Decade 1940-1949
See also : Top 10 Sculpture Art on paper Abstract art II The Man The Woman Animals Bird Cats USA II Still Pollock Spain II Picasso Picasso 1940-1960 Miro Giacometti Giacometti 1947-53 China Modern China
1940 Poetry of the Constellations
2017 SOLD for £ 24.5M including premium
Joan Miro did not want to engage in politics but the tragic events forced his hand. His participation in the pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the 1937 Paris Exhibition did not go unnoticed. He feared retaliation and moved to Varengeville-sur-Mer in 1939.
Varengeville is one of the prettiest villages on the Normandy coast. Braque has his workshop and spends summers there. Calder is a frequent visitor. In this small land's end Miro calms his anxieties by contemplating the immensity of the night sky.
The personalization of the groupings of stars is one of the oldest poetic themes of our civilizations. Miro is not an astrologer but he is a poet. With the exceptional freedom of his imagination he superimposes on the sky the images of his fantasy.
In January 1940 Miro begins a series of artworks on the theme of the Constellations. They will all be on paper in the same size, 38 x 46 cm. The background is prepared by splashes of gouache and oil paint, more or less dark. The crescent moon and a few stars are the spectacular elements in bright colors accompanied by floating symbolic or abstract forms. The constellation, woman or bird, is a figure in thin lines surrounded by scrolls, scarcely more visible than a watermark.
The artist conceived from the outset this series as a coherent whole. The use of a a small and light format was premonitory. When he fled France to return to Spain in May 1940 he could take in his luggage the entire set : ten finished works and the pieces of paper that he will be use for the thirteen subsequent works.
The series of Constellations was completed in September 1941. Miro kept the secret until an exhibition in New York in 1945. Pollock was convinced by a possible non-figurative artistic transposition of an observable reality. With the Constellations of Miro modern art has just crossed the Atlantic.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 45 the eighth opus of Miro's Constellations, dated 13 April 1940. Its unusually simple title, Femme et Oiseaux, prefigures the favorite themes of the artist for the rest of his career. In this sky that calls for peace, Joan Miro is not calmed : the woman howls.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Varengeville is one of the prettiest villages on the Normandy coast. Braque has his workshop and spends summers there. Calder is a frequent visitor. In this small land's end Miro calms his anxieties by contemplating the immensity of the night sky.
The personalization of the groupings of stars is one of the oldest poetic themes of our civilizations. Miro is not an astrologer but he is a poet. With the exceptional freedom of his imagination he superimposes on the sky the images of his fantasy.
In January 1940 Miro begins a series of artworks on the theme of the Constellations. They will all be on paper in the same size, 38 x 46 cm. The background is prepared by splashes of gouache and oil paint, more or less dark. The crescent moon and a few stars are the spectacular elements in bright colors accompanied by floating symbolic or abstract forms. The constellation, woman or bird, is a figure in thin lines surrounded by scrolls, scarcely more visible than a watermark.
The artist conceived from the outset this series as a coherent whole. The use of a a small and light format was premonitory. When he fled France to return to Spain in May 1940 he could take in his luggage the entire set : ten finished works and the pieces of paper that he will be use for the thirteen subsequent works.
The series of Constellations was completed in September 1941. Miro kept the secret until an exhibition in New York in 1945. Pollock was convinced by a possible non-figurative artistic transposition of an observable reality. With the Constellations of Miro modern art has just crossed the Atlantic.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 45 the eighth opus of Miro's Constellations, dated 13 April 1940. Its unusually simple title, Femme et Oiseaux, prefigures the favorite themes of the artist for the rest of his career. In this sky that calls for peace, Joan Miro is not calmed : the woman howls.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1941 Dora Maar au Chat by Picasso
2006 SOLD 95 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Dora Maar au Chat is an oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted by Picasso in 1941. Among the many portraits that Picasso made of his mistress, it is one of the most meticulous, with vibrant colors.
Contrary to the artist's usual practice, it is dated by the year without indication of the day, thus appearing beside the rest of the work. Picasso gathered here his admiration and emotion in front of Dora. He emotionally departed from Dora in 1943 and from this painting before 1947.
Throughout Picasso's career, the excessively abundant work is dotted with some dazzling illuminations in which he expresses his deep feelings. Dora Maar au Chat is one of these masterpieces, alongside for example Le Garçon à la pipe, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, La Minotauromachie and La Femme qui pleure.
