Decade 1950-1959
See also : Top 10 Painting Sculpture Bust and mask Illustrators The Woman Groups Nude Landscape Orientalism Children Abstract art USA Rothko Spain Picasso Picasso from 1940 Giacometti China Modern China
1950 White Center (yellow, pink and lavender on rose) by Rothko
2007 SOLD for $ 73M including premium by Sotheby's
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1951 The Best Cover of the Saturday Evening Post
2013 SOLD 46 M$ including premium
The Second World War is over but it will not be the last war. American people wish to be comforted. Their favorite artist is not an intellectual of the big city but Norman Rockwell who since 1916 draws with humor the varied themes of everyday life for the covers of the Saturday Evening Post.
Rockwell's images are the result of a lengthy preparation in consultation with the editor. He imagines the action, finds photos that he cut and assembles, and performs sketches before the final oil on canvas.
On November 24, 1951, Thanksgiving Day, when the magazine publishes Saying Grace, its publishers are aware that it is the masterpiece of the artist. The accompanying text clearly indicates that this grandmother who prays with her five year old grandson expresses the best that life can bring to the Americans.
Rockwell has placed the group in a restaurant with tight tables, from a low point of view inviting the observer to feel that he is sitting at the next table. Two young men complete this family, watching with sympathy the two main characters.
Four years later, the Saturday Evening Post asked its readers to identify what was the best cover by Rockwell. They praised Saying Grace.
In 1953, the oil on canvas 109 x 104 cm was given by Rockwell to the art editor of the magazine, Kenneth Stuart. The artwork remained in the Stuart family. It is estimated $ 15M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on December 4. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This image was considered sixty years ago as the masterpiece of Rockwell. It is still the case. The original oil painting was sold for $ 46M including premium.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
Rockwell's images are the result of a lengthy preparation in consultation with the editor. He imagines the action, finds photos that he cut and assembles, and performs sketches before the final oil on canvas.
On November 24, 1951, Thanksgiving Day, when the magazine publishes Saying Grace, its publishers are aware that it is the masterpiece of the artist. The accompanying text clearly indicates that this grandmother who prays with her five year old grandson expresses the best that life can bring to the Americans.
Rockwell has placed the group in a restaurant with tight tables, from a low point of view inviting the observer to feel that he is sitting at the next table. Two young men complete this family, watching with sympathy the two main characters.
Four years later, the Saturday Evening Post asked its readers to identify what was the best cover by Rockwell. They praised Saying Grace.
In 1953, the oil on canvas 109 x 104 cm was given by Rockwell to the art editor of the magazine, Kenneth Stuart. The artwork remained in the Stuart family. It is estimated $ 15M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on December 4. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This image was considered sixty years ago as the masterpiece of Rockwell. It is still the case. The original oil painting was sold for $ 46M including premium.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1951-1952 The Woman on the Chariot
2014 SOLD for $ 101M including premium
Alberto Giacometti had been close to the Surrealists. The theme of the woman on the chariot was inscribed in his mind from 1938. It remained therein for twelve years during which the artist tried a few tests, sometimes with rotating wheels.
In 1948, Alberto populates his universe with his wire-like characters who question the existentialism. Men walk with energy without knowing where they are going. In contrast, women are straight and motionless.
The woman is still an ancient idol whose authority may not be challenged. She brings peace and truth. In Alberto's dream, she is perched on a pedestal placed on the axle of an antique chariot with very high wheels. This is the great paradox of Giacometti: the motionless woman symbolizes the movement because she is worshiped on the chariot.
Alberto is a perfectionist. He waits until 1950 to execute his fantasy. Any detail is important, such as the tightly attached legs. The arms are away from the body in a gesture of glory or freedom, but the angle of the elbows disappears when the sculpture is viewed from front. The work is of medium size, 1.45 m high, because it must not be intimidating or diminutive.
The bronze cast in 1951-1952 is a technical feat by Alexis Rudier company. The number 2/6 is for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 25. This is an exceptional specimen by its golden patina that glorifies the subject and also because it has been carefully painted by the artist.
