Animals
See also : Bird Cats Horse Sculpture Ancient sculpture French sculpture Women artists Current art by women Koons China Chinese art Song and Yuan Later Ming Modern China Chinese porcelain Ancient Chinese porcelain Persia USA USA II Warhol USA by Warhol Basquiat Germany Germany II Picasso Picasso from 1961 Groups
Chronology : Origin 14th century 15th century 1480-1499 1930-1939 1938 1940-1949 1960-1969 1962 1964 1980-1989 1981 1986 1990-1999 1997 2000-2009 2000
Chronology : Origin 14th century 15th century 1480-1499 1930-1939 1938 1940-1949 1960-1969 1962 1964 1980-1989 1981 1986 1990-1999 1997 2000-2009 2000
5000 years ago - The Guennol Lioness, Elam
2007 SOLD for 57 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
The Guennol Lioness was sold for $ 57M including premium by Sotheby's on December 5, 2007, lot 30. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This very finely chiseled stone figure 8.3 cm high has the head of a lioness on a human body. It certainly comes from the Iranian plateau and was sold in 1931 to a New York merchant. Its discovery thus precedes the excavations of Tell Agrab, begun in 1936 by a team from the University of Chicago appealed by other finds among the antique dealers of Baghdad.
Such hybrid representations between human and feline date back to prehistoric cultures. The ivory lion-man from the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, dated ca 35,000 to 40,000 years ago by radiocarbon, is the oldest authenticated example of figurative art. The Chauvet cave, painted 30,000 years ago, also includes a lion-woman hybrid.
The Guennol Lioness was sculpted about 5,000 years ago. It belongs to the Proto-Elamite culture, characterized by the development of a proto-writing that has not been decrypted. It is several centuries earlier than the use of the sphinx as a necropolis guardian in Egypt.
It is one of a kind in the round, but is related to similar figures that raise mountains or huge trunks in two-dimensional sigillary iconography. These representations are therefore symbols of extreme power, confirmed in the Guennol Lioness by the hypertrophy of the muscles and the authoritarian position of the head. The head is pierced, allowing to hang it to the neck of a prominent character.
Its name and its exact role in the mythology of that time are not known. It must be analyzed alongside its male counterpart, a bull's head on a human body, of which a kneeling figure is kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Unlike the Guennol Lioness whose hands are joined on the abdomen, this proto-Elamite hybrid holds a liturgical vessel.
Guennol is the pseudonym chosen by the couple of collectors who acquired it in 1948 and entrusted its exhibition for almost 60 years to the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
This very finely chiseled stone figure 8.3 cm high has the head of a lioness on a human body. It certainly comes from the Iranian plateau and was sold in 1931 to a New York merchant. Its discovery thus precedes the excavations of Tell Agrab, begun in 1936 by a team from the University of Chicago appealed by other finds among the antique dealers of Baghdad.
Such hybrid representations between human and feline date back to prehistoric cultures. The ivory lion-man from the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, dated ca 35,000 to 40,000 years ago by radiocarbon, is the oldest authenticated example of figurative art. The Chauvet cave, painted 30,000 years ago, also includes a lion-woman hybrid.
The Guennol Lioness was sculpted about 5,000 years ago. It belongs to the Proto-Elamite culture, characterized by the development of a proto-writing that has not been decrypted. It is several centuries earlier than the use of the sphinx as a necropolis guardian in Egypt.
It is one of a kind in the round, but is related to similar figures that raise mountains or huge trunks in two-dimensional sigillary iconography. These representations are therefore symbols of extreme power, confirmed in the Guennol Lioness by the hypertrophy of the muscles and the authoritarian position of the head. The head is pierced, allowing to hang it to the neck of a prominent character.
Its name and its exact role in the mythology of that time are not known. It must be analyzed alongside its male counterpart, a bull's head on a human body, of which a kneeling figure is kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Unlike the Guennol Lioness whose hands are joined on the abdomen, this proto-Elamite hybrid holds a liturgical vessel.