It is war time. The armchair is a space that might seem open but is in fact an obstacle to freedom, like the throne of Innocent X by Velazquez. Dora is willing to react, with her elegant clothes and her big hat. She smiles.
And then there is the cat. It is very small. Perched on the back of the chair, it walks towards the woman who does not care at all about it. Black in the least contrasted part of the image, it is sneaky. Pablo and Dora did not like cats, these pets that scratch for a simple change of mood. They preferred dogs. For these reasons this tiny cat cannot be a personification of the artist. It is at best an unsolicited visitor, at worst the danger of the outside world.
The amalgamation between human and animal interested Picasso. In the same phase, he paints portraits of Dora with the muzzle of their Afghan hound. Here Dora's very long nails are in some way the claws of the cat.
Dora Maar au Chat was sold for $ 95M including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006. The low resolution image is shared for fair use by Wikipedia.
Contrary to the artist's usual practice, it is dated by the year without indication of the day, thus appearing beside the rest of the work. Picasso gathered here his admiration and emotion in front of Dora. He emotionally departed from Dora in 1943 and from this painting before 1947.
Throughout Picasso's career, the excessively abundant work is dotted with some dazzling illuminations in which he expresses his deep feelings. Dora Maar au Chat is one of these masterpieces, alongside for example Le Garçon à la pipe, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, La Minotauromachie and La Femme qui pleure.
It is war time. The armchair is a space that might seem open but is in fact an obstacle to freedom, like the throne of Innocent X by Velazquez. Dora is willing to react, with her elegant clothes and her big hat. She smiles.
And then there is the cat. It is very small. Perched on the back of the chair, it walks towards the woman who does not care at all about it. Black in the least contrasted part of the image, it is sneaky. Pablo and Dora did not like cats, these pets that scratch for a simple change of mood. They preferred dogs. For these reasons this tiny cat cannot be a personification of the artist. It is at best an unsolicited visitor, at worst the danger of the outside world.
The amalgamation between human and animal interested Picasso. In the same phase, he paints portraits of Dora with the muzzle of their Afghan hound. Here Dora's very long nails are in some way the claws of the cat.
Dora Maar au Chat was sold for $ 95M including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006. The low resolution image is shared for fair use by Wikipedia.
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 :
1947 The Primordial Trinity of Alberto Giacometti
2015 SOLD for $ 140M including premium
War is over. Alberto Giacometti appreciates that some new art is required and that his diminutive sculptures will not appeal anybody. His characters will be life-size. They will be threadlike as the floor lamps that the artist formerly conceived for Jean-Michel Frank.
Pierre Matisse is interested and promises to organize an exhibition in New York in January 1948 of this art which, in October 1947, does not yet exist. The works must be designed and the bronzes have to be melt. The artist is in a hurry. The meeting with the agents of the foundry is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Alberto is not ready.
He is not happy with his prototype and demolishes it. In a night of frenzied creation, he realizes L'Homme au doigt. When it is carried out for the factory, the plaster is achieved but it is still wet. Seven bronzes including an artist's proof are edited by the Alexis Rudier company.
The man points the finger to show the way to the other two sculptures in the trilogy, the walking man and the standing woman. This horizontal finger is a sign of authority, hope and renewal. L'Homme au doigt emits the founding message before disappearing from Alberto's creations, unlike the other two figures that will accompany his whole career.
The plaster was kneaded in a hurry, giving a tormented and scarred texture from which some observers said that L'Homme au doigt is Alberto's self portrait. One bronze, the number 6/6, was hand-painted by the artist. It strengthens the resemblance. The pointing man is not God between Adam and Eve, he is Alberto, the creative artist.
This number 6/6 178 cm high is the most outstanding piece of bronze by Alberto. It will be sold by Christie's on May 11 in New York, lot 29A. The press release of April 15 announced an estimate in the region of $ 130M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
Pierre Matisse is interested and promises to organize an exhibition in New York in January 1948 of this art which, in October 1947, does not yet exist. The works must be designed and the bronzes have to be melt. The artist is in a hurry. The meeting with the agents of the foundry is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Alberto is not ready.
He is not happy with his prototype and demolishes it. In a night of frenzied creation, he realizes L'Homme au doigt. When it is carried out for the factory, the plaster is achieved but it is still wet. Seven bronzes including an artist's proof are edited by the Alexis Rudier company.
