2007
2007 Blooming by Twombly
2021 SOLD for $ 59M by Sotheby's
A warrior may feel quiet after the rage. An abstract artist may execute a representation of flowers.
Blooming is a series of six paintings executed by Cy Twombly between the second and third Bacchus series. These monumental works were specially prepared to fit the walls of the Hôtel de Caumont in Avignon for a temporary exhibition in 2007.
The artist indeed did not try a botanical realism. His blossoms are instead a nearly complete filling of the centripetal lasso loops of the Bacchus, from which a similar dripping is hanging.
One of the six opuses bears a small text explaining where the inspiration came from : "Ah! the peonies for which Kusunoki took off his armour”, from a haiku poem by Takarai Kikaku. Kusunoki Masashige had been a famous samurai impersonating an ideal of loyalty. Twombly's "armour" is a bilingual pun associating armor and amour.
On November 15, 2021, Sotheby's sold another opus for $ 59M from a lower estimate of $ 40M, lot 5. This acrylic and crayon on wood panel in six parts 250 x 550 cm overall has been executed in 2007 but is dated 2006, probably in reference to the conception of the project.
In this specific opus, the color of the flowers and drippings is completely blood red over a pale green background. The blossoms form a pattern of lines in crescendo in the signature practice of the artist to express an energy, looking here like a balloon release into the sky. Such a movement is better viewed from bottom up, as invited by the shadows that smoke over the peonies.
In the follow of these peonies, Twombly painted a series of Roses in 2008.
Blooming is a series of six paintings executed by Cy Twombly between the second and third Bacchus series. These monumental works were specially prepared to fit the walls of the Hôtel de Caumont in Avignon for a temporary exhibition in 2007.
The artist indeed did not try a botanical realism. His blossoms are instead a nearly complete filling of the centripetal lasso loops of the Bacchus, from which a similar dripping is hanging.
One of the six opuses bears a small text explaining where the inspiration came from : "Ah! the peonies for which Kusunoki took off his armour”, from a haiku poem by Takarai Kikaku. Kusunoki Masashige had been a famous samurai impersonating an ideal of loyalty. Twombly's "armour" is a bilingual pun associating armor and amour.
On November 15, 2021, Sotheby's sold another opus for $ 59M from a lower estimate of $ 40M, lot 5. This acrylic and crayon on wood panel in six parts 250 x 550 cm overall has been executed in 2007 but is dated 2006, probably in reference to the conception of the project.
In this specific opus, the color of the flowers and drippings is completely blood red over a pale green background. The blossoms form a pattern of lines in crescendo in the signature practice of the artist to express an energy, looking here like a balloon release into the sky. Such a movement is better viewed from bottom up, as invited by the shadows that smoke over the peonies.
In the follow of these peonies, Twombly painted a series of Roses in 2008.
2004-2007 The Colored Meanders of Brice Marden
2020 SOLD for $ 31M including premium
Brice Marden is a colorist, with no narration or interpretation. His purpose is to capture and maintain the attention of the visitor. He began his career in a minimalist style, juxtaposing monochrome rectangles to reveal their contrasts in an approach reminiscent of Albers and Klee.
Marden observes in 1984 that Chinese or Japanese calligraphy is an art in its own right that follows the movements of the artist's hand. He now begins to paint on his monochrome backgrounds with sinuous interwoven lines that reach the whole periphery like Pollock's drippings.
Calligraphy had triggered this major change in Marden's art, but its direct influence disappeared after a few years. The lines are painted one color after another, in a logical order in relation to the chromatic spectrum. They can pass from one panel to another within a polyptych of monochromes. Their width is very regular, demonstrating that they result from a rigorous construction and not from gestures.
The Attended, oil on canvas 208 x 145 cm dated 1996 1999 was sold for $ 11M including premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013. Elements (Hydra), oil on linen 190 x 136 cm dated 1999 2000 2001 was sold for $ 9.2M including premium by Phillips on May 14, 2015.
