1988
1988 RICHTER
1
658 Blau
2014 SOLD for $ 28.7M by Sotheby's
In 1988, Gerhard Richter desires to control all the artistic potential of pure abstraction. His method is to rework tirelessly the layers of paint until the achievement pleases him. By such a subconscious creation, he is a follower of Pollock. Emotion and hand make art.
On May 14, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 28.7M a monumental oil on canvas, 3 x 3 m. This opus 658 is entitled Blau. Blue is predominant only in a small area in the bottom right but its dynamism overrules the artwork.
On May 14, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 28.7M a monumental oil on canvas, 3 x 3 m. This opus 658 is entitled Blau. Blue is predominant only in a small area in the bottom right but its dynamism overrules the artwork.
2
1988 AB 680-1
2021 SOLD for $ 27M by Christie's
Gerhard Richter explores the expressive capabilities of the abstraction. He soon obtains the complete control of his self developed painting technique, well suited for using the full spectrum of bright colors on large scale formats.
In a first phase he had maintained a borderline relation with the figurative and with the simulation of a three dimension effect. He also creates some abstract opuses in the reproduction of the palette of former top figurative painters.
For that purpose he adds and deletes layers and dots until he is happy with the effect. Around 1988 he manages new abstract paintings without a detailed preconceived idea, letting the random doing the job. Gerhard Richter is a great colorist. He creates through that bold process of unprecedented freedom his most sumptuous abstractions, perfectly under his control for the final vision.
On November 11, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 27M as lot 27C the Abstraktes Bild 680-1, oil on canvas 200 x 180 cm.
The chromatic specificity of this opus is an abundant use of the golden yellow as a pattern of impasto smears over the upper layer.
In a first phase he had maintained a borderline relation with the figurative and with the simulation of a three dimension effect. He also creates some abstract opuses in the reproduction of the palette of former top figurative painters.
For that purpose he adds and deletes layers and dots until he is happy with the effect. Around 1988 he manages new abstract paintings without a detailed preconceived idea, letting the random doing the job. Gerhard Richter is a great colorist. He creates through that bold process of unprecedented freedom his most sumptuous abstractions, perfectly under his control for the final vision.
On November 11, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 27M as lot 27C the Abstraktes Bild 680-1, oil on canvas 200 x 180 cm.
The chromatic specificity of this opus is an abundant use of the golden yellow as a pattern of impasto smears over the upper layer.
3
AB 653-1 St James
2016 SOLD for $ 22.7M by Sotheby's
Gerhard Richter's visit to London in 1987 was very important for establishing his European reputation. Back in his studio he prepares fourteen paintings that will be exhibited at the Anthony d'Offay Gallery in March and April 1988. D'Offay is a great helper to artistic creation : in 1986 it had been to this art dealer to be behind the ultimate great series by Warhol later known as the Self portrait Fright wig.
Richter's fourteen abstract paintings occupy the exhibition room like Monet had done with his water lilies in the project of Grandes Décorations. Richter painted them with brush and squeegee using the process developed by him in 1986, obtaining a high brightness by mingling impasto and fluid layers. They also show a new mottled texture that looks vibrant.
Richter has not abandoned his idea about the lack of meaning of art and more specifically of his own painting. The parallel consideration of his series of abstract expressionist "views" with the vision offered by Monet of colors and lights through the London fog is attractive but probably erroneous.
These homogeneous images are differentiated by a title that calls a monument or a location in London. Brick Tower is part of the Tower of London. AB 643-1 Brick Tower, oil on canvas 200 x 140 cm in vertical vision, was sold for £ 14.1 by Sotheby's on July 1, 2015, lot 17.
AB 653-1 St James, oil on canvas 200 x 260 cm painted in panoramic format in 1988, is estimated $ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 17, lot 6.
