic painting on an actual silk flag mounted on canvas. Its regular configuration in 6 rows of 8 stars was obsolete since 1959, confirming that the process of Johns is much more artistic than patriotic.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
After meeting Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, aged 24, had one of the most successful intuitions of modern art. Duchamp had introduced the ready mades in artistic creation. Johns will remove the object under its own appearance.
The three colors of the American flag are to Johns an incentive for new art. His flags identical to the official pieces are painted on all kinds of materials including newspapers.
Like Cézanne, he works within the contours as in a cloisonné. Unlike Pollock and Rothko, the first meticulous gesture must be the right one. Any dripping is therefore intentional, which requires a fast drying : Johns painted in wax.
Leo Castelli understands how much the art can be changed by this innovation. Favoring the material instead of shape and color, Johns anticipates Manzoni's achromes and Ryder's white on white while his treatment of a recognizable object is announcing the pop art.
Castelli owned until his death in 1999 one of the earliest Flags by Johns. It was sold in private sale to Steve Cohen in March 2010. Details were not released but the price of $ 110M has not been denied.
On November 11 in New York, Sotheby's sells a small Flag 30 x 45 cm, lot 9 estimated $ 15M. Painted in 1983, it is a rare example of encaustic painting on an actual silk flag mounted on canvas. Its regular configuration in 6 rows of 8 stars was obsolete since 1959, confirming that the process of Johns is much more artistic than patriotic.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
1983 The Funny Wizard
2018 SOLD for $ 31M including premium
At the end of 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat is probably not satisfied with his art from the two years that brought him the fame. With his full color control by the oilstick he had lined up funny characters and skeletons that virulently campaign for the African-American cause. The humorous tags that were revealing his street training eventually disappeared.
Visitors to his exhibitions might believe that he is a visual artist rather than a thinker. He begins a monumental composition related to the prophetic meaning of life. Identified under the title Flesh and Spirit, it is divided into two 184 x 368 cm canvases adjacent one above the other. The whole surface 368 x 368 cm is broken down into four quadrants to be read from left to right and from top to bottom like a page of comic strips.
The first three images show an alchemy interweaving the skull and the bones, the brain and the fleshy limbs, with repetitions of words that guide the path of thought and are sometimes crossed out for avoiding the errors. For the first time in the art of Jean-Michel the word is everywhere and the color is rare.
The last quadrant is completed with a black rectangle in which the interaction between Flesh and Spirit is expressed in a diagram of the greatest simplicity and clarity. Just below it the artist figured a derrick with the word Petrol to announce that the control of the anatomical mystery opens the next phase which is the fight against the consumer society.
Flesh and Spirit is finished just in time for an exhibition in New York in January 1983. It is immediately bought by Dolores Ormandy Neumann who finds in this artwork an achievement of the street art and states with sagacity that she may consider it as Basquiat's Rosetta stone.
Flesh and Spirit will be sold by Sotheby's in New York on May 16 as lot 24. The press release of March 28 announces an estimate in the region of $ 30M.
Basquiat continues in 1983 with this new style of narrative figuration. Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta was sold for $ 23.7M including premium by Sotheby's on May 14, 2014. Brother's Sausage was sold for $ 18.6M including premium on November 17, 2016, also by Sotheby's.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Visitors to his exhibitions might believe that he is a visual artist rather than a thinker. He begins a monumental composition related to the prophetic meaning of life. Identified under the title Flesh and Spirit, it is divided into two 184 x 368 cm canvases adjacent one above the other. The whole surface 368 x 368 cm is broken down into four quadrants to be read from left to right and from top to bottom like a page of comic strips.
The first three images show an alchemy interweaving the skull and the bones, the brain and the fleshy limbs, with repetitions of words that guide the path of thought and are sometimes crossed out for avoiding the errors. For the first time in the art of Jean-Michel the word is everywhere and the color is rare.
The last quadrant is completed with a black rectangle in which the interaction between Flesh and Spirit is expressed in a diagram of the greatest simplicity and clarity. Just below it the artist figured a derrick with the word Petrol to announce that the control of the anatomical mystery opens the next phase which is the fight against the consumer society.