In the press release issued on October 3, Sotheby's compare the importance of this piece to the Walking Man which they sold for £ 65 million including premium on February 3, 2010.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
In 1948, Alberto populates his universe with his wire-like characters who question the existentialism. Men walk with energy without knowing where they are going. In contrast, women are straight and motionless.
The woman is still an ancient idol whose authority may not be challenged. She brings peace and truth. In Alberto's dream, she is perched on a pedestal placed on the axle of an antique chariot with very high wheels. This is the great paradox of Giacometti: the motionless woman symbolizes the movement because she is worshiped on the chariot.
Alberto is a perfectionist. He waits until 1950 to execute his fantasy. Any detail is important, such as the tightly attached legs. The arms are away from the body in a gesture of glory or freedom, but the angle of the elbows disappears when the sculpture is viewed from front. The work is of medium size, 1.45 m high, because it must not be intimidating or diminutive.
The bronze cast in 1951-1952 is a technical feat by Alexis Rudier company. The number 2/6 is for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 25. This is an exceptional specimen by its golden patina that glorifies the subject and also because it has been carefully painted by the artist.
In the press release issued on October 3, Sotheby's compare the importance of this piece to the Walking Man which they sold for £ 65 million including premium on February 3, 2010.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
1952 The New Language of Mark Rothko
2014 SOLD 66 M$ including premium
Mark Rothko was a philosopher, musician, theorist, chemist. These qualities enabled him to develop a new artistic language. He was not alone, of course, and this new path is enriched by the experiences of Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still, in contrast to the action painting of Pollock and Kline.
His theme now so recognizable of the color fields had matured over two decades. He begins by challenging the figuration considered as a betrayal of the represented subject, and welcomes the moves of De Kooning and probably also Gorky who delete the difference between figurative and abstract.
He deviates from this trend by observing the intricacies of colors in the latest works by Matisse and Bonnard. He then develops a mixture suitable for his project with the best available pigments associated with turpentine and organic materials.
His goal is reached: Rothko's paint may be placed on the canvas in thin translucent layers that dry quickly and can be spread in wash or drawn with brush.
From his first trial of his new technique in 1950, Rothko achieved by his meticulous layering an infinite variety of colors mostly visible at the limits of his large rectangles. His color fields do not have a geometric border. Rothko is the total opposite to Mondrian.
One of his sixteen dramas made in 1950 welcomes four players : white, yellow, pink and lavender. This painting 206 x 141 cm was sold for $ 73M including premium by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 262 x 159 cm painted in 1952. At that time, the artistic language of Rothko is stabilized and this outstanding colorist can therefore optimize the emotional effect of his compositions. An interview given by Christie's to the Wall Street Journal reveals the estimate of $ 40M to $ 60M.
This work is dominated at the top of the canvas by a huge purple square whose mesmerizing effect is balanced by a solid dark rectangle at the bottom of the image. These two conflicting actors are separated by an orange field. The yellow orange outlining the scene reminds that Rothko did not want his paintings to be enclosed in frames.
I often said that the reproductions on paper or online do not allow to understand the art of Rothko. The video shared by Christie's is a remarkable demonstration of the high quality in the art and technique of the most subtle colorist of all time.
POST SALE COMMENT
This outstanding Rothko painting was sold for $ 66M including premium.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
His theme now so recognizable of the color fields had matured over two decades. He begins by challenging the figuration considered as a betrayal of the represented subject, and welcomes the moves of De Kooning and probably also Gorky who delete the difference between figurative and abstract.
He deviates from this trend by observing the intricacies of colors in the latest works by Matisse and Bonnard. He then develops a mixture suitable for his project with the best available pigments associated with turpentine and organic materials.
His goal is reached: Rothko's paint may be placed on the canvas in thin translucent layers that dry quickly and can be spread in wash or drawn with brush.
From his first trial of his new technique in 1950, Rothko achieved by his meticulous layering an infinite variety of colors mostly visible at the limits of his large rectangles. His color fields do not have a geometric border. Rothko is the total opposite to Mondrian.