Richter's fourteen abstract paintings occupy the exhibition room like Monet had done with his water lilies in the project of Grandes Décorations. Richter painted them with brush and squeegee using the process developed by him in 1986, obtaining a high brightness by mingling impasto and fluid layers. They also show a new mottled texture that looks vibrant.
Richter has not abandoned his idea about the lack of meaning of art and more specifically of his own painting. The parallel consideration of his series of abstract expressionist "views" with the vision offered by Monet of colors and lights through the London fog is attractive but probably erroneous.
These homogeneous images are differentiated by a title that calls a monument or a location in London. Brick Tower is part of the Tower of London. AB 643-1 Brick Tower, oil on canvas 200 x 140 cm in vertical vision, was sold for £ 14.1 by Sotheby's on July 1, 2015, lot 17.
AB 653-1 St James, oil on canvas 200 x 260 cm painted in panoramic format in 1988, is estimated $ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 17, lot 6.
1988 Apocalypse Now by Wool
2013 SOLD for $ 26.5M by Christie's
Abstract art is elitist in the sense that only a public already sensitized can understand the work.
Early in his career, Christopher Wool spreads with a roller a unique pattern on the surface of his painting. It is probably already an attempt to approach writing but impossible to read, like a Twombly.
In 1988 Wool enters into the letter art in an original way that strongly deviates from the pseudo-advertising of Ruscha. His seminal letter art is a preparatory SEX LUV on paper copying a titillating tag sprayed as two rows of three letters on a white truck. It comes in the follow of rebel styles brought by Basquiat in New York City in the 1980s.
The very first aluminum work in his signature stenciled letter art bears a reference to the Trojan Horse from which two letters have been removed from within the words. The difficulty of reading contributes to the attention of the observer and extends his time with the artwork.
Reading TRO JNH ORS in a balanced arrangement of 3 rows of 3 letters each, this Untitled enamel on aluminum 183 x 122 cm painted in 1988 was sold for $ 8.4M by Christie's on May 10, 2022, lot 16 B. The phrase is indeed a reference to the basic treachery of art. It is the only example of that wording in Wool's art.
The contrast is maximum between the letters in dark black enamel and the clean white background obtained by layers of paint on a metal surface. The letters are made with stencil and strictly positioned as if they were locked in a grid. This aluminum substrate allows the paint to sit directly on the surface without the absorption by the fabric of a canvas. The black enamel brings a shiny gloss.
Letters are in the order of the quote but the words are broken between subsequent lines and the intervals are often missing, reinforcing the message because its reading requires the attention of the observer.
The meaning itself is challenging. A painting 213 x 183 cm, titled Apocalypse Now because the quote is from that film, is the masterpiece of the new language. It reuses the message of no return written by an officer to his wife when he decides to go to the enemy.
It is also a point of no return in the history of art. Despite the minimalism in the form, Wool attracts and holds the attention of the observer fascinated by all the possible interpretations of the quote and by its use in art.
Beginning his new style of letter art, Christopher Wool seeks some words that will express the problems of the contemporary world with references to movies and to pop music. After a few drawings he selects his typography and layout, with big letters repeated like through stencils, in perfectly stacked lines like a painting by Agnes Martin.
His three major works painted in 1988 demonstrate that the letter is the main support of the message, preceding the word : Apocalypse Now is a complex sequence of letters with broken words at the end of the line and a few intervals removed. In later works Wool will also remove some vowels. Helter is a huge word divided into two lines and repeated once. Please spans the entire line but is repeated five times.
These themes evoke a shearing that moves the viewer. Apocalypse Now accompanies the departure of the furious hero leaving his wife behind. Helter skelter is a title by the Beatles. Please Please Please is a James Brown rhythm and blues song begging his girlfriend not to leave him.
Apocalypse Now, 213 x 183 cm, was sold for $ 26.5M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on November 12, 2013.
Untitled (Helter), 122 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 5.5M by Christie's on November 15, 2016. Untitled (Please), 244 x 142 cm, was sold for $ 17M by Christie's on May 17, 2017, lot 24 B.