Guennol is the pseudonym chosen by the couple of collectors who acquired it in 1948 and entrusted its exhibition for almost 60 years to the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Yuan - The Return of the Drunken Kings
2016 SOLD for RMB 304M yuan including premium
On November 29, 2009, Christie's sold for HK $ 46.6M a Chinese hand scroll on the theme of the drunken kings, lot 815. Before the sale, I had discussed this unusual and nice picture as follows :
"It is a hand scroll 2.10 m long and 35 cm high painted in ink and colors. The title is remarkable : Five drunken kings return on horses. There are nine characters overall. The kings are riding in vacillating attitudes and four grooms attend to assure that their honorable masters will not fall.
"The artist was named Ren Renfa and lived under the Yuan dynasty 700 years ago. He was following a tradition dating back to the Tang dynasty and specialized in images of horses of great beauty. The irreverent nature of the theme is a proof of humor rare in art history suggesting a great artistic freedom at the time of the Mongolian rule."
This piece returns for sale in Beijing on December 4 at Poly Auction, lot 4050. It is in a very good contrast in spite of its age and has been carefully analyzed. The pattern of the paper is conformant to the Song technologies and is earlier than the Ming. The scroll includes ancient colophons as well as the seals of three Qing emperors.
These drunken kings can be identified and were the subject of a very ancient poem. Although his work is not uncommon, Ren Renfa was probably not a professional artist : he worked as an imperial official in charge of water control. Contrary to my 2009 enthusiasm, it is fool to discuss from that single example the freedom in artistic expression at Yuan time.
The Tang loved horses, for war and for pleasure. Artists like Han Gan and Zhang Xuan were drawing the riders with high realism and this tradition was still fresh under the Yuan. Another predecessor of Ren Renfa was the Song artist Li Longmian. The procession of drunken kings by Ren displays revealing similarities in its composition with an elegant promenade of women painted two centuries earlier by Li after Zhang and preserved at the Taiwan Museum.
"It is a hand scroll 2.10 m long and 35 cm high painted in ink and colors. The title is remarkable : Five drunken kings return on horses. There are nine characters overall. The kings are riding in vacillating attitudes and four grooms attend to assure that their honorable masters will not fall.
"The artist was named Ren Renfa and lived under the Yuan dynasty 700 years ago. He was following a tradition dating back to the Tang dynasty and specialized in images of horses of great beauty. The irreverent nature of the theme is a proof of humor rare in art history suggesting a great artistic freedom at the time of the Mongolian rule."
This piece returns for sale in Beijing on December 4 at Poly Auction, lot 4050. It is in a very good contrast in spite of its age and has been carefully analyzed. The pattern of the paper is conformant to the Song technologies and is earlier than the Ming. The scroll includes ancient colophons as well as the seals of three Qing emperors.
These drunken kings can be identified and were the subject of a very ancient poem. Although his work is not uncommon, Ren Renfa was probably not a professional artist : he worked as an imperial official in charge of water control. Contrary to my 2009 enthusiasm, it is fool to discuss from that single example the freedom in artistic expression at Yuan time.
The Tang loved horses, for war and for pleasure. Artists like Han Gan and Zhang Xuan were drawing the riders with high realism and this tradition was still fresh under the Yuan. Another predecessor of Ren Renfa was the Song artist Li Longmian. The procession of drunken kings by Ren displays revealing similarities in its composition with an elegant promenade of women painted two centuries earlier by Li after Zhang and preserved at the Taiwan Museum.
Chenghua - Imperial Chickens
2014 SOLD 280 MHK$ including premium
Inactive after the reign of Xuande, the Jingdezhen kilns were reactivated three decades later by Chenghua before being stopped around the 20th year of the reign of this emperor.
The best period of Chenghua porcelains is the second decade of his reign. Improvements are made to the choice of materials, enabling a higher temperature. The apex of any ceramic art is then achieved with a dense paste, a transparent and robust glaze and an extraordinary tactile effect.
The doucai color, started under Xuande, also gets some dramatic progress under Chenghua. Mixing enameled colors over the glaze allows a wide range of shades.
The figures of Chenghua ceramics are simple and naive. However, his chicken wine cups had an almost mystical reputation. The rooster is the emperor, and the hen protecting her chicks is his favorite concubine. It is an opportunity fir the historian to remind that Wan Guifei herself intervened to improve the quality of imperial porcelains.
One of these wonders is in perfect condition, on a pristine white background, without any crack or scratch. This piece 8.2 cm in diameter is decorated underglaze in cobalt blue and multicolored on its surface.