One of his sixteen dramas made in 1950 welcomes four players : white, yellow, pink and lavender. This painting 206 x 141 cm was sold for $ 73M including premium by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 262 x 159 cm painted in 1952. At that time, the artistic language of Rothko is stabilized and this outstanding colorist can therefore optimize the emotional effect of his compositions. An interview given by Christie's to the Wall Street Journal reveals the estimate of $ 40M to $ 60M.
This work is dominated at the top of the canvas by a huge purple square whose mesmerizing effect is balanced by a solid dark rectangle at the bottom of the image. These two conflicting actors are separated by an orange field. The yellow orange outlining the scene reminds that Rothko did not want his paintings to be enclosed in frames.
I often said that the reproductions on paper or online do not allow to understand the art of Rothko. The video shared by Christie's is a remarkable demonstration of the high quality in the art and technique of the most subtle colorist of all time.
POST SALE COMMENT
This outstanding Rothko painting was sold for $ 66M including premium.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1954 Red-Blue Shock by Rothko
2012 SOLD 75 M$ including premium
In 1954 Mark Rothko is invited by the Art Institute of Chicago to prepare a solo exhibition. He selects eight of his works. The event will have a huge impact on his reputation.
Since several years at that time, he organizes his paintings in confrontations of colors for which the composition in stacks of rectangular blocks is always present but is no longer the essential element.
1954 No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue) is one of the eight works presented in Chicago. It is already typical of the exceptional understanding of Rothko to achieve the maximum emotional level.
It is very large, 289 x 172 cm. Divided into several shades, the reds dominate. At the bottom of the canvas, the red hegemony is interrupted by an aggressive bright blue rectangle. This painting is estimated $ 35M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 13. It is illustrated in the release shared by Artdaily.
In subsequent years, the reds will increasingly be the major actors in the artistic drama realized by Rothko, taking drama in its etymological meaning of theater. They will now have less need to rely on opponents like the blue of that No. 1.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Sold $ 75M including premium, the Rothko has far exceeded its estimate.
It comes close to the 1961 Orange Red Yellow sold $ 87M including premium sold by Christie's on May 8, 2012, less tall but belonging to the culminating period of the emotional expression by Rothko.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
Since several years at that time, he organizes his paintings in confrontations of colors for which the composition in stacks of rectangular blocks is always present but is no longer the essential element.
1954 No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue) is one of the eight works presented in Chicago. It is already typical of the exceptional understanding of Rothko to achieve the maximum emotional level.
It is very large, 289 x 172 cm. Divided into several shades, the reds dominate. At the bottom of the canvas, the red hegemony is interrupted by an aggressive bright blue rectangle. This painting is estimated $ 35M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 13. It is illustrated in the release shared by Artdaily.
In subsequent years, the reds will increasingly be the major actors in the artistic drama realized by Rothko, taking drama in its etymological meaning of theater. They will now have less need to rely on opponents like the blue of that No. 1.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Sold $ 75M including premium, the Rothko has far exceeded its estimate.
It comes close to the 1961 Orange Red Yellow sold $ 87M including premium sold by Christie's on May 8, 2012, less tall but belonging to the culminating period of the emotional expression by Rothko.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1954 Positioning the Blue
2015 SOLD for $ 46M including premium
An intense blue can not leave indifferent the modern artists. This cold color brings a physiological feeling of remoteness. It does not mix with the other colors when they play creating harmonies together. When it is dominant, the blue is aggressive.
At the early stage of his signature style in abstract art, Mark Rothko made many proposals for positioning the blue. This color is far from appearing in most of his works but it brings in alternance with the black the very sense of tragic expression that the artist was endeavoring to forward.
When the blue rectangular area is in the lower side of the picture, it wins a stability that reduces the role of the other colors like if it is the monarch in the battlefield. Rothko seeks which color can resist.
