1990
1990 Swamped by Doig
2021 SOLD for $ 40M by Christie's
Peter Doig applies a rich kaleidoscope of colors on large size canvases, assimilating the pictorial inputs of the top masters of his century including Klimt, Pollock and Richter, knowing to mingle figurative and abstract. Questioning and criticizing the role of humanity and its incongruous traces in nature, Doig states an admiration for Hopper.
He caught a prolific inspiration in a still from the 1980 film Friday the 13th, which turns out to have been a nightmare in the following of the story. The picture of the swamp in the moonlight just before or just after the crime already raises the question of humans physically lost within nature.
As for Monet's lily pond, the image includes both the shore and its reflection in water. The lone white empty canoe shifting on the tropical lagoon and its perfect reflection are too sparkling for their light to come only from the moon. This intense internal lighting is meaning that it is the last remaining element from some human civilization.
Swamped, oil on canvas 197 x 241 cm painted in 1990, was sold by Christie's for $ 26M on May 19, 2015, lot 5A, and for $ 40M on November 9, 2021, lot 9A.
On February 7, 2007, Sotheby's sold at lot 7 for £ 5.7M a painting of similar size dated 1990-1991 whose title White Canoe removes the hint to the movie inspiration of the series.
Relying in his own memory, Doig did not take references to other film images in his career. Having grown partly in Ontario, he was possibly also influenced in that canoe series by Tom Thomson's hallucinatory paintings in the Canadian wilderness and his mysterious death in 1917 by drowning in the so called Canoe Lake in that state.
He caught a prolific inspiration in a still from the 1980 film Friday the 13th, which turns out to have been a nightmare in the following of the story. The picture of the swamp in the moonlight just before or just after the crime already raises the question of humans physically lost within nature.
As for Monet's lily pond, the image includes both the shore and its reflection in water. The lone white empty canoe shifting on the tropical lagoon and its perfect reflection are too sparkling for their light to come only from the moon. This intense internal lighting is meaning that it is the last remaining element from some human civilization.
Swamped, oil on canvas 197 x 241 cm painted in 1990, was sold by Christie's for $ 26M on May 19, 2015, lot 5A, and for $ 40M on November 9, 2021, lot 9A.
On February 7, 2007, Sotheby's sold at lot 7 for £ 5.7M a painting of similar size dated 1990-1991 whose title White Canoe removes the hint to the movie inspiration of the series.
Relying in his own memory, Doig did not take references to other film images in his career. Having grown partly in Ontario, he was possibly also influenced in that canoe series by Tom Thomson's hallucinatory paintings in the Canadian wilderness and his mysterious death in 1917 by drowning in the so called Canoe Lake in that state.
WOOL
1
ri-ot
2015 SOLD for $ 30M by Sotheby's
Our time is of great violence, fueled by the media. The public is no longer satisfied by its daily surrounding as if we liked being disturbed by events that ultimately do not concern us. The cinema is an element of this permanent shock.
By painting gigantic stenciled words in an unchanged typography and arrangement between 1988 and 1992, Christopher Wool contributes to this aggression. His works painted in enamel on aluminum are minimalist in order to concentrate the emotion within the short text. Wool is altogether removing from his art figure, color and texture, thus going still further than Jasper Johns.
He also standardizes formats in 1990. The repeatability of the pictorial process also enables the artist to transform his paintings into multiples. The exhibition of Wool's messages challenges the viewer on the nature and risks of the action, violent or inappropriate.
He does not attribute titles to his artworks, because the displayed word is sufficient. By limiting us to the year 1990 and the format 274 x 183 cm, we find many examples.
The Untitled reading RI-OT was sold for $ 30M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2015 from a lower estimate of $ 12M, lot 7.
By painting gigantic stenciled words in an unchanged typography and arrangement between 1988 and 1992, Christopher Wool contributes to this aggression. His works painted in enamel on aluminum are minimalist in order to concentrate the emotion within the short text. Wool is altogether removing from his art figure, color and texture, thus going still further than Jasper Johns.