The man points the finger to show the way to the other two sculptures in the trilogy, the walking man and the standing woman. This horizontal finger is a sign of authority, hope and renewal. L'Homme au doigt emits the founding message before disappearing from Alberto's creations, unlike the other two figures that will accompany his whole career.
The plaster was kneaded in a hurry, giving a tormented and scarred texture from which some observers said that L'Homme au doigt is Alberto's self portrait. One bronze, the number 6/6, was hand-painted by the artist. It strengthens the resemblance. The pointing man is not God between Adam and Eve, he is Alberto, the creative artist.
This number 6/6 178 cm high is the most outstanding piece of bronze by Alberto. It will be sold by Christie's on May 11 in New York, lot 29A. The press release of April 15 announced an estimate in the region of $ 130M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1947-Y-No.2 by Clyfford Still
2011 SOLD for $ 31.4M by Sotheby's
Clyfford Still, who was one of the main inventors of abstract expressionism, depicted forms with very jagged edges. His practice, however, excluded spontaneity. His purpose was to convey an idea on a single theme which was the transcendental energy.
Throughout his career, Still protected his work. Any sold painting was a miss in the recording of his own creativity. Twenty years before developing the abstract expressionism, he was already taking care of creating replicas. The artworks he kept for himself have been perfectly preserved.
He made no secret of this practice, but he did not disclose the technique he employed to obtain a perfect copy, without losing anything in the apparent violence of form or in the subtlety of colors.
To finance its creation, the Clyfford Still Museum took the clever initiative to auction off four paintings by the master, which were included in Sotheby's sale on November 9, 2011. The two top lots fetched respectively $ 62M for 1949-A-No.1 and $ 31.4M for 1947-Y-No.2, oil on canvas 177 x 150 cm, lot 12.
That reference 1947-Y-No.2 suggests that it is a replica. Indeed it is identical to 1947-Y-No.1, 174 x 150 cm, sold for $ 29M including premium by Sotheby's on June 29, 2020, and to 1947-Y-No.3, 197 x 177 cm, preserved by the museum. The 2011 Sotheby's catalog included a 1951 photo featuring the artist in front of the number 2 of the 1949-A.
Throughout his career, Still protected his work. Any sold painting was a miss in the recording of his own creativity. Twenty years before developing the abstract expressionism, he was already taking care of creating replicas. The artworks he kept for himself have been perfectly preserved.
He made no secret of this practice, but he did not disclose the technique he employed to obtain a perfect copy, without losing anything in the apparent violence of form or in the subtlety of colors.
To finance its creation, the Clyfford Still Museum took the clever initiative to auction off four paintings by the master, which were included in Sotheby's sale on November 9, 2011. The two top lots fetched respectively $ 62M for 1949-A-No.1 and $ 31.4M for 1947-Y-No.2, oil on canvas 177 x 150 cm, lot 12.
That reference 1947-Y-No.2 suggests that it is a replica. Indeed it is identical to 1947-Y-No.1, 174 x 150 cm, sold for $ 29M including premium by Sotheby's on June 29, 2020, and to 1947-Y-No.3, 197 x 177 cm, preserved by the museum. The 2011 Sotheby's catalog included a 1951 photo featuring the artist in front of the number 2 of the 1949-A.
1948 The Organic Abstraction of Jackson Pollock
2013 SOLD 58 M$ including premium
In 1946, Lee Krasner pushes Jackson Pollock to a secluded barn on Long Island. Thus freed from the bustle of the big city, Pollock has the luck to live his artistic Passion, in the strongest meaning of the word 'passion'.
He did not consider himself as an abstract artist. In the first months after his arrival in Long Island, he developed two series of paintings titled 'Sounds in the grass' and 'Accabonac Creek', reflecting his desire to commune with the earth for expressing its richness.
He then invented his own style so well known today but then so different from anything that existed before him. The surface to be painted is placed on the ground and not on an easel. He leaves his brushes to directly throw the liquid paint. There is no horizon and no framing even when the work is small, and there is also no longer a figuration.
The lines of pure colors of various widths form infinite and meticulous tangles. Sometimes, the start of the work is figurative before being hidden, but it is not the most important. The regularity of the final mesh is spectacular without being total, so that certain areas are breathing or vibrating such as an organic matter. Only Richter's rake will be able to generate similar effects.