Flesh and Spirit is finished just in time for an exhibition in New York in January 1983. It is immediately bought by Dolores Ormandy Neumann who finds in this artwork an achievement of the street art and states with sagacity that she may consider it as Basquiat's Rosetta stone.
Flesh and Spirit will be sold by Sotheby's in New York on May 16 as lot 24. The press release of March 28 announces an estimate in the region of $ 30M.
Basquiat continues in 1983 with this new style of narrative figuration. Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta was sold for $ 23.7M including premium by Sotheby's on May 14, 2014. Brother's Sausage was sold for $ 18.6M including premium on November 17, 2016, also by Sotheby's.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1983 The Chronicle of the Mississippi Delta
2014 SOLD 23.7 M$ including premium
The art of Jean-Michel Basquiat changed radically in 1983. During the previous two years, he had achieved fame by building a pantheon of gods and fierce warriors shown in close-up with a subtle humor.
His art becomes political, endeavoring to support black people against racial injustice and opposing the consumerism of the whites. He painted large murals on canvas, interspersed by either understandable or obscure words that altogether constitute a wild message.
He wants to shock, up to sometimes even glorifying Papa Doc, the dictator hated by the whites. The use of collage enables the indescribable jumble of a newspaper in which the search for the meaning forces the viewer to make a long stop.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells an artwork composed of five joined canvases in an overall format 1.25 x 4.71 m, lot 20 in the catalog.
Reading goes from left to right. The first painting is like a title page, writing "Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta". It is not a reference to the origins of the artist whose father was from Haiti and mother from Puerto Rico. Mississippi Delta is here the emblem of the last bastion of racial segregation.
The next two sections abound in allusions to the hated mechanisms of consumerism with three dates that I have not decoded, somehow like the Australian Aboriginal paintings in which artists retain the memory of battles deliberately forgotten by the whites.
The design is simplified in the fourth chapter highlighting a reference to Mark Twain. The nonconformist writer had dared to use with sympathy the dialect of the slaves in his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. On the last picture, the conclusion is the apotheosis of Negroes who overcame the cotton slavery.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good result for this epic and activist painting that was no longer from the most creative period of the artist: $ 23.7 million including premium.
His art becomes political, endeavoring to support black people against racial injustice and opposing the consumerism of the whites. He painted large murals on canvas, interspersed by either understandable or obscure words that altogether constitute a wild message.
He wants to shock, up to sometimes even glorifying Papa Doc, the dictator hated by the whites. The use of collage enables the indescribable jumble of a newspaper in which the search for the meaning forces the viewer to make a long stop.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells an artwork composed of five joined canvases in an overall format 1.25 x 4.71 m, lot 20 in the catalog.
Reading goes from left to right. The first painting is like a title page, writing "Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta". It is not a reference to the origins of the artist whose father was from Haiti and mother from Puerto Rico. Mississippi Delta is here the emblem of the last bastion of racial segregation.
The next two sections abound in allusions to the hated mechanisms of consumerism with three dates that I have not decoded, somehow like the Australian Aboriginal paintings in which artists retain the memory of battles deliberately forgotten by the whites.
The design is simplified in the fourth chapter highlighting a reference to Mark Twain. The nonconformist writer had dared to use with sympathy the dialect of the slaves in his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. On the last picture, the conclusion is the apotheosis of Negroes who overcame the cotton slavery.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good result for this epic and activist painting that was no longer from the most creative period of the artist: $ 23.7 million including premium.
1983 Stuck between Sausage and Liberty
2016 SOLD for $ 18.6M including premium
A frieze of panels by Jean-Michel Basquiat looking like a disgruntled mural passed at Christie's on November 10, 2009 in the midst of one of the worst crises of the art market. It is now estimated $ 15M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 17, lot 36.
I discussed it as follows in 2009.
In 1981 Basquiat achieved fame in New York City. The former graffiti activist was producing large size paintings depicting African American heroes and symbols. In 1983, aged 23, he structures his message to make it more political in his desire to fight the all-white power and to denounce the consumerism. He met Warhol in the same year.
He now expresses his violence on canvas panels covered in part with paper collages and hinged together in a sort of comic strip. A great example is Brother's Sausage, composed of six parts for a total size of 122 x 476 cm.
Starting from the left is a big bad wolf disguised in Uncle Sam who claims the virtues of a brand of 'famous' sausages. The story ends on the right by the mockery of a coin, openly criticizing the so-called Liberty.