He also standardizes formats in 1990. The repeatability of the pictorial process also enables the artist to transform his paintings into multiples. The exhibition of Wool's messages challenges the viewer on the nature and risks of the action, violent or inappropriate.
He does not attribute titles to his artworks, because the displayed word is sufficient. By limiting us to the year 1990 and the format 274 x 183 cm, we find many examples.
The Untitled reading RI-OT was sold for $ 30M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2015 from a lower estimate of $ 12M, lot 7.
2
cats-inbag-bags-in-river
2017 SOLD for $ 17M by Christie's
From the same series and in the same technique and size as the example above, an Untitled reading CATS-INBAG-BAGS-IN-RIVER was sold for $ 17M by Christie's on November 10, 2015, lot 41 B.
For this specific opus, the artist revealed the cinematographic source of his inspiration : a phrase from the 1957 film Sweet Smell of Success.
For this specific opus, the artist revealed the cinematographic source of his inspiration : a phrase from the 1957 film Sweet Smell of Success.
3
rund-ogru-ndog-run
2018 SOLD for $ 15.2M by Christie's
From the same series and in the same technique and size as the examples above, an Untitled reading RUND-OGRU-NDOG-RUN was sold for $ 15.2M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 12 C.
4
fo-ol
2014 SOLD for $ 14.2M by Christie's
From the same series and in the same technique and size as the examples above, an Untitled reading FO-OL was sold twice by Christie's, for £ 4.9M on February 14, 2012, lot 5, and for $ 14M on November 12, 2014, lot 7. It was sold for $ 14M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2019, lot 21.
Abstraktes Bild by RICHTER
1
712
2014 SOLD 29 M$ including premium
Abstraktes Bild 712 by Gerhard Richter was sold for $ 17.5M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012. This painting is estimated $ 22M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, lot 15 of the catalog.
I reuse below my previous article with some additional technical information.
Abstraktes Bild 712 is the first work done by Gerhard Richter in 1990. He had started this series two years before, and he his now mastering his use of a wide rake to apply colors.
This squeegee used by Richter to bring the liquid paint on the canvas is a hard tool that disrupts the previous layers of paint when they become almost dry. The process is repeated until the color balance of the work meets the wish of the artist.
To begin that new decade, Richter prepares a masterpiece. This oil on canvas, 260 x 200 cm, is one of the largest. Also the nicely mingling red, yellow and blue are enhanced by a final layer of silver gray which provides a brightening effect onto the whole.
The choice of these three basic colors enables to reach almost the entire spectrum. This is an indirect tribute to the fascination with pure colors that had been expressed by Barnett Newman.
The work is completely abstract, but the uneven distribution of color densities may generate the illusion of a blister, as if this area was part of a living being. It is well known that an Abstraktes Bild by Richter has no figurative meaning. By the effect it can provide to the viewer, 712 is probably one of the closest to Rothko.
POST SALE COMMENT
This Richter painting was sold for $ 29M including premium, far above its 2012 price.
I reuse below my previous article with some additional technical information.
Abstraktes Bild 712 is the first work done by Gerhard Richter in 1990. He had started this series two years before, and he his now mastering his use of a wide rake to apply colors.
This squeegee used by Richter to bring the liquid paint on the canvas is a hard tool that disrupts the previous layers of paint when they become almost dry. The process is repeated until the color balance of the work meets the wish of the artist.
To begin that new decade, Richter prepares a masterpiece. This oil on canvas, 260 x 200 cm, is one of the largest. Also the nicely mingling red, yellow and blue are enhanced by a final layer of silver gray which provides a brightening effect onto the whole.
The choice of these three basic colors enables to reach almost the entire spectrum. This is an indirect tribute to the fascination with pure colors that had been expressed by Barnett Newman.
The work is completely abstract, but the uneven distribution of color densities may generate the illusion of a blister, as if this area was part of a living being. It is well known that an Abstraktes Bild by Richter has no figurative meaning. By the effect it can provide to the viewer, 712 is probably one of the closest to Rothko.
POST SALE COMMENT
This Richter painting was sold for $ 29M including premium, far above its 2012 price.