On July 10 in New York, Christie's sells Complements, dated 2004 2007, lot 55 estimated $ 28M. Complements is a joint diptych of oils on canvas for an overall dimension of 183 x 244 cm. The panels are monochrome, glowing orange on the left and deep blue on the right. The lines are successively green, blue, brown and red on the left panel and red, orange and green on the right panel.
An example on paper from the same period, Butterfly Wings with Green, 28 x 38 cm executed in 2005, is estimated $ 1.2M, lot 69 in the same sale.
RESULTS including premium :
Complements SOLD for $ 31M
Art on paper SOLD for $ 1.46M
Marden observes in 1984 that Chinese or Japanese calligraphy is an art in its own right that follows the movements of the artist's hand. He now begins to paint on his monochrome backgrounds with sinuous interwoven lines that reach the whole periphery like Pollock's drippings.
Calligraphy had triggered this major change in Marden's art, but its direct influence disappeared after a few years. The lines are painted one color after another, in a logical order in relation to the chromatic spectrum. They can pass from one panel to another within a polyptych of monochromes. Their width is very regular, demonstrating that they result from a rigorous construction and not from gestures.
The Attended, oil on canvas 208 x 145 cm dated 1996 1999 was sold for $ 11M including premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013. Elements (Hydra), oil on linen 190 x 136 cm dated 1999 2000 2001 was sold for $ 9.2M including premium by Phillips on May 14, 2015.
On July 10 in New York, Christie's sells Complements, dated 2004 2007, lot 55 estimated $ 28M. Complements is a joint diptych of oils on canvas for an overall dimension of 183 x 244 cm. The panels are monochrome, glowing orange on the left and deep blue on the right. The lines are successively green, blue, brown and red on the left panel and red, orange and green on the right panel.
An example on paper from the same period, Butterfly Wings with Green, 28 x 38 cm executed in 2005, is estimated $ 1.2M, lot 69 in the same sale.
RESULTS including premium :
Complements SOLD for $ 31M
Art on paper SOLD for $ 1.46M
2007 NARA
1
Berlin Barack
2021 SOLD for HK$ 120M by Poly
Berlin Barack, Room 1 is an installation made in 2007 by Yoshitomo Nara for exhibition in a gallery in Berlin. It takes the shape of a wood house 263 x 320 x 280 cm overall including a side panel. The artist was supported by a Japanese installation art group.
On an inside wall the acrylic in oil 145 x 130 cm featuring a typically rebel little girl is visible through a window. The painting is titled Hothouse Doll after an early opus from the Cologne period where it referred to a child incubator. The fancy doll house arrangement may be compared to a Japanese tea house with the Nara girl painting replacing a devotion figure.
The side panel bears like a circus banner an acrylic on wood 102 x 183 cm with the English title Three Sisters, featuring a team of three juggling girls in light blue dress and cap.
Berlin Barack was sold on May 26, 2012 by Christie's for HK $ 11.8M, lot 2041 and for HK $ 120M by Poly on April 21, 2021, lot 142.
On an inside wall the acrylic in oil 145 x 130 cm featuring a typically rebel little girl is visible through a window. The painting is titled Hothouse Doll after an early opus from the Cologne period where it referred to a child incubator. The fancy doll house arrangement may be compared to a Japanese tea house with the Nara girl painting replacing a devotion figure.
The side panel bears like a circus banner an acrylic on wood 102 x 183 cm with the English title Three Sisters, featuring a team of three juggling girls in light blue dress and cap.
Berlin Barack was sold on May 26, 2012 by Christie's for HK $ 11.8M, lot 2041 and for HK $ 120M by Poly on April 21, 2021, lot 142.
2
2021 SOLD for HK$ 54M by Christie's
Around 2007 Yoshitomo Nara re-concentrates on the gaze for expressing the emotions. An example features the young girl with a sad mouth, seated behind a table. The only visible eye is oversized and mesmerizing and filled with galaxies while the other eye is hidden under the hair.
This untitled acrylic on canvas 162 x 145 cm was sold for HK $ 14.5M by Sotheby's on April 3, 2016, lot 1061 and for HK $ 54M by Christie's on May 24, 2021, lot 53.