On May 15 in New York, Christie's sells Number 19, 1948. This oil and enamel on paper mounted on canvas is small, 78 x 57 cm, but the fineness of the line is prodigious. Such a technical and artistic achievement deserves an estimate of $ 25M.
I invite you to watch the exciting video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Despite its small size, Number 19-1948 is a masterpiece of Pollock by the extreme care of its realization. This painting was sold $ 58M including premium.
He did not consider himself as an abstract artist. In the first months after his arrival in Long Island, he developed two series of paintings titled 'Sounds in the grass' and 'Accabonac Creek', reflecting his desire to commune with the earth for expressing its richness.
He then invented his own style so well known today but then so different from anything that existed before him. The surface to be painted is placed on the ground and not on an easel. He leaves his brushes to directly throw the liquid paint. There is no horizon and no framing even when the work is small, and there is also no longer a figuration.
The lines of pure colors of various widths form infinite and meticulous tangles. Sometimes, the start of the work is figurative before being hidden, but it is not the most important. The regularity of the final mesh is spectacular without being total, so that certain areas are breathing or vibrating such as an organic matter. Only Richter's rake will be able to generate similar effects.
On May 15 in New York, Christie's sells Number 19, 1948. This oil and enamel on paper mounted on canvas is small, 78 x 57 cm, but the fineness of the line is prodigious. Such a technical and artistic achievement deserves an estimate of $ 25M.
I invite you to watch the exciting video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Despite its small size, Number 19-1948 is a masterpiece of Pollock by the extreme care of its realization. This painting was sold $ 58M including premium.
1948 PH-125 by Clyfford Still
2021 SOLD for $ 31M by Sotheby's
PH-125, also titled 1948-No.1, oil on canvas 187 x 173 cm by Still, was sold for $ 31M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Its unlimited massive form is made of a richly saturated texture in various deep hues from gold to amber with a yellow jagged interstice. In the opposite of many other works by Still, it looks static and swelling except for its overlap by a deep red form on its right side.
A color photo in the catalogue shows it on the wall of a 1990 exhibition beside the fully static and larger opus PH-91, 240 x 200 cm, painted in the same year with the same pigments. Both appear like a demonstration of the artist's capability to offer an unprecedented mingle of rare colors, anticipating and possibly inspiring Rothko's rectangular forms.
It is one of the early works which were included in the 1969 selling exhibition at the Marlborough gallery in New York.
Its unlimited massive form is made of a richly saturated texture in various deep hues from gold to amber with a yellow jagged interstice. In the opposite of many other works by Still, it looks static and swelling except for its overlap by a deep red form on its right side.
A color photo in the catalogue shows it on the wall of a 1990 exhibition beside the fully static and larger opus PH-91, 240 x 200 cm, painted in the same year with the same pigments. Both appear like a demonstration of the artist's capability to offer an unprecedented mingle of rare colors, anticipating and possibly inspiring Rothko's rectangular forms.
It is one of the early works which were included in the 1969 selling exhibition at the Marlborough gallery in New York.
1949 Clyfford Still in Denver
2011 SOLD 62 M$ including premium
With Clyfford Still, the American art changed forever. A pioneer of abstract expressionism, he taught from 1946 to 1950 at the California Institute of Fine Arts. His art made of thick material is an explosion of colors that may symbolize life. Like Rothko, he wants to offer a total art, a vision with no frame. His vivid colors make him a precursor to the psychedelic art.
Yet Still's work is poorly understood. His paintings were exhibited but he did not search to sell and was angry with the artistic establishment. His will, well seconded by his widow, was that almost all his work is held in a unique museum which would be totally dedicated.
The city of Denver won this so special art competition. The Still museum will own about 96% of the artistic output of the master. In a highly original approach, four works are put on the market to pay for the development of the museum. Sotheby's won the bargain by offering a guarantee of $ 25M. The sale will be held in New York on November 9.
These painting are illustrated in the article shared by Art Market Monitor. I will indicate the sizes later. The two most outstanding belong to the most creative period: 1947-Y-No-2 is estimated $ 15M, and 1949-A-No.1 is estimated $ 25M.