2
2008 SOLD for $ 15M by Sotheby's
An Abstraktes Bild painted in 1990, oil on canvas 200 x 180 cm, was sold for $ 15M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008, lot 23..
1990 With Wagner on the Highway
2018 SOLD for $ 28.5M including premium
David Hockney has his studio in Santa Monica. In the mid afternoon he returns home to Hollywood Hills by the Pacific Coast Highway. The journey is long and repetitive. In 1990 he prepares a 90-minute tape of Wagner's music on a rhythm that matches the immutable sequence of the visited landscape.
He installs a control panel and twelve speakers in his vintage red convertible Mercedes. He names My Wagner Drive this unprecedented audio-landscape work that has no meaning outside his usual transit on the highway.
At that time Hockney is not very active in his main occupation as a graphic artist. He wants his art to be happy but many of his friends are dying of AIDS. Wagner's road helps him against his doubts.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm painted in 1990, lot 21 estimated $ 20M.
This painting is an accumulation of rare colors in closed surfaces. Its naive geometric composition meets the taste of the classical Chinese landscape that brings together several observation points for a more spectacular effect, in opposition to works inspired by photography. The winding road is the only evidence of a human intervention.
Later in a trend towards monumental painting, Hockney will divide the landscape into a grid of autonomous canvases, confirming that even when his subject is unique his point of observation is not. Painted in 1998 the 169 x 167 cm view of the Grand Canyon is an example of this once again unconventional phase. This study in fifteen parts was sold for £ 6M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2017.
He installs a control panel and twelve speakers in his vintage red convertible Mercedes. He names My Wagner Drive this unprecedented audio-landscape work that has no meaning outside his usual transit on the highway.
At that time Hockney is not very active in his main occupation as a graphic artist. He wants his art to be happy but many of his friends are dying of AIDS. Wagner's road helps him against his doubts.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica, oil on canvas 198 x 305 cm painted in 1990, lot 21 estimated $ 20M.
This painting is an accumulation of rare colors in closed surfaces. Its naive geometric composition meets the taste of the classical Chinese landscape that brings together several observation points for a more spectacular effect, in opposition to works inspired by photography. The winding road is the only evidence of a human intervention.
Later in a trend towards monumental painting, Hockney will divide the landscape into a grid of autonomous canvases, confirming that even when his subject is unique his point of observation is not. Painted in 1998 the 169 x 167 cm view of the Grand Canyon is an example of this once again unconventional phase. This study in fifteen parts was sold for £ 6M including premium by Sotheby's on October 5, 2017.
1990 Thud by Lichtenstein
2021 SOLD for HK$ 110M by Sotheby's
For Roy Lichtenstein, graphic art is an illusion. He reveals such a truth in 1965 with his series of large format Brushstrokes. The mirror is a similar source of inspiration. In 1964 the Girl in mirror is directly viewed only in her blonde hair from backside but her hilarious face is framed within the mirror held by her hand. An example from an edition in porcelain enamel on steel 107 x 107 cm was sold by Phillips for £ 4.8M on March 7, 2019.
Roy revisits the theme of the reflections after 1988, now associated with his signature appropriation of comics.
On April 19, 2021, Sotheby's sold for HK$ 110M Reflections on Thud!, oil and acrylic on canvas 140 x 244 cm painted in 1990, lot 1112 from a lower estimate of HK $ 78M.
The image features a tyrannosaurus falling dead on its back with its mouth opened on its fangs. The source is a comics as evidenced by the onomatopoeia of the fall, THUD. The foreground is made of four slightly oblique parallel bars of uneven width, suggesting that the scene is viewed through a pattern of invisible glass, potentially oblique or distorting.
Such an interesting experimentation with a possible multiple angle of view had a follow in the period of the nude blondes at home. Nudes in mirror stages two women in different sizes, both facing a unique framed mirror. Tiny details reveal that the farthest is not the result of a multiple reflection of her teammate. This 1994 painting 254 x 213 cm was sold for $ 21.5M by Phillips on May 15, 2013.
Roy revisits the theme of the reflections after 1988, now associated with his signature appropriation of comics.