Between these two sides, three of the central panels are covered with xeroxes of typical Basquiat sketches mingled in a mess like a graffiti wall in a disadvantaged suburb. There is also a blue sky area looking like a void in a fence.
I discussed it as follows in 2009.
In 1981 Basquiat achieved fame in New York City. The former graffiti activist was producing large size paintings depicting African American heroes and symbols. In 1983, aged 23, he structures his message to make it more political in his desire to fight the all-white power and to denounce the consumerism. He met Warhol in the same year.
He now expresses his violence on canvas panels covered in part with paper collages and hinged together in a sort of comic strip. A great example is Brother's Sausage, composed of six parts for a total size of 122 x 476 cm.
Starting from the left is a big bad wolf disguised in Uncle Sam who claims the virtues of a brand of 'famous' sausages. The story ends on the right by the mockery of a coin, openly criticizing the so-called Liberty.
Between these two sides, three of the central panels are covered with xeroxes of typical Basquiat sketches mingled in a mess like a graffiti wall in a disadvantaged suburb. There is also a blue sky area looking like a void in a fence.
1983 Basquiat writes on Canvas
2013 SOLD 9.3 M£ including premium
Jean-Michel Basquiat became famous in less than two years, thanks to his artistic skill and despite his revolt. The following of his career is both complex and pathetic.
In 1983, he attempts to confirm that genius which is now recognized to him. Threatened by drugs, he does not find a way between the misery of the streets and the money of the celebrities. Finding back his instinct of a tagger, he covers his canvases by unrelated words amidst figurative drawings from his usual grammar.
In 1981, he was mystical, in support of his black community. In 1983, he becomes more political. He wants to be a voice for the revolutionaries.
On February 13 in London, Christie's sells an acrylic, oilstick and collage on canvas, 213 x 213 cm, entitled Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown), whose complex exegesis demonstrates the difficulty of understanding Basquiat at that time. The image is presented as a graffiti with vertical streaks indicating the influence of the other poet of writing in art, Cy Twombly.
Words collide. Museum is an aggressive comment on the price of art, including his own art. Papadoc, written in places of high visibility, is a tribute to Duvalier, certainly with no other purpose than to express his hatred of the whites. The word ORAPO, omnipresent, is not decrypted but sounds like a clandestine organization, anticipating by a quarter of century the Organización Revolucionaria Armada del Pueblo de Oaxaca.
Museum Security is estimated £ 7M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting with a hermetic message is a very good indicator of the entry of Basquiat into into the difficult phase of his short life. It was sold £ 9.3 million including premium.
In 1983, he attempts to confirm that genius which is now recognized to him. Threatened by drugs, he does not find a way between the misery of the streets and the money of the celebrities. Finding back his instinct of a tagger, he covers his canvases by unrelated words amidst figurative drawings from his usual grammar.
In 1981, he was mystical, in support of his black community. In 1983, he becomes more political. He wants to be a voice for the revolutionaries.
On February 13 in London, Christie's sells an acrylic, oilstick and collage on canvas, 213 x 213 cm, entitled Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown), whose complex exegesis demonstrates the difficulty of understanding Basquiat at that time. The image is presented as a graffiti with vertical streaks indicating the influence of the other poet of writing in art, Cy Twombly.
Words collide. Museum is an aggressive comment on the price of art, including his own art. Papadoc, written in places of high visibility, is a tribute to Duvalier, certainly with no other purpose than to express his hatred of the whites. The word ORAPO, omnipresent, is not decrypted but sounds like a clandestine organization, anticipating by a quarter of century the Organización Revolucionaria Armada del Pueblo de Oaxaca.
Museum Security is estimated £ 7M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting with a hermetic message is a very good indicator of the entry of Basquiat into into the difficult phase of his short life. It was sold £ 9.3 million including premium.
1982-1983 Ear, Chest and Music
2013 SOLD 6.8 M£ including premium
On 1 July 2008, Sotheby's sold £ 5.1 million including premium a painting by Basquiat. Here are some extracts from my discussion of that time:
'This is not a requiem, but almost. This painting was acquired by the group U2 in 1989, the year that followed the death of Basquiat, to decorate their recording studio in Dublin. The current seller is U2, offering it at auction atSotheby's in London on July 1 (Lot 48).