Wool reused SEX LUV in 1992. Some droppings below the letters remind the low quality of the original truck inscription. This alkyd on aluminum 110 x 76 cm was sold for $ 7.9M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 10.
Early in his career, Christopher Wool spreads with a roller a unique pattern on the surface of his painting. It is probably already an attempt to approach writing but impossible to read, like a Twombly.
In 1988 Wool enters into the letter art in an original way that strongly deviates from the pseudo-advertising of Ruscha. His seminal letter art is a preparatory SEX LUV on paper copying a titillating tag sprayed as two rows of three letters on a white truck. It comes in the follow of rebel styles brought by Basquiat in New York City in the 1980s.
The very first aluminum work in his signature stenciled letter art bears a reference to the Trojan Horse from which two letters have been removed from within the words. The difficulty of reading contributes to the attention of the observer and extends his time with the artwork.
Reading TRO JNH ORS in a balanced arrangement of 3 rows of 3 letters each, this Untitled enamel on aluminum 183 x 122 cm painted in 1988 was sold for $ 8.4M by Christie's on May 10, 2022, lot 16 B. The phrase is indeed a reference to the basic treachery of art. It is the only example of that wording in Wool's art.
The contrast is maximum between the letters in dark black enamel and the clean white background obtained by layers of paint on a metal surface. The letters are made with stencil and strictly positioned as if they were locked in a grid. This aluminum substrate allows the paint to sit directly on the surface without the absorption by the fabric of a canvas. The black enamel brings a shiny gloss.
Letters are in the order of the quote but the words are broken between subsequent lines and the intervals are often missing, reinforcing the message because its reading requires the attention of the observer.
The meaning itself is challenging. A painting 213 x 183 cm, titled Apocalypse Now because the quote is from that film, is the masterpiece of the new language. It reuses the message of no return written by an officer to his wife when he decides to go to the enemy.
It is also a point of no return in the history of art. Despite the minimalism in the form, Wool attracts and holds the attention of the observer fascinated by all the possible interpretations of the quote and by its use in art.
Beginning his new style of letter art, Christopher Wool seeks some words that will express the problems of the contemporary world with references to movies and to pop music. After a few drawings he selects his typography and layout, with big letters repeated like through stencils, in perfectly stacked lines like a painting by Agnes Martin.
His three major works painted in 1988 demonstrate that the letter is the main support of the message, preceding the word : Apocalypse Now is a complex sequence of letters with broken words at the end of the line and a few intervals removed. In later works Wool will also remove some vowels. Helter is a huge word divided into two lines and repeated once. Please spans the entire line but is repeated five times.
These themes evoke a shearing that moves the viewer. Apocalypse Now accompanies the departure of the furious hero leaving his wife behind. Helter skelter is a title by the Beatles. Please Please Please is a James Brown rhythm and blues song begging his girlfriend not to leave him.
Apocalypse Now, 213 x 183 cm, was sold for $ 26.5M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on November 12, 2013.
Untitled (Helter), 122 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 5.5M by Christie's on November 15, 2016. Untitled (Please), 244 x 142 cm, was sold for $ 17M by Christie's on May 17, 2017, lot 24 B.
Wool reused SEX LUV in 1992. Some droppings below the letters remind the low quality of the original truck inscription. This alkyd on aluminum 110 x 76 cm was sold for $ 7.9M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 10.
1988 Zao Wou-Ki inspired by Monet
2019 SOLD for HK$ 178M including premium
Contemporary art is a dramatic evolution toward gigantic formats. Zao Wou-Ki buys in 1977 a 15th century fortified house near Beaune-la-Rolande 100 km south of Paris. He installs his studio in an outbuilding. In this room 8 meters high, he opens windows in the attic and creates a mezzanine to check the effect of his work.