It was sold for HK $ 29M including premium on April 27, 1999 by Sotheby's, purchased at that sale by Eskenazi. It is estimated HK $ 200M, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 8.
POST SALE COMMENT
The absolute pinnacle of the art of porcelain was achieved by the Chinese Imperial pieces of the second part of the reign of Chenghua. This cup was sold for HK $ 280M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
The best period of Chenghua porcelains is the second decade of his reign. Improvements are made to the choice of materials, enabling a higher temperature. The apex of any ceramic art is then achieved with a dense paste, a transparent and robust glaze and an extraordinary tactile effect.
The doucai color, started under Xuande, also gets some dramatic progress under Chenghua. Mixing enameled colors over the glaze allows a wide range of shades.
The figures of Chenghua ceramics are simple and naive. However, his chicken wine cups had an almost mystical reputation. The rooster is the emperor, and the hen protecting her chicks is his favorite concubine. It is an opportunity fir the historian to remind that Wan Guifei herself intervened to improve the quality of imperial porcelains.
One of these wonders is in perfect condition, on a pristine white background, without any crack or scratch. This piece 8.2 cm in diameter is decorated underglaze in cobalt blue and multicolored on its surface.
It was sold for HK $ 29M including premium on April 27, 1999 by Sotheby's, purchased at that sale by Eskenazi. It is estimated HK $ 200M, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 8.
POST SALE COMMENT
The absolute pinnacle of the art of porcelain was achieved by the Chinese Imperial pieces of the second part of the reign of Chenghua. This cup was sold for HK $ 280M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
1938 The Fury of the Birds
2017 SOLD for £ 36M including premium
After the First World War, German artists like Max Beckmann, Max Ernst, George Grosz and Otto Dix brought social criticism to the level of a major art far beyond caricature. Of course the Nazi regime does not agree. Beckmann is one of the targets of Hitler's furious attacks on degenerate art.
Beckmann precipitately left Germany in 1937 and settled in Amsterdam. Like Miro at the same time in Spain, he could not manage to stay away from politics. He immediately conceived a great composition, first entitled Der Land des Wahnsinningen (the country of the insane) which would express his horror of the collectivisms.
Completed at the end of the summer of 1938, Hölle der Vögel (hell of birds) is the achievement of that project. This oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm is for sale by Christie's in London on June 27, lot 11. Three days before the press release of May 8, Financial Time announced an estimate of £ 30M.
This scene mixes the medieval and the modern to better express the permanent threat of abject persecution. Tortures are inflicted by hooded birds. In a claustrophobic atmosphere with black lines and garish colors, the victim chained on an Inquisition bed is a light spot. A bird plows his back to the blood with a large knife.
This lugubrious ceremony is presided by a harpy standing out of her broken egg with a monstrous breast. The crowd of secondary characters is made up of screaming nudes who perform the Hitler Grüss, removing any possible doubt about the interpretation of this allegory in the modern world.
The narrative abundance in that work is inspired by medieval imagery. The choice of the bird as a symbol of blind fury reminds the man-swallowing bird in Bosch's Hell.
The political violence in Hölle der Vögel may be compared to Picasso's Guernica, also conceived in 1937. Beckmann's painting, cautiously preserved in a private apartment in Paris until the end of the Second World War, would have deserved a similar notoriety.
Please watch both videos shared by Christie's, one of thempositioning the artwork within Beckmann's career and the other one in which the auction house chose to accompany it by the reading of a similarly inspired poem by W. H. Auden.
Beckmann precipitately left Germany in 1937 and settled in Amsterdam. Like Miro at the same time in Spain, he could not manage to stay away from politics. He immediately conceived a great composition, first entitled Der Land des Wahnsinningen (the country of the insane) which would express his horror of the collectivisms.
Completed at the end of the summer of 1938, Hölle der Vögel (hell of birds) is the achievement of that project. This oil on canvas 120 x 160 cm is for sale by Christie's in London on June 27, lot 11. Three days before the press release of May 8, Financial Time announced an estimate of £ 30M.
This scene mixes the medieval and the modern to better express the permanent threat of abject persecution. Tortures are inflicted by hooded birds. In a claustrophobic atmosphere with black lines and garish colors, the victim chained on an Inquisition bed is a light spot. A bird plows his back to the blood with a large knife.