These prices are consistent with those obtained in the extremely rare auctions of similar works. 1947-R-No.1, 175 x 165 cm, was sold $ 21M including premium by Christie's on November 15, 2006. A painting made in 1946 numbered PH-182, 154 x 111 cm, was sold $ 14M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2008.
POST SALE COMMENT
The operation was well organized and well publicized. Knowing now the result, we can consider this sale as superb.
For introducing the many works to be displayed by them, the city of Denver had found Sotheby's as a great helper. The four lots fetched altogether $ 114M including premium, more than doubling the lower estimate, and art lovers are now familiar with three periods of Still's career.
The two paintings from the period of glory received very high prices: $ 62 million for 1949-A-No.1, 236 x 200 cm, and $ 31.5 million for 1947-Y-No.2, 177 x 150 cm.
Sold $ 19.7 million, a painting of 1976, 237 x 210 cm, was from the secret period of the artist.
The formative years were represented by a painting of 1940, 104 x 95 cm, sold $ 1.25 M.
These results include premium.
Yet Still's work is poorly understood. His paintings were exhibited but he did not search to sell and was angry with the artistic establishment. His will, well seconded by his widow, was that almost all his work is held in a unique museum which would be totally dedicated.
The city of Denver won this so special art competition. The Still museum will own about 96% of the artistic output of the master. In a highly original approach, four works are put on the market to pay for the development of the museum. Sotheby's won the bargain by offering a guarantee of $ 25M. The sale will be held in New York on November 9.
These painting are illustrated in the article shared by Art Market Monitor. I will indicate the sizes later. The two most outstanding belong to the most creative period: 1947-Y-No-2 is estimated $ 15M, and 1949-A-No.1 is estimated $ 25M.
These prices are consistent with those obtained in the extremely rare auctions of similar works. 1947-R-No.1, 175 x 165 cm, was sold $ 21M including premium by Christie's on November 15, 2006. A painting made in 1946 numbered PH-182, 154 x 111 cm, was sold $ 14M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2008.
POST SALE COMMENT
The operation was well organized and well publicized. Knowing now the result, we can consider this sale as superb.
For introducing the many works to be displayed by them, the city of Denver had found Sotheby's as a great helper. The four lots fetched altogether $ 114M including premium, more than doubling the lower estimate, and art lovers are now familiar with three periods of Still's career.
The two paintings from the period of glory received very high prices: $ 62 million for 1949-A-No.1, 236 x 200 cm, and $ 31.5 million for 1947-Y-No.2, 177 x 150 cm.
Sold $ 19.7 million, a painting of 1976, 237 x 210 cm, was from the secret period of the artist.
The formative years were represented by a painting of 1940, 104 x 95 cm, sold $ 1.25 M.
These results include premium.
1949 Dances around the Image
2018 SOLD for $ 34M including premium
During an exhibition at the MoMA in 1941, Pollock attended a Navajo sand-picture show that reminded him of his childhood in Wyoming. Creation is a ritual where the original image disappears under the accumulation of layers.
This experience will give him the idea of placing his canvas or paper flat on the floor of his workshop for a better precision of his dissemination of colors. Executing his gestural dance around the work as it goes along, he realizes Malevich's old dream of a re-orientable image in all directions that also gives the illusion of spreading beyond its own limits.
While canceling the figurative, Malevich also wanted to highlight the material. Pollock manages a similar approach. After the very large paintings of early 1948 he tries several techniques on small sizes.
The works on paper prepared with a white primer are promising and the small formats make it more possible to obtain in a lesser time a full covering of the surface with the desirable entangled lines of high density. Painted with pours and drips of oil and enamel paints, Number 19, 1948, a 78 x 57 cm paper mounted on canvas, was sold for $ 58M including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013.
The use of aluminum paint for the white lines brings an additional brilliance. In the same size as the Number 19, 1948 described above, Number 32, 1949 was mounted on masonite. In a nice freshness thanks to a parsimonious use in exhibitions, this painting on paper is estimated $ 30M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 16, lot 14. Please watch the short video and the full video shared by the auction house.
This experience will give him the idea of placing his canvas or paper flat on the floor of his workshop for a better precision of his dissemination of colors. Executing his gestural dance around the work as it goes along, he realizes Malevich's old dream of a re-orientable image in all directions that also gives the illusion of spreading beyond its own limits.
While canceling the figurative, Malevich also wanted to highlight the material. Pollock manages a similar approach. After the very large paintings of early 1948 he tries several techniques on small sizes.