These new conditions are a challenge that delights the artist. The coverage of the whole space becomes a gradual exercise in which planning and instinct are competing. It is in this quiet shelter that the artist paints his large triptychs of the 1980s. The man is welcomed by his neighbors for his courtesy but they do not know about his industry. He keeps in parallel his Parisian workshop.
The most monumental work, made for Singapore, is titled and dated Juin-Octobre 1985. This triptych 2.80 x 10 m overall was sold for HK $ 510M including premium by Sotheby's on September 30, 2018.
On May 25 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 200 x 486 cm titled Triptyque 1987-1988, lot 38 estimated HK $ 120M. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house.
This triptych completed in 1988 is conceived as a tribute to Monet and Matisse, more precisely to the harmonious blend of colors and lights of the Grandes Décorations and to the Collioure window that opens onto the landscape like a stage curtain. Zao associates with this European acknowledgement his Chinese sensibility, in a composition where the absence of perspective is a way to evoke the infinity of the world.
These new conditions are a challenge that delights the artist. The coverage of the whole space becomes a gradual exercise in which planning and instinct are competing. It is in this quiet shelter that the artist paints his large triptychs of the 1980s. The man is welcomed by his neighbors for his courtesy but they do not know about his industry. He keeps in parallel his Parisian workshop.
The most monumental work, made for Singapore, is titled and dated Juin-Octobre 1985. This triptych 2.80 x 10 m overall was sold for HK $ 510M including premium by Sotheby's on September 30, 2018.
On May 25 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 200 x 486 cm titled Triptyque 1987-1988, lot 38 estimated HK $ 120M. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house.
This triptych completed in 1988 is conceived as a tribute to Monet and Matisse, more precisely to the harmonious blend of colors and lights of the Grandes Décorations and to the Collioure window that opens onto the landscape like a stage curtain. Zao associates with this European acknowledgement his Chinese sensibility, in a composition where the absence of perspective is a way to evoke the infinity of the world.
1988 Self Portrait of Kippenberger
1
in Picasso Underpants
2014 SOLD for $ 22.6M by Christie's
Regarding painting, the time of Martin Kippenberger could have been a lost generation. He admires Picasso as the ultimate artist who summarizes the art of the twentieth century. He likes the photo made by Duncan in 1962 where Picasso is shirtless, wearing only white underpants.
In 1988, Kippenberger is activist, ambitious and worldly. Coming to Vienna for business, he unintentionally arrives in a grubby hotel because all the others are full. He stages himself in Picasso pants and looks in the mirror. He sees how much he is ugly.
Kippenberger's self-portraits in Picasso underwears display an unpleasant bearded man with a beer belly. He is 35 years old. This series not only shows the beginning of the inexorable physical decline of the artist, but it mostly questions the future of artistic expression in the classis form of painting.
On November 12, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 22.6M from a lower estimate of $ 15M an oil on canvas 242 x 202 cm, lot 40. In an arrogant attitude opposite to Picasso's, the man without legs is placed on a shelf as if he were a pottery.
In 1988, Kippenberger is activist, ambitious and worldly. Coming to Vienna for business, he unintentionally arrives in a grubby hotel because all the others are full. He stages himself in Picasso pants and looks in the mirror. He sees how much he is ugly.
Kippenberger's self-portraits in Picasso underwears display an unpleasant bearded man with a beer belly. He is 35 years old. This series not only shows the beginning of the inexorable physical decline of the artist, but it mostly questions the future of artistic expression in the classis form of painting.
On November 12, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 22.6M from a lower estimate of $ 15M an oil on canvas 242 x 202 cm, lot 40. In an arrogant attitude opposite to Picasso's, the man without legs is placed on a shelf as if he were a pottery.
2
2014 SOLD for $ 18.6M by Christie's
Another painting of same year and size was sold for $ 18.6M from a lower estimate of $ 9M by Christie's on May 12, 2014, lot 13. The man is seen through a buttocks-shaped keyhole. His attitude is so abject that he prefers hiding his head in a blue drop.