This lugubrious ceremony is presided by a harpy standing out of her broken egg with a monstrous breast. The crowd of secondary characters is made up of screaming nudes who perform the Hitler Grüss, removing any possible doubt about the interpretation of this allegory in the modern world.
The narrative abundance in that work is inspired by medieval imagery. The choice of the bird as a symbol of blind fury reminds the man-swallowing bird in Bosch's Hell.
The political violence in Hölle der Vögel may be compared to Picasso's Guernica, also conceived in 1937. Beckmann's painting, cautiously preserved in a private apartment in Paris until the end of the Second World War, would have deserved a similar notoriety.
Please watch both videos shared by Christie's, one of thempositioning the artwork within Beckmann's career and the other one in which the auction house chose to accompany it by the reading of a similarly inspired poem by W. H. Auden.
1946 Qi Baishi's Eagle
2011 SOLD 425 M RMB yuan including premium
China Guardian, in Beijing, is preparing its great spring auctions. 32 items of top prestige are grouped on the evening of May 22.
The press release highlights a drawing by Qi Baishi showing an eagle standing in a pine tree, and indicates that it is knowingly the largest work of the artist.
The composition is bold: the bird is completely surrounded by branches, but its proud look makes it the focal point of this image of 266 x 100 cm, flanked by two stripes 66 cm wide. Each stripe includes a poem in four huge calligrams .
As the tiger by the same artist, which had been discussed in this group in April 2010, the animal is a political symbol. This eagle was made in 1946 to celebrate the birthday of Jiang Jieshi (pinyin for Chiang Kai-shek) after the defeat of Japan.
The calculations issued by Artprice are significant: Qi is an artist of the highest level. Gifted and prolific, his importance in the global art market in 2010 joined those of Picasso or Warhol.
POST SALE COMMENT
China Guardian had understood that this was one of the most important works of one of the most valuable artists on the market.
The result is exceptional: RMB 425M including premium. According to the current exchange rate, this price is € 46.5 million and U.S. $ 65M.
This is the highest price recorded since the beginning of the year for an artwork at auction.
Its picture is shared post sale by Paul Fraser collectibles.
The image below is shared by Wikimedia :
The press release highlights a drawing by Qi Baishi showing an eagle standing in a pine tree, and indicates that it is knowingly the largest work of the artist.
The composition is bold: the bird is completely surrounded by branches, but its proud look makes it the focal point of this image of 266 x 100 cm, flanked by two stripes 66 cm wide. Each stripe includes a poem in four huge calligrams .
As the tiger by the same artist, which had been discussed in this group in April 2010, the animal is a political symbol. This eagle was made in 1946 to celebrate the birthday of Jiang Jieshi (pinyin for Chiang Kai-shek) after the defeat of Japan.
The calculations issued by Artprice are significant: Qi is an artist of the highest level. Gifted and prolific, his importance in the global art market in 2010 joined those of Picasso or Warhol.
POST SALE COMMENT
China Guardian had understood that this was one of the most important works of one of the most valuable artists on the market.
The result is exceptional: RMB 425M including premium. According to the current exchange rate, this price is € 46.5 million and U.S. $ 65M.
This is the highest price recorded since the beginning of the year for an artwork at auction.
Its picture is shared post sale by Paul Fraser collectibles.
The image below is shared by Wikimedia :
1962 Newlywed and Hound
2019 SOLD for $ 55M including premium
Picasso changes his life. In March 1961 he marries Jacqueline, his muse since 1954. Pablo is 80 years old, she is 35. In June the newlyweds leave Cannes to settle in Mougins.
In their vast Provençal mas, they manage to have an ordinary life. Both love dogs. The dachshund Lump has been rejoined since 1960 by an Afghan hound named Kaboul who becomes Jacqueline's favorite. Pablo executes no less than six oil paintings on the theme of Jacqueline and her kind dog.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Femme au chien, oil on canvas 162 x 130 cm painted in 1962, lot 33 estimated $ 25M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The woman is seated. Kaboul stands on his four high legs. These two characters are in a static attitude. The position of Jacqueline's hands displays a quiet closeness.
Curiously their graphic processing is different. Kaboul is almost realistic, except that his haggard eyes and slight smile are not indeed marks of intelligence. The woman's face is unstructured in four angles of view. The left eye and the mouth are inserted in two opposite profiles. The right eye is seen from full front and the portrait is completed on the right side by the profile of an abundant ponytail.