This untitled acrylic on canvas 162 x 145 cm was sold for HK $ 14.5M by Sotheby's on April 3, 2016, lot 1061 and for HK $ 54M by Christie's on May 24, 2021, lot 53.
2007 BRADFORD
1
Helter Skelter I
2018 SOLD for £ 8.7M by Phillips
The agglomeration of Los Angeles is gigantic. Mark Bradford was born there.
At the lower end of the current civilization, the city is characterized by its scraps of colored papers that the artist collects, glues and shears. Its huge surfaces are a succession of tiny details, sometimes incorporating images. It is impossible to see everything in a single inspection. From a distance, the artwork appears as an endless district seen from the sky, with its entangled streets.
Bradford is an African-American. The titles of his works call for a social rather than racial reading, against the abuses of civilization towards the poor classes. Helter Skelter, for example, had been a political-racial motto of Charles Manson, the abominable White mass murderer who proclaimed himself the king of the Negroes. It is intentional : a previous artwork was titled Scorched Earth.
Helter Skelter is a suite of two artworks prepared in 2007 for an exhibition in New York in 2008. Despite their considerable size, 366 x 1036 cm for Helter Skelter I and 376 x 1107 cm for Helter Skelter II, they were displayed side by side.
Helter Skelter I was sold for £ 8.7M on March 8, 2018 by Phillips, lot 14.
It had been consigned by John McEnroe after it had covered a wall in his apartment. The enfant terrible of tennis became a gallerist in 1993 and also once tried to become a rock star. On the courts he was known for his winning aggression, with the characteristic very rare at his level to have never had a coach. McEnroe's interest in Bradford's art is a tribute to the energy of the artist. It entered after the sale in the permanent collection of the Broad Museum in Los Angeles.
Helter Skelter is also the song that pushed the Beatles and especially Paul McCartney into the style of hard rock in 1968.
At the lower end of the current civilization, the city is characterized by its scraps of colored papers that the artist collects, glues and shears. Its huge surfaces are a succession of tiny details, sometimes incorporating images. It is impossible to see everything in a single inspection. From a distance, the artwork appears as an endless district seen from the sky, with its entangled streets.
Bradford is an African-American. The titles of his works call for a social rather than racial reading, against the abuses of civilization towards the poor classes. Helter Skelter, for example, had been a political-racial motto of Charles Manson, the abominable White mass murderer who proclaimed himself the king of the Negroes. It is intentional : a previous artwork was titled Scorched Earth.
Helter Skelter is a suite of two artworks prepared in 2007 for an exhibition in New York in 2008. Despite their considerable size, 366 x 1036 cm for Helter Skelter I and 376 x 1107 cm for Helter Skelter II, they were displayed side by side.
Helter Skelter I was sold for £ 8.7M on March 8, 2018 by Phillips, lot 14.
It had been consigned by John McEnroe after it had covered a wall in his apartment. The enfant terrible of tennis became a gallerist in 1993 and also once tried to become a rock star. On the courts he was known for his winning aggression, with the characteristic very rare at his level to have never had a coach. McEnroe's interest in Bradford's art is a tribute to the energy of the artist. It entered after the sale in the permanent collection of the Broad Museum in Los Angeles.
Helter Skelter is also the song that pushed the Beatles and especially Paul McCartney into the style of hard rock in 1968.
2
Helter Skelter II
2019 SOLD for $ 8.5M by Phillips
Helter Skelter II was sold for $ 8.5M by Phillips on May 16, 2019, lot 24. One of the illustrations in the catalog allows to scroll the image, revealing the complexity of the altogether figurative and abstract artistic language of Mark Bradford.
3
Ghost Money
2020 SOLD for $ 7.3M by Christie's
Ghost Money is a highly suitable phrase for the social activism of Mark Bradford against poverty. In all its meanings it is bad for the working classes. It alludes to the deceiving flyers that promise easy cash, debt relief and food assistance. It is a slang for unavailable funds in a bank account, already set aside for incoming bills. It also refers to the clandestine cash supplied by a government to control a hostile foreign country.