Another one, also of same year and size, was sold for $ 4.1M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2009. Showing the man bending as for vomiting, it is the most realistic of these three artworks.
Another one, also of same year and size, was sold for $ 4.1M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2009. Showing the man bending as for vomiting, it is the most realistic of these three artworks.
1988 The Zen Garden
2019 SOLD for RMB 144M including premium
Wu Guanzhong is the most complete artist of the post-Maoist period. Resolutely modernist and inspired by both East and West, he makes up for the time lost during the Cultural Revolution by treating many themes from realism to abstraction in all the graphic techniques.
Wu begins with a preliminary sketch that allows him to choose between an oil on canvas and an ink on paper which he paints in an impulsive gesture. Looking for the elemental forms that constitute his subject, he reworks his figuration and his color up to an ultimate state. Lion Grove Garden, ink and colors on paper 144 x 297 cm painted in 1988, is an example led by the artist to an almost complete abstraction.
The city of Suzhou, 100 km away from Shanghai, is famous for its gardens, several of which have been classified together as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Lion Grove was created by a Zen monk under the Yuan dynasty and was so named for the likeness of one of its rocks with a reclining lion. The garden is bordered by a pond and includes a grotto.
Wu is interested in this site maintained without religious attributes. His meditation brings a pattern of lines and spots of various colors, superseding the real topography of the rock. Two pavilions and a bridge appear beyond the rock. Simplified shapes simulate visitors in the pavilions and fish in the pond.
The whole is looking like a huge cliff by the sea with boats. The shape predominated the theme, responding to the artist's deepest conceptions. Do not search for the lion.
Lion Grove Garden was sold for RMB 115M including premium by Poly on June 3, 2011 and will be sold on June 2 in Beijing by China Guardian, lot 383.
Wu begins with a preliminary sketch that allows him to choose between an oil on canvas and an ink on paper which he paints in an impulsive gesture. Looking for the elemental forms that constitute his subject, he reworks his figuration and his color up to an ultimate state. Lion Grove Garden, ink and colors on paper 144 x 297 cm painted in 1988, is an example led by the artist to an almost complete abstraction.
The city of Suzhou, 100 km away from Shanghai, is famous for its gardens, several of which have been classified together as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Lion Grove was created by a Zen monk under the Yuan dynasty and was so named for the likeness of one of its rocks with a reclining lion. The garden is bordered by a pond and includes a grotto.
Wu is interested in this site maintained without religious attributes. His meditation brings a pattern of lines and spots of various colors, superseding the real topography of the rock. Two pavilions and a bridge appear beyond the rock. Simplified shapes simulate visitors in the pavilions and fish in the pond.
The whole is looking like a huge cliff by the sea with boats. The shape predominated the theme, responding to the artist's deepest conceptions. Do not search for the lion.
Lion Grove Garden was sold for RMB 115M including premium by Poly on June 3, 2011 and will be sold on June 2 in Beijing by China Guardian, lot 383.
1988 The Artist's Proof of the Pink Panther
2011 SOLD for $ 17M by Sotheby's
On May 10, 2011, Sotheby's sold for $ 17M the artist's proof of the Pink Panther by Jeff Koons, lot 10. It was sold for $ 16M by Christie's on November 12, 2014.
Jeff Koons became famous in 1988 by projecting into art his idea of the kitsch. Precisely, the most complex and most famous of his works of these series comes for sale.
Upon such a prelude, the apologists of Koons understand that the theme of today is the Pink Panther. Look at it in the illustration of the press release shared by Artdaily (in 2011).
A young blonde woman is shown at mid-length, naked above the waist (but dressed below). She is closely pressing the pink panther on her breast. It is a porcelain group 1.04 meter high, life size, from an edition of three plus the artist proof coming in this sale.