'It dates from 1982, and Sotheby's, in its press release, remind three results obtained by them on works by Basquiat painted during that year or the previous year: $ 14.6 million in May 2007, $ 11.8 million in November 2007, $ 9.5 million in May 2008.
'The date is good, as also the dimensions. Its size, 183 x 183 cm, is roughly the same as the one mentioned above as sold in May 2007 (200 x 183 cm). The latter, with an almost full character lifting his arms, is more expressive than the newcomer, which is limited to a head and letters. Also, the link with music is not negligible.'
This acrylic, oil stick and collage on canvas comes back on February 12 in the same auction room, now dated 1982-1983 and estimated £ 7M. It deserves to get a closer look than what I did in 2008.
The head is a hybrid between realistic and skinned, responding to a well-known metaphysical obsession by Basquiat on human nature. The word PECHO is placed on the chest like a label. The word OREJA is beside an almost torn off ear.
Basquiat, despite his young age, was a great connoisseur of art history. The ear and chest can only be the two mutilated organs of Van Gogh.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's in 2013.
POST SALE COMMENT
Despite the recent trend of the art market for pushing Basquiat, this interesting artwork has not provided the expected gain. It still sold: £ 6.8 million including premium.
'This is not a requiem, but almost. This painting was acquired by the group U2 in 1989, the year that followed the death of Basquiat, to decorate their recording studio in Dublin. The current seller is U2, offering it at auction atSotheby's in London on July 1 (Lot 48).
'It dates from 1982, and Sotheby's, in its press release, remind three results obtained by them on works by Basquiat painted during that year or the previous year: $ 14.6 million in May 2007, $ 11.8 million in November 2007, $ 9.5 million in May 2008.
'The date is good, as also the dimensions. Its size, 183 x 183 cm, is roughly the same as the one mentioned above as sold in May 2007 (200 x 183 cm). The latter, with an almost full character lifting his arms, is more expressive than the newcomer, which is limited to a head and letters. Also, the link with music is not negligible.'
This acrylic, oil stick and collage on canvas comes back on February 12 in the same auction room, now dated 1982-1983 and estimated £ 7M. It deserves to get a closer look than what I did in 2008.
The head is a hybrid between realistic and skinned, responding to a well-known metaphysical obsession by Basquiat on human nature. The word PECHO is placed on the chest like a label. The word OREJA is beside an almost torn off ear.
Basquiat, despite his young age, was a great connoisseur of art history. The ear and chest can only be the two mutilated organs of Van Gogh.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's in 2013.
POST SALE COMMENT
Despite the recent trend of the art market for pushing Basquiat, this interesting artwork has not provided the expected gain. It still sold: £ 6.8 million including premium.
from 1983 A Collection of 4370 Swatch watches
2011 SOLD for HK$ 51M including premium by Phillips
from 1983 The Swatch Brand
2015 SOLD for HK$ 47M including premium
Swatch is a great Swiss success story that enabled the reconquest of the market of cheap watches against an overwhelming dominance of the Japanese industry. This brand was launched in 1983 after three years of development.
The idea of the founders was to reduce as much as possible the number of components in order to minimize the production costs. The technical challenge was to maintain in these conditions the accuracy of the instrument while ensuring an acceptable operating duration.
The marketing has been very innovative, promoting fun illustrations and even unprecedented uses. The user can pin his Swatch watch on his jacket or tie with it her ponytail. In 1985, some limited editions are illustrated by artists. Swatch collaborated with Kiki Picasso and Keith Haring, without neglecting the popular themes such as movies and sports competitions.
On November 24, 2011, Phillips sold the Blum collection as a single lot for HK $ 51M including premium. Composed of a total of 4370 pieces, this set included 795 prototypes, some of them predating the 1983 original release.
On April 7 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells the Dunkel collection, lot 2189. This superlot consists of 5800 pieces including 45 prototypes, mainly from 1983 to 2008. Here is the link to the press release.
The idea of the founders was to reduce as much as possible the number of components in order to minimize the production costs. The technical challenge was to maintain in these conditions the accuracy of the instrument while ensuring an acceptable operating duration.