Taking advantage of a very low position of the blue, a deep red distributed in several shades almost won the game in the splendid No. 1 painted in 1954, 289 x 172 cm, which was sold for $ 75M including premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012.
The artist finds another competitor in the same year in a dark bright yellow. Blue stubbornly defends its position by invading almost the entire available width in an exception to the usual principles of the artist's composition.
This oil on canvas 243 x 187 cm is estimated $ 40M for sale bySotheby's in New York on May 12, lot 11. After the death of Rothko, this painting belonged to the Mellon collection that once included the best set of works by this artist in private hands.
The tragedy of the blue did not stop at that point. In 1955, it managed to dominate the top of the image within an oil on canvas 169 x 125 cm sold for $ 56M including premium by Phillips on 15 May 2014.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
At the early stage of his signature style in abstract art, Mark Rothko made many proposals for positioning the blue. This color is far from appearing in most of his works but it brings in alternance with the black the very sense of tragic expression that the artist was endeavoring to forward.
When the blue rectangular area is in the lower side of the picture, it wins a stability that reduces the role of the other colors like if it is the monarch in the battlefield. Rothko seeks which color can resist.
Taking advantage of a very low position of the blue, a deep red distributed in several shades almost won the game in the splendid No. 1 painted in 1954, 289 x 172 cm, which was sold for $ 75M including premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012.
The artist finds another competitor in the same year in a dark bright yellow. Blue stubbornly defends its position by invading almost the entire available width in an exception to the usual principles of the artist's composition.
This oil on canvas 243 x 187 cm is estimated $ 40M for sale bySotheby's in New York on May 12, lot 11. After the death of Rothko, this painting belonged to the Mellon collection that once included the best set of works by this artist in private hands.
The tragedy of the blue did not stop at that point. In 1955, it managed to dominate the top of the image within an oil on canvas 169 x 125 cm sold for $ 56M including premium by Phillips on 15 May 2014.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
1955 The Homage by Picasso to his own Art
2015 SOLD for $ 180M including premium
The Femmes d'Alger by Delacroix, by inspiring Picasso, had a role in the genesis of modern painting. Executed in Paris in 1907, the painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon shows a group of women. Unlike in Delacroix, they are naked. They are not in the hot atmosphere of a harem but their offering is venal.
It is difficult to recognize the influence of Delacroix upon the Demoiselles because the tribal art that inspired the deconstruction of forms is the real origin of Cubism. Other influences have also been identified for this painting which is one of the most important breakthroughs of Western art : el Greco, Cézanne, Gauguin.
Matisse died in 1954. His Odalisques were famous. Picasso had not used this theme which exacerbated the colors and he was somehow jealous of his late friend. He disguises Jacqueline but this is not enough to equal the glory of his rival. To resume his place in the history of art, he resuscitates the Femmes d'Alger in a series of fifteen paintings numbered A to O.
The series is an imitation of the styles of Picasso's career starting from his invention of Cubism. The latest version, O, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm achieved on 14 February 1955, appears as a synthesis of this rather disparate set, like the ultimate completion of Pablo's art on that date.
It takes much imagination to see Delacroix's influence in the Version O, but the comparison with the Demoiselles is obvious. The women are naked or half dressed but in a later cubism style that excites the imagination by blurring the vision. The standing woman on the left displays a much better readability that joins the then recent art of Pablo.
Pablo has always enjoyed to confront himself with the great masters. The large mirror anticipates his series of Las Meninas painted two years later.
Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger was sold for $ 32M including premium by Christie's on 10 November 1997. It is for sale on May 11 at Christie's in New York, lot 8A. The press release of March 25 indicates an estimate in the region of $ 140M.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
It is difficult to recognize the influence of Delacroix upon the Demoiselles because the tribal art that inspired the deconstruction of forms is the real origin of Cubism. Other influences have also been identified for this painting which is one of the most important breakthroughs of Western art : el Greco, Cézanne, Gauguin.