In their vast Provençal mas, they manage to have an ordinary life. Both love dogs. The dachshund Lump has been rejoined since 1960 by an Afghan hound named Kaboul who becomes Jacqueline's favorite. Pablo executes no less than six oil paintings on the theme of Jacqueline and her kind dog.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Femme au chien, oil on canvas 162 x 130 cm painted in 1962, lot 33 estimated $ 25M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The woman is seated. Kaboul stands on his four high legs. These two characters are in a static attitude. The position of Jacqueline's hands displays a quiet closeness.
Curiously their graphic processing is different. Kaboul is almost realistic, except that his haggard eyes and slight smile are not indeed marks of intelligence. The woman's face is unstructured in four angles of view. The left eye and the mouth are inserted in two opposite profiles. The right eye is seen from full front and the portrait is completed on the right side by the profile of an abundant ponytail.
1964 The Terrible Twentieth Century
2014 SOLD 63 M$ including premium
The publication by Life magazine on May 17, 1963 of photos of the repression of race riots in Alabama shocked America and the world. The United States are seen as a country in civil war. The land of racial hatred.
This report possibly had the strongest political impact in the history of the press. Kennedy understood that the reforms of laws and behaviors are inevitable. The road will be long, but civil peace will eventually settle. These photos made by Charles Moore for Associated Press are the Guernica of America.
At the same time, Andy Warhol releases the real meaning of his own artistic message. Consumerism is an artifact, advertising is a technique which however has the merit of having shown the expressive power of the multiple image.
Andy chose his press photos around the theme of death in America. The gathering of the Death and Disaster series reveals the true reason of the post mortem portrait of Marilyn. Warhol's message did not receive the same immediate impact as Guernica's. It took almost half a century before the multiples of the Car Crash are pushed toward the top position in the art of the twentieth century.
Recuperating the photos published by Life, the Race Riot by Warhol is his most political image, using a historical event in progress. He hates violence and fears death. The running Black is the victim, the dog excited to bite is the symbol of horror.
After painting a few units of the Race Riot, Warhol made in 1964 a multiple 2 x 2. In the top register, white color is the truth and blue is chilling. On the down side the double red is blood.
This quadruple Race Riot, 152 x 168 cm overall, is for sale on May 13 at Christie's in New York. The estimate of $ 50M was released by Christie's in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's to introduce this lot.
POST SALE COMMENT
The quad of Race Riot is a major piece by Warhol, sold for $ 63M including premium.
This report possibly had the strongest political impact in the history of the press. Kennedy understood that the reforms of laws and behaviors are inevitable. The road will be long, but civil peace will eventually settle. These photos made by Charles Moore for Associated Press are the Guernica of America.
At the same time, Andy Warhol releases the real meaning of his own artistic message. Consumerism is an artifact, advertising is a technique which however has the merit of having shown the expressive power of the multiple image.
Andy chose his press photos around the theme of death in America. The gathering of the Death and Disaster series reveals the true reason of the post mortem portrait of Marilyn. Warhol's message did not receive the same immediate impact as Guernica's. It took almost half a century before the multiples of the Car Crash are pushed toward the top position in the art of the twentieth century.
Recuperating the photos published by Life, the Race Riot by Warhol is his most political image, using a historical event in progress. He hates violence and fears death. The running Black is the victim, the dog excited to bite is the symbol of horror.
After painting a few units of the Race Riot, Warhol made in 1964 a multiple 2 x 2. In the top register, white color is the truth and blue is chilling. On the down side the double red is blood.
This quadruple Race Riot, 152 x 168 cm overall, is for sale on May 13 at Christie's in New York. The estimate of $ 50M was released by Christie's in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's to introduce this lot.
POST SALE COMMENT
The quad of Race Riot is a major piece by Warhol, sold for $ 63M including premium.
1981 The Modern Bucolics
2015 SOLD for $ 37M including premium
In early 1981, success is immediate for Jean-Michel Basquiat. His fame soon transcends borders and Emilio Mazzoli invites him for an exhibition in Modena in May and June.