On April 19, 2021, Sotheby's sold for HK$ 110M Reflections on Thud!, oil and acrylic on canvas 140 x 244 cm painted in 1990, lot 1112 from a lower estimate of HK $ 78M.
The image features a tyrannosaurus falling dead on its back with its mouth opened on its fangs. The source is a comics as evidenced by the onomatopoeia of the fall, THUD. The foreground is made of four slightly oblique parallel bars of uneven width, suggesting that the scene is viewed through a pattern of invisible glass, potentially oblique or distorting.
Such an interesting experimentation with a possible multiple angle of view had a follow in the period of the nude blondes at home. Nudes in mirror stages two women in different sizes, both facing a unique framed mirror. Tiny details reveal that the farthest is not the result of a multiple reflection of her teammate. This 1994 painting 254 x 213 cm was sold for $ 21.5M by Phillips on May 15, 2013.
1990-1999 The Poem of the Snow
2016 SOLD for HK$ 92M including premium
The art of Chu Teh-Chun is devoted to the beauty and poetry of nature which he expresses in the form of abstract landscapes. He has retained both the subtlety of the brushes and wash of the Song artists and the sensory memory of Nicolas de Staël.
From a trip to the Alps in 1965, Chu sometimes introduces snow into his views. In December 1985 his train crosses a snow storm. Highly inspired by this unforeseen experience, he explores until 1990 the theme of the white winter.
Despite their geographical separation Chu had remained in close relationship with Wu Guanzhong whom he had known for nearly half a century. Wu is the great experimenter of the artistic synthesis between East and West. In 1983 he used the point and the line to construct a landscape.
Chu does the same to express the unlimited variety of snow. It is light or dense and floats in sunlight, and becomes mist or frost. It is the main actor of the scenery by masking the features of the landscape. The artist prepares the canvas with a bright wash that will provide an overall impression. If the effect of this texture pleases him, he paints his points and lines, more or less large and more or less dense.
He also appreciates the advantage of very large formats to express his poetic emotion but the lift of his building in the suburbs of Paris is too small to carry large canvases. For this reason his widest snow scenes are made as diptychs. Inspiration Hivernale, 195 x 260 cm, finished in 1990, was sold for HK $ 28.7M including premium by Sotheby's on April 4, 2011.
Vertige Neigeux, 200 x 400 cm, is the ultimate achievement of this series. From 1990 to 1999 Chu meticulously modifies this painting until obtaining a perfect satisfaction. It was sold for HK $ 45.5M including premium by Christie's in Hong Kong on November 29, 2009 and is again listed in the same auction room on November 26, 2016, lot 2508.
From a trip to the Alps in 1965, Chu sometimes introduces snow into his views. In December 1985 his train crosses a snow storm. Highly inspired by this unforeseen experience, he explores until 1990 the theme of the white winter.
Despite their geographical separation Chu had remained in close relationship with Wu Guanzhong whom he had known for nearly half a century. Wu is the great experimenter of the artistic synthesis between East and West. In 1983 he used the point and the line to construct a landscape.
Chu does the same to express the unlimited variety of snow. It is light or dense and floats in sunlight, and becomes mist or frost. It is the main actor of the scenery by masking the features of the landscape. The artist prepares the canvas with a bright wash that will provide an overall impression. If the effect of this texture pleases him, he paints his points and lines, more or less large and more or less dense.
He also appreciates the advantage of very large formats to express his poetic emotion but the lift of his building in the suburbs of Paris is too small to carry large canvases. For this reason his widest snow scenes are made as diptychs. Inspiration Hivernale, 195 x 260 cm, finished in 1990, was sold for HK $ 28.7M including premium by Sotheby's on April 4, 2011.
Vertige Neigeux, 200 x 400 cm, is the ultimate achievement of this series. From 1990 to 1999 Chu meticulously modifies this painting until obtaining a perfect satisfaction. It was sold for HK $ 45.5M including premium by Christie's in Hong Kong on November 29, 2009 and is again listed in the same auction room on November 26, 2016, lot 2508.