Matisse died in 1954. His Odalisques were famous. Picasso had not used this theme which exacerbated the colors and he was somehow jealous of his late friend. He disguises Jacqueline but this is not enough to equal the glory of his rival. To resume his place in the history of art, he resuscitates the Femmes d'Alger in a series of fifteen paintings numbered A to O.
The series is an imitation of the styles of Picasso's career starting from his invention of Cubism. The latest version, O, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm achieved on 14 February 1955, appears as a synthesis of this rather disparate set, like the ultimate completion of Pablo's art on that date.
It takes much imagination to see Delacroix's influence in the Version O, but the comparison with the Demoiselles is obvious. The women are naked or half dressed but in a later cubism style that excites the imagination by blurring the vision. The standing woman on the left displays a much better readability that joins the then recent art of Pablo.
Pablo has always enjoyed to confront himself with the great masters. The large mirror anticipates his series of Las Meninas painted two years later.
Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger was sold for $ 32M including premium by Christie's on 10 November 1997. It is for sale on May 11 at Christie's in New York, lot 8A. The press release of March 25 indicates an estimate in the region of $ 140M.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1955 The Drama of the Blue
2014 SOLD 56 M$ including premium
Cézanne sought to express the relations of forces of the tragedy through the disposition of his fruit. The art of Mark Rothko does the same by the opposition of the fields of color.
Rothko endeavored to reach the primitive force of the myth and was studying Nietzsche. He consciously conceived his art as a drama. At the same time, Barnett Newman wanted to express a mystical vision of the origin of the world. For both artists, the total abstraction is a means to reach the absolute by discarding any narrative illusion.
Do not say that Rothko's abstract art is empty of characters. By captivating the viewer, the artist incorporates him into the work.
In this battle of the color fields, the vivid blue plays a fundamental role in the abstract beginnings of Rothko. The blue area is not predominant in the No. 1 (Royal red and blue) painted in 1954 but it is in the lower part, ready to pounce. This canvas 289 x 172 cm was sold for $ 75M including premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012.
Smaller, 169 x 125 cm, the Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange) oil on canvas painted in 1955 can be seen as a continuation of the Royal red and blue. Its navy blue, underlined on all sides by an azure border, has won the top side and is towering over the viewer. More timid, the orange field protects itself by a slightly darker thin line.
Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange) was sold for $ 34M including premium at Christie's on November 13, 2007. It comes back to New York to be sold by Phillips on May 15, lot 18 in the catalog.
I invite you to play the video shared by Phillips.
POST 2014 SALE COMMENT
This fascinating Rothko painting has far exceeded its 2007 result. It has been sold for $ 56M including premium.
Rothko endeavored to reach the primitive force of the myth and was studying Nietzsche. He consciously conceived his art as a drama. At the same time, Barnett Newman wanted to express a mystical vision of the origin of the world. For both artists, the total abstraction is a means to reach the absolute by discarding any narrative illusion.
Do not say that Rothko's abstract art is empty of characters. By captivating the viewer, the artist incorporates him into the work.
In this battle of the color fields, the vivid blue plays a fundamental role in the abstract beginnings of Rothko. The blue area is not predominant in the No. 1 (Royal red and blue) painted in 1954 but it is in the lower part, ready to pounce. This canvas 289 x 172 cm was sold for $ 75M including premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012.
Smaller, 169 x 125 cm, the Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange) oil on canvas painted in 1955 can be seen as a continuation of the Royal red and blue. Its navy blue, underlined on all sides by an azure border, has won the top side and is towering over the viewer. More timid, the orange field protects itself by a slightly darker thin line.
Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange) was sold for $ 34M including premium at Christie's on November 13, 2007. It comes back to New York to be sold by Phillips on May 15, lot 18 in the catalog.
I invite you to play the video shared by Phillips.
POST 2014 SALE COMMENT
This fascinating Rothko painting has far exceeded its 2007 result. It has been sold for $ 56M including premium.