Jean-Michel painted during the trip. His mixed techniques on canvas 221 x 401 cm starring in life size a character and a cow is even his largest artwork from that seminal year as if he already desired to escape Annina Nosei's basement.
This work entitled The field next to the other road sounds like a holiday souvenir for the young artist who discovers Italy. On the left, it is typical of the already favorite themes of Jean-Michel through that thorn-crowned man with visible skeleton and full sex.
The cow on the right looks like a child's drawing with her innocent gaze and big udder. The line drawing is filled with colors but the artist avoids as always the classical artistic language: the color of one of the legs of the beast is outside the line drawing.
Made in a country with an incomparable artistic past, this painting is a fresco on the theme of life (milk) and death (bones) by a very young man eager for thrills and glory. The field is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, lot 55B.
Jean-Michel painted during the trip. His mixed techniques on canvas 221 x 401 cm starring in life size a character and a cow is even his largest artwork from that seminal year as if he already desired to escape Annina Nosei's basement.
This work entitled The field next to the other road sounds like a holiday souvenir for the young artist who discovers Italy. On the left, it is typical of the already favorite themes of Jean-Michel through that thorn-crowned man with visible skeleton and full sex.
The cow on the right looks like a child's drawing with her innocent gaze and big udder. The line drawing is filled with colors but the artist avoids as always the classical artistic language: the color of one of the legs of the beast is outside the line drawing.
Made in a country with an incomparable artistic past, this painting is a fresco on the theme of life (milk) and death (bones) by a very young man eager for thrills and glory. The field is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, lot 55B.
1986 A Carrot Eater
2019 SOLD for $ 91M including premium
Jeff Koons began his artist's career by gathering casts and ready-mades in solo and group exhibitions. In 1979 Inflatables assembles vinyl flowers with mirrors. He exhibits Equilibrium in 1983 and Luxury and Degradation including the Jim Beam train in 1986.
With Statuary in 1986 and Banality in 1988, Koons pushes kitsch to the rank of a major art : his unlimited exploitation of the consumer society is ultra-modernist, in the wake of the everyday objects hugely increased by Oldenburg.
Statuary includes ten stainless steel sculptures. The terrible banality of this group is broken by the two highest pieces in a total opposition of style : a bust of Louis XIV 117 cm high and a rabbit 104 cm high. With this Rabbit, Koons makes a great promotion for his own art. The closest antecedent is the unique Bunny which had slipped into his previous series of inflatable flowers.
The new rabbit has smooth forms and no face. It brings up to the position of its mouth a carrot in which some visitors see a sexual symbol, an impression reinforced by the information that the steel had been molded over an inflatable doll. The spectators satisfy their own ego by contemplating themselves in the mirror-like surface of the rabbit. The artist's statements complacently maintain all these ambiguities.
After this great success of his rabbit, Koons appreciates that other figures or toys much stylized and disproportionately enlarged will have a considerable impact on the public. His Celebrations, designed from 1994 in a range of colors, will offer a similar mirror effect.
Rabbit was edited in three units plus one artist's proof. Number 2/3 is estimated $ 50M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 15 B. The Louis XIV artist's proof was sold for $ 10.8M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2015.
With Statuary in 1986 and Banality in 1988, Koons pushes kitsch to the rank of a major art : his unlimited exploitation of the consumer society is ultra-modernist, in the wake of the everyday objects hugely increased by Oldenburg.
Statuary includes ten stainless steel sculptures. The terrible banality of this group is broken by the two highest pieces in a total opposition of style : a bust of Louis XIV 117 cm high and a rabbit 104 cm high. With this Rabbit, Koons makes a great promotion for his own art. The closest antecedent is the unique Bunny which had slipped into his previous series of inflatable flowers.
The new rabbit has smooth forms and no face. It brings up to the position of its mouth a carrot in which some visitors see a sexual symbol, an impression reinforced by the information that the steel had been molded over an inflatable doll. The spectators satisfy their own ego by contemplating themselves in the mirror-like surface of the rabbit. The artist's statements complacently maintain all these ambiguities.
After this great success of his rabbit, Koons appreciates that other figures or toys much stylized and disproportionately enlarged will have a considerable impact on the public. His Celebrations, designed from 1994 in a range of colors, will offer a similar mirror effect.