The works on paper prepared with a white primer are promising and the small formats make it more possible to obtain in a lesser time a full covering of the surface with the desirable entangled lines of high density. Painted with pours and drips of oil and enamel paints, Number 19, 1948, a 78 x 57 cm paper mounted on canvas, was sold for $ 58M including premium by Christie's on May 15, 2013.
The use of aluminum paint for the white lines brings an additional brilliance. In the same size as the Number 19, 1948 described above, Number 32, 1949 was mounted on masonite. In a nice freshness thanks to a parsimonious use in exhibitions, this painting on paper is estimated $ 30M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 16, lot 14. Please watch the short video and the full video shared by the auction house.
1949 Modern Art on Paper
2013 SOLD for $ 32.6M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
1949 was the pinnacle in the life of Jackson Pollock. His unprecedented method of painting with dripping, which he invented two years earlier, is operational. His wife Lee Krasner and the gallery owner Betty Parsons manage his career, sparing him those social relationships in which he is so uncomfortable. From the end of 1948 until November 1950, he did not drink alcohol.
With these favorable circumstances, Jack can devote himself to his art, which he has always understood as the expression of his subconscious. The laudatory comments from some art critics don't surprise him : he tells Lee that there is no other example of creativity in their country except for the Bebop by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
He has detractors, who consider that his creative gesture is random and therefore meaningless. Motivated by this opposition, he is preparing a series of paintings which will be exhibited together at the end of the year by Betty Parsons to demonstrate the diversity of his pictorial effects in a unique format.
He chooses oil and enamel on paper, which does not alter the colors of the pigments, adding on some works a phosphorescence effect with aluminum paint. The paper format, 78 x 57 cm, is not comparable to the gigantic canvases of the previous year, but it has an operational advantage : the jerky movement of the wrist is sufficient to perform a dripping of great precision without resorting to a gesticulatory dance all around the work.
This set of 16 works mounted on masonite is exhibited in November 1949 by Betty Parsons alongside unsold items from the previous show.
Number 32, 1949, is one of the 8 examples that used aluminum. This lot, which was narrated before its sale in this column, was sold for $ 34M including premium by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
The numbers 12, 16 and 17 appear as nets entangling the black and colored lines over an ocher background. This centered pattern which hardly reaches the edge of the image gives up the effect of infinite field, which was therefore not essential in Pollock's creativity, while maintaining the total absence of a third dimension.
De-accessed from MoMA, Number 12 was sold for $ 11.7M by Christie's on May 11, 2004, lot 17. Number 16 was sold for $ 32.6M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 39. Number 17, 57 x 72 cm, was sold for $ 23M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2015, lot 9. These results include the premium.
With these favorable circumstances, Jack can devote himself to his art, which he has always understood as the expression of his subconscious. The laudatory comments from some art critics don't surprise him : he tells Lee that there is no other example of creativity in their country except for the Bebop by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
He has detractors, who consider that his creative gesture is random and therefore meaningless. Motivated by this opposition, he is preparing a series of paintings which will be exhibited together at the end of the year by Betty Parsons to demonstrate the diversity of his pictorial effects in a unique format.
He chooses oil and enamel on paper, which does not alter the colors of the pigments, adding on some works a phosphorescence effect with aluminum paint. The paper format, 78 x 57 cm, is not comparable to the gigantic canvases of the previous year, but it has an operational advantage : the jerky movement of the wrist is sufficient to perform a dripping of great precision without resorting to a gesticulatory dance all around the work.
This set of 16 works mounted on masonite is exhibited in November 1949 by Betty Parsons alongside unsold items from the previous show.
Number 32, 1949, is one of the 8 examples that used aluminum. This lot, which was narrated before its sale in this column, was sold for $ 34M including premium by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
The numbers 12, 16 and 17 appear as nets entangling the black and colored lines over an ocher background. This centered pattern which hardly reaches the edge of the image gives up the effect of infinite field, which was therefore not essential in Pollock's creativity, while maintaining the total absence of a third dimension.
De-accessed from MoMA, Number 12 was sold for $ 11.7M by Christie's on May 11, 2004, lot 17. Number 16 was sold for $ 32.6M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 39. Number 17, 57 x 72 cm, was sold for $ 23M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2015, lot 9. These results include the premium.