The marketing has been very innovative, promoting fun illustrations and even unprecedented uses. The user can pin his Swatch watch on his jacket or tie with it her ponytail. In 1985, some limited editions are illustrated by artists. Swatch collaborated with Kiki Picasso and Keith Haring, without neglecting the popular themes such as movies and sports competitions.
On November 24, 2011, Phillips sold the Blum collection as a single lot for HK $ 51M including premium. Composed of a total of 4370 pieces, this set included 795 prototypes, some of them predating the 1983 original release.
On April 7 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells the Dunkel collection, lot 2189. This superlot consists of 5800 pieces including 45 prototypes, mainly from 1983 to 2008. Here is the link to the press release.
1983 The Very Long Road of Agnes Martin
2016 SOLD for $ 6.7M including premium
Agnes Martin expressed and disclosed in her art the perfect tranquility of nature. She shared with her audience her deep impregnation within Zen and Taoism. To achieve such a level of spirituality, her painting is devoid of form, space and time.
In the opposite, her life is a poignant fleeing from madness. She is subject to auditory hallucinations and catatonic trances and a paranoid schizophrenia has been diagnosed. In the big city, she forgets who and where she is, accepts exhibitions but rejects fame and catalogs. She once said that she is not a woman. It seems that her illness was aggravated by an upset homosexuality that she never confessed.
She decides in 1967 to go to the West. In her case, it is the best therapy. She lives alone without being actually isolated but refuses any help. In her wanderings in the desert she builds her own shelter huts. Old age will help Agnes to retrieve some social life but she deliberately ignores some usual aspects of it. She had never read a newspaper again.
From 1967 to 1974 she stopped painting. On November 15 in New York, Christie's sells an acrylic and graphite 183 x 183 cm made in the next phase of her career, in 1983, lot 13 A estimated $ 5M.
This untitled opus consists of ten identical gray rectangles, equidistant and of equal width on a lighter gray background whose brightness has been carefully crafted. Agnes remembered from Rothko both mysticism and rectangles but did not imitate him. Her rectangles display a perfect sharpness.
The art of Agnes Martin is minimalist without being simple. The difficulty for this demanding artist was to avoid what she names a dissonance between the aligned position of the ten rectangles and the strictly square format of the canvas.
In the opposite, her life is a poignant fleeing from madness. She is subject to auditory hallucinations and catatonic trances and a paranoid schizophrenia has been diagnosed. In the big city, she forgets who and where she is, accepts exhibitions but rejects fame and catalogs. She once said that she is not a woman. It seems that her illness was aggravated by an upset homosexuality that she never confessed.
She decides in 1967 to go to the West. In her case, it is the best therapy. She lives alone without being actually isolated but refuses any help. In her wanderings in the desert she builds her own shelter huts. Old age will help Agnes to retrieve some social life but she deliberately ignores some usual aspects of it. She had never read a newspaper again.
From 1967 to 1974 she stopped painting. On November 15 in New York, Christie's sells an acrylic and graphite 183 x 183 cm made in the next phase of her career, in 1983, lot 13 A estimated $ 5M.
This untitled opus consists of ten identical gray rectangles, equidistant and of equal width on a lighter gray background whose brightness has been carefully crafted. Agnes remembered from Rothko both mysticism and rectangles but did not imitate him. Her rectangles display a perfect sharpness.
The art of Agnes Martin is minimalist without being simple. The difficulty for this demanding artist was to avoid what she names a dissonance between the aligned position of the ten rectangles and the strictly square format of the canvas.
1982-1983 Esther and Ib
2016 SOLD for £ 4.8M including premium
Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon influenced each other, although their styles are different. Both admit that they can not do the portrait of people to whom they are not close. The bright color and thick paste participate in their reconstruction of life. A small format 36 x 31 cm is suitable for the picture of a head.
In the early 1980s, Lucian discovers with amazement that his elder children began their lives of young adults. He offers them the long sittings that create the necessary empathy.
The method of Lucian with his models is in the opposite to Francis who works only with photographs and with his memory. Lucian is a charmer. He literally makes his models glowing by telling stories, singing, sharing extraordinary foods. The word 'glowing' was chosen by Esther Freud to express her feelings during these long hours.