Ghost Money, collage on canvas 258 x 365 cm executed in 2007, was sold by Christie's for $ 3.64M on May 13, 2015, lot 34 B and for $ 7.3M on October 6, 2020, lot 33. Its tiny intricate collages including torn bits of newsprint, merchant posters and comic books are erased like a palimpsest to reveal the true ghost money detritus whose accumulation constitutes the glorious satellite map of the big city.
Ghost Money, collage on canvas 258 x 365 cm executed in 2007, was sold by Christie's for $ 3.64M on May 13, 2015, lot 34 B and for $ 7.3M on October 6, 2020, lot 33. Its tiny intricate collages including torn bits of newsprint, merchant posters and comic books are erased like a palimpsest to reveal the true ghost money detritus whose accumulation constitutes the glorious satellite map of the big city.
2007 When there's a will, there's a way by Hirst
2008 SOLD for $ 7.2M by Sotheby's
As early as 2004, Damien Hirst offered in a dedicated sale at Sotheby's brand new works of his recent production, mainly on his usual theme of the pharmacy. Entitled The Fragile Truth, a large pharmacy cabinet was sold for £ 1.4M.
In June 2007, Hirst exhibited in a gallery For the love of God, a platinum skull inlaid with diamonds with human teeth. This work of 2007 presented for private sale at £ 50M was sold in August at that price to a consortium of buyers including himself.
On February 14, 2008 Hirst and Bono, the leading man of U2, managed with Sotheby's a charity sale, inviting their artists friends to offer works on the theme of the red color. That 'RED' sale resulted in $ 42M for organizations fighting against AIDS in Africa. The works had been exhibited at the Gagosian Gallery.
Hirst prepared in 2007 for RED a replica installation of the Lullaby pill cabinet in the original size, 183 x 274 x 10 cm. Titled Where there's a will, there's a way, it was sold for $ 7.2M, lot 54.
In June 2007, Hirst exhibited in a gallery For the love of God, a platinum skull inlaid with diamonds with human teeth. This work of 2007 presented for private sale at £ 50M was sold in August at that price to a consortium of buyers including himself.
On February 14, 2008 Hirst and Bono, the leading man of U2, managed with Sotheby's a charity sale, inviting their artists friends to offer works on the theme of the red color. That 'RED' sale resulted in $ 42M for organizations fighting against AIDS in Africa. The works had been exhibited at the Gagosian Gallery.
Hirst prepared in 2007 for RED a replica installation of the Lullaby pill cabinet in the original size, 183 x 274 x 10 cm. Titled Where there's a will, there's a way, it was sold for $ 7.2M, lot 54.
2007 Les Trois Grands Moutons de Peter by Lalanne
2022 SOLD for $ 6.3M by Christie's
François-Xavier's bestiary has no limit in the last phase of his life. He populates with many beasts the workshop home which he shares with Claude in Ury at the south border of the forêt de Fontainebleau. Daughters Dorothée and Marie Lalanne are both supplied with an extensive collection, whether or not with a utilitarian application.
The Rhinocrétaire, seminal work by François-Xavier Lalanne, offered from its early conception a range of features : desk, bar, wine rack, safe. The most recognizable work to the general public remains however the sheep-shaped bench.
Conceived in 1993, the Grand Mouflon de Pauline is a synthesis of these two trends. In 2006 the original edition is a 132 x 122 x 47 cm desk made in eight copies plus four artist's proofs. One of them was sold for £ 1.45M by Christie's on March 6, 2018.
The 2007 version, made in bronze in the same quantities as the original edition, offers a refinement : two sliding doors open on a bar cabinet. One of these sheep, a gilt bronze 128 x 117 x 43 cm, was sold for $ 1.93M by Christie's on June 4, 2019.
A Grand Mouflon de Pauline coming directly from Ury was sold for € 2.4M by Sotheby's on October 23, 2019, lot 38. This gilt patinated bronze of 130 x 120 x 54 cm is the 7/8 from the 2008 edition of eight copies plus four artist's proofs, which extended the depth of the bar compared to the 2007 edition. From Dorothée, the black patinated artist's proof EA 2/4 of 2008 was sold for € 2.94M by Sotheby's on November 3, 2022, lot 8.