This embracing couple is not Rodin's Kiss: it indeed has humor in addition. The contrast is striking between the ecstatic attitude of the pin-up blonde and the boring mood of the animal wondering if he really did well in superseding Teddy Bear for the outbursts of feelings of his partner.
Appropriation, banality, false naivete, humor in the style of Playboy magazine : all these features enable to qualify this sculpture as iconic.
I add a word to my French speaking friends who often believe that the Pink Panther is a female due to of an ambiguity in the French language. This character is a male in his adventures in comics and movies, and there is no homosexual message in this masterpiece of Koons.
Jeff Koons became famous in 1988 by projecting into art his idea of the kitsch. Precisely, the most complex and most famous of his works of these series comes for sale.
Upon such a prelude, the apologists of Koons understand that the theme of today is the Pink Panther. Look at it in the illustration of the press release shared by Artdaily (in 2011).
A young blonde woman is shown at mid-length, naked above the waist (but dressed below). She is closely pressing the pink panther on her breast. It is a porcelain group 1.04 meter high, life size, from an edition of three plus the artist proof coming in this sale.
This embracing couple is not Rodin's Kiss: it indeed has humor in addition. The contrast is striking between the ecstatic attitude of the pin-up blonde and the boring mood of the animal wondering if he really did well in superseding Teddy Bear for the outbursts of feelings of his partner.
Appropriation, banality, false naivete, humor in the style of Playboy magazine : all these features enable to qualify this sculpture as iconic.
I add a word to my French speaking friends who often believe that the Pink Panther is a female due to of an ambiguity in the French language. This character is a male in his adventures in comics and movies, and there is no homosexual message in this masterpiece of Koons.
1988 Venere Sopra Gaeta by Twombly
2022 SOLD for $ 17M by Christie's
An abstract painting must provide a feeling through the arrangement of colors or represent without forms the colors of some reality. In the mid 1980s Cy Twombly went back into the latter style while maintaining some signature elements such as the drippings of paint on the canvas.
Venere Sopra Gaeta is a large size example painted in 1988. This mixed media is made of acrylic, oil-based house paint, wax crayon, colored pencil and lead pencil on 250 x 195 cm paper affixed to a wooden panel in an artist's frame.
It was painted in Gaeta where Twombly had a hillside home over the Tyrrhenian Sea on the way from Naples to Rome. The well centered colors amidst white waves represent in abstraction the flesh of Aphrodite soaring above the sea in accordance with an engraving by Dürer of a nude Nemesis levitating over the ground. The reference to proto-writing is made by an illegible short title at the upper right corner.
The rose mingled with red and purple of the abstract flesh has been applied in the wet on wet technique developed by Turner for his watercolors. Some impasto was added with the fingers. Reluctant at once to part with this technical feat, Twombly finally made it sold by a Naples dealer to the Zurich team of Thomas and Doris Ammann.
This contemporary piece inspired by both mythology and Renaissance was sold for $ 17M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on May 9, 2022, lot 7A.
Venere Sopra Gaeta is a large size example painted in 1988. This mixed media is made of acrylic, oil-based house paint, wax crayon, colored pencil and lead pencil on 250 x 195 cm paper affixed to a wooden panel in an artist's frame.
It was painted in Gaeta where Twombly had a hillside home over the Tyrrhenian Sea on the way from Naples to Rome. The well centered colors amidst white waves represent in abstraction the flesh of Aphrodite soaring above the sea in accordance with an engraving by Dürer of a nude Nemesis levitating over the ground. The reference to proto-writing is made by an illegible short title at the upper right corner.
The rose mingled with red and purple of the abstract flesh has been applied in the wet on wet technique developed by Turner for his watercolors. Some impasto was added with the fingers. Reluctant at once to part with this technical feat, Twombly finally made it sold by a Naples dealer to the Zurich team of Thomas and Doris Ammann.
This contemporary piece inspired by both mythology and Renaissance was sold for $ 17M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on May 9, 2022, lot 7A.