Rabbit was edited in three units plus one artist's proof. Number 2/3 is estimated $ 50M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 15 B. The Louis XIV artist's proof was sold for $ 10.8M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2015.
1997 Maman Long Legs
2019 SOLD for $ 32M including premium
Louise Bourgeois desired to interpret her relationship with her own parents, generating a suffering that she appeased by her art at the borderline of sexual provocation. From 1951 to 1980 she tries a psychoanalysis. It is a failure : she considers that Freud does not propose anything for the artists.
In 1994 she builds a small steel spider 28 cm high which carries marble eggs in a bag under its body. This symbol of maternity breaks with the artist's earlier assimilation of the spider with a prostitute. This sculpture, one of the first by Bourgeois on this theme, passed at Sotheby's on November 11, 2015 against a lower estimate of $ 4M.
In the following year, at the age of 84, she suddenly understands that the spider's maternal function will solve her fantasies. She sculpts new steel spiders and edits them in bronze, in various configurations : lowered body for climbing on the wall or raised on its tall thin legs.
The perimeter of the legs is the safety zone offered by the mother to her offspring. The comparison with the Lupa Capitolina suckling Romulus and Remus is relevant. The spiders of Louise Bourgeois personify her own mother, too frail but intensely protective. The gigantic dimension of the sculptures, culminating in 1999 with a 10 m high Maman, solves this contradiction. Maman carries her eggs as in the original spider five years earlier.
A spider 3.26 m high on a 7.56 x 7.06 m overall perimeter designed in 1996 was sculpted in steel and cast in bronze in 1997 in six copies plus one artist's proof and one variant in bronze. The number 3/6 was sold for $ 28M including premium by Christie's on November 10, 2015. The 2/6 is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 21 B.
In 1994 she builds a small steel spider 28 cm high which carries marble eggs in a bag under its body. This symbol of maternity breaks with the artist's earlier assimilation of the spider with a prostitute. This sculpture, one of the first by Bourgeois on this theme, passed at Sotheby's on November 11, 2015 against a lower estimate of $ 4M.
In the following year, at the age of 84, she suddenly understands that the spider's maternal function will solve her fantasies. She sculpts new steel spiders and edits them in bronze, in various configurations : lowered body for climbing on the wall or raised on its tall thin legs.
The perimeter of the legs is the safety zone offered by the mother to her offspring. The comparison with the Lupa Capitolina suckling Romulus and Remus is relevant. The spiders of Louise Bourgeois personify her own mother, too frail but intensely protective. The gigantic dimension of the sculptures, culminating in 1999 with a 10 m high Maman, solves this contradiction. Maman carries her eggs as in the original spider five years earlier.
A spider 3.26 m high on a 7.56 x 7.06 m overall perimeter designed in 1996 was sculpted in steel and cast in bronze in 1997 in six copies plus one artist's proof and one variant in bronze. The number 3/6 was sold for $ 28M including premium by Christie's on November 10, 2015. The 2/6 is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 21 B.
2000 Celebration and Joy with Jeff Koons
2013 SOLD 58 M$ including premium
The series of the "Celebrations" was designed by Jeff Koons in 1994. The first themes, in five monochrome sculptures each made in a different color, cover universal symbols. Their monumental size invites to exhibition in prestigious locations. The perfect mirror of the surface is a technical feat.
Two specimens of the Balloon Flower were auctioned : £ 12.9 million including premium for the magenta by Christie's on 30 June 2008, $ 16.9 million including premium for the blue on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
Same as for the Balloon Flower, the Balloon Dog is an assembly of rounded shapes that reflect their environment in all directions. Looking more like a toy than like the animal that could serve as a model, it appears as a symbol of happy childhood. The bright orange specimen is joyful.
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkably cheerful artwork was introduced by Christie's as an icon of contemporary art. It was sold for $ 58M including premium.
Two specimens of the Balloon Flower were auctioned : £ 12.9 million including premium for the magenta by Christie's on 30 June 2008, $ 16.9 million including premium for the blue on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
Same as for the Balloon Flower, the Balloon Dog is an assembly of rounded shapes that reflect their environment in all directions. Looking more like a toy than like the animal that could serve as a model, it appears as a symbol of happy childhood. The bright orange specimen is joyful.
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkably cheerful artwork was introduced by Christie's as an icon of contemporary art. It was sold for $ 58M including premium.