On February 11 in London, Christie's sells the Head of Esther as lot 15 and the Head of Ib as lot 16. Both paintings that can form a pair come from the same "important private European collection" and are estimated £ 2.5M each.
Esther, born in 1963, began the process in 1982-1983 and Ib, born in 1961, took over in 1983-1984. The physical resemblance of the half sisters allowed a similar technique. The image is almost a living sculpture with the flesh of the cheek expressed by a thick colored impasto and the hair combed by the brush of the artist.
The two young women have their head on the pillow which is the most comfortable position during the long viewings by the father. When Esther is on the left and Ib on the right, they face each other. In their attitude of full confidence, Esther opens her eyes and Ib sleeps. The reflection in the eye of Esther strengthens her presence.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM
Head of Esther : £ 4.8M
Head of Ib : £ 2.55M
In the early 1980s, Lucian discovers with amazement that his elder children began their lives of young adults. He offers them the long sittings that create the necessary empathy.
The method of Lucian with his models is in the opposite to Francis who works only with photographs and with his memory. Lucian is a charmer. He literally makes his models glowing by telling stories, singing, sharing extraordinary foods. The word 'glowing' was chosen by Esther Freud to express her feelings during these long hours.
On February 11 in London, Christie's sells the Head of Esther as lot 15 and the Head of Ib as lot 16. Both paintings that can form a pair come from the same "important private European collection" and are estimated £ 2.5M each.
Esther, born in 1963, began the process in 1982-1983 and Ib, born in 1961, took over in 1983-1984. The physical resemblance of the half sisters allowed a similar technique. The image is almost a living sculpture with the flesh of the cheek expressed by a thick colored impasto and the hair combed by the brush of the artist.
The two young women have their head on the pillow which is the most comfortable position during the long viewings by the father. When Esther is on the left and Ib on the right, they face each other. In their attitude of full confidence, Esther opens her eyes and Ib sleeps. The reflection in the eye of Esther strengthens her presence.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM
Head of Esther : £ 4.8M
Head of Ib : £ 2.55M
1983 The Journey of Zao Wou-Ki in China
2013 SOLD 37 MHK$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The journey of Zao Wou-Ki in China in 1983 is of course not the first, but for the first time he is recognized as a major artist in his home country.
He was very fortunate to meet Zhang Daqian, in extremis because the old master died on April 2, 1983, aged 84. Their approaches had been parallel. While Zao submitted to the observer his psychic landscapes, Zhang spread his most expressive colors on identified landscapes.
The diptych 10.3.83 by Zao is influenced by Zhang's technique of splashed color (although I have not understood whether it had been painted before or after the meeting of the two masters). This oil on canvas, 200 x 325 cm, is estimated HK $ 25M, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 6. Here is the link to the catalog.
Contrast is violent between the brightly lit ground and the night sky, and the horizon is not a line but a diffuse area in the best style of Zao. For once, although the title is a simple date, the landscape seems identifiable. It would be Mount Tai, one of the five sacred mountains of China.
The new admiration of China for the art of Zao was dazzling. Before the end of 1983, this diptych was exhibited both in Beijing and Hangzhou.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good price, HK$ 37M including premium, for this painting made in a key year of Zao's later career.
The journey of Zao Wou-Ki in China in 1983 is of course not the first, but for the first time he is recognized as a major artist in his home country.
He was very fortunate to meet Zhang Daqian, in extremis because the old master died on April 2, 1983, aged 84. Their approaches had been parallel. While Zao submitted to the observer his psychic landscapes, Zhang spread his most expressive colors on identified landscapes.
The diptych 10.3.83 by Zao is influenced by Zhang's technique of splashed color (although I have not understood whether it had been painted before or after the meeting of the two masters). This oil on canvas, 200 x 325 cm, is estimated HK $ 25M, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 6. Here is the link to the catalog.
Contrast is violent between the brightly lit ground and the night sky, and the horizon is not a line but a diffuse area in the best style of Zao. For once, although the title is a simple date, the landscape seems identifiable. It would be Mount Tai, one of the five sacred mountains of China.
The new admiration of China for the art of Zao was dazzling. Before the end of 1983, this diptych was exhibited both in Beijing and Hangzhou.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good price, HK$ 37M including premium, for this painting made in a key year of Zao's later career.