Les Trois Grands Moutons de Peter is an installation of two rams with different positions of the head plus a ewe. The size is similar as the previous Moutons but they are not a bar and the naturalistic rendering does not invite to use them as seats.
From Marie, the set of gilt bronzes numbered HC (hors commerce) 0/00 AI, AII and AIII from the 2007 cast by Bocquel was sold for $ 6.3M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on December 7, 2022, lot 51.
From Dorothée, the set of gilt bronzes numbered HC (hors commerce) 00/00 AI, AII and AIII from the 2008 cast by Bocquel was sold for € 5.1M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2021, lot 7.
From Marie, the number 8/8 of La Grande Ourse, 210 cm tall patinated bronze from 2007, was sold for $ 3.66M by Christie's on December 7, 2022, lot 79. The title is of course a pun between the bear and its constellation.
The Rhinocrétaire, seminal work by François-Xavier Lalanne, offered from its early conception a range of features : desk, bar, wine rack, safe. The most recognizable work to the general public remains however the sheep-shaped bench.
Conceived in 1993, the Grand Mouflon de Pauline is a synthesis of these two trends. In 2006 the original edition is a 132 x 122 x 47 cm desk made in eight copies plus four artist's proofs. One of them was sold for £ 1.45M by Christie's on March 6, 2018.
The 2007 version, made in bronze in the same quantities as the original edition, offers a refinement : two sliding doors open on a bar cabinet. One of these sheep, a gilt bronze 128 x 117 x 43 cm, was sold for $ 1.93M by Christie's on June 4, 2019.
A Grand Mouflon de Pauline coming directly from Ury was sold for € 2.4M by Sotheby's on October 23, 2019, lot 38. This gilt patinated bronze of 130 x 120 x 54 cm is the 7/8 from the 2008 edition of eight copies plus four artist's proofs, which extended the depth of the bar compared to the 2007 edition. From Dorothée, the black patinated artist's proof EA 2/4 of 2008 was sold for € 2.94M by Sotheby's on November 3, 2022, lot 8.
Les Trois Grands Moutons de Peter is an installation of two rams with different positions of the head plus a ewe. The size is similar as the previous Moutons but they are not a bar and the naturalistic rendering does not invite to use them as seats.
From Marie, the set of gilt bronzes numbered HC (hors commerce) 0/00 AI, AII and AIII from the 2007 cast by Bocquel was sold for $ 6.3M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on December 7, 2022, lot 51.
From Dorothée, the set of gilt bronzes numbered HC (hors commerce) 00/00 AI, AII and AIII from the 2008 cast by Bocquel was sold for € 5.1M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2021, lot 7.
From Marie, the number 8/8 of La Grande Ourse, 210 cm tall patinated bronze from 2007, was sold for $ 3.66M by Christie's on December 7, 2022, lot 79. The title is of course a pun between the bear and its constellation.
2007 Untitled by Cecily Brown
2021 SOLD for $ 6.1M by Phillips
A large size painting executed by Cecily Brown in 2007 is densely composed of her signature evocations of ancient art.
In the foreground a nude blonde viewed from back is entering the orgy of colors and forms in which the exegetes of the artist may recognize pieces from Bosch, Rubens, Veronese, Delacroix, Degas and Cézanne. Such a mingling arguably explains why the artist did not coin a title for that specific work.
This oil on canvas 226 x 216 cm was sold for $ 6.1M from a lower estimate of $ 3.5M by Phillips on November 17, 2021, lot 11. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the foreground a nude blonde viewed from back is entering the orgy of colors and forms in which the exegetes of the artist may recognize pieces from Bosch, Rubens, Veronese, Delacroix, Degas and Cézanne. Such a mingling arguably explains why the artist did not coin a title for that specific work.
This oil on canvas 226 x 216 cm was sold for $ 6.1M from a lower estimate of $ 3.5M by Phillips on November 17, 2021, lot 11. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