1955 Grande tête mince, bronze by Alberto Giacometti
2010 SOLD 53 M$ including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
The low resolution image below in front and size view is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
The low resolution image below in front and size view is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1955 The Ultimate Ink of Huang Binhong
2017 SOLD for RMB 345M including premium
Chinese graphic art was not a monopoly for the professional artists. The literati had other occupations and did not need to sell their art. Still better : they have contributed by their appreciation of ancient cultures to the remarkable homogeneity of Chinese art throughout the historical period and almost to present day. In this sense the old man who brought to an unprecedented perfection in the early 1950s the very traditional landscape in ink on hanging scroll was not an artist.
Native from Zhejiang province, Huang Binhong had many passions centered on letters and ancient arts including calligraphy. He collected and carved seals, practiced fencing and played guqin. He made drawings since his youth and his favorite theme was the sublime Huangshan mountains which he visited nine times from 1883 to 1935.
Huang worked as an editor and illustrator and also as an art professor. In 1948, aged 85, he settled in Hangzhou where his teaching activity certainly left him more free time. It was from that point that he perfected the art of landscape.
He no longer travels in the mountains and works with memory and imagination, favoring the expression instead of the realism. Like the greatest masters, he does not need a preparatory drawing and does not erase. His full mastery of the width of the line generates superb contrasts enhanced by a skillful use of the voids to show mist and brook. The density of the lines reminds the Dürer hare and the overall composition is well balanced.
Huang had the nice practice of dating some of his works by his age. A view in Huangshan is dated to his 92 years, corresponding to 1955 just before his death. This 171 x 96 cm scroll is estimated RMB 80M for sale by China Guardian in Beijing on June 19, lot 706.
Another scenery realized in the same year, 178 x 74 cm, was sold for RMB 63M including premium by China Guardian on May 18, 2014. It remembers the emotion of the artist comparing in an earlier trip the real view of the mountain with its interpretation by an artist of the Yuan period. The lower estimate that had been announced at RMB 12M attests a posteriori that the extreme quality of the ultimate art of Huang was rediscovered at that sale.
Native from Zhejiang province, Huang Binhong had many passions centered on letters and ancient arts including calligraphy. He collected and carved seals, practiced fencing and played guqin. He made drawings since his youth and his favorite theme was the sublime Huangshan mountains which he visited nine times from 1883 to 1935.
Huang worked as an editor and illustrator and also as an art professor. In 1948, aged 85, he settled in Hangzhou where his teaching activity certainly left him more free time. It was from that point that he perfected the art of landscape.
He no longer travels in the mountains and works with memory and imagination, favoring the expression instead of the realism. Like the greatest masters, he does not need a preparatory drawing and does not erase. His full mastery of the width of the line generates superb contrasts enhanced by a skillful use of the voids to show mist and brook. The density of the lines reminds the Dürer hare and the overall composition is well balanced.
Huang had the nice practice of dating some of his works by his age. A view in Huangshan is dated to his 92 years, corresponding to 1955 just before his death. This 171 x 96 cm scroll is estimated RMB 80M for sale by China Guardian in Beijing on June 19, lot 706.
Another scenery realized in the same year, 178 x 74 cm, was sold for RMB 63M including premium by China Guardian on May 18, 2014. It remembers the emotion of the artist comparing in an earlier trip the real view of the mountain with its interpretation by an artist of the Yuan period. The lower estimate that had been announced at RMB 12M attests a posteriori that the extreme quality of the ultimate art of Huang was rediscovered at that sale.
1955 Alberto and his Double
2013 SOLD 50 M$ including premium
Already famous for his threadlike sculpture of bodies, Alberto Giacometti wants to push further his research of total art. In 1954, in his kneaded statues, he breaks with the tradition of classical sculpture which had been a way to offer to the viewer a realistic three-dimensional vision of the selected theme.
He used to say that he did not make a difference between sculpture and drawing. He then takes as model only his family and close friends, especially his brother Diego younger than himself by only thirteen months. People outside his narrow circle would probably hardly support to be so scrutinized by this artist in search of a new ideal.
The tall thin head 65 cm high is the masterpiece from this series which was cast in bronze in 1955 by Susse. The head is reduced to a blade but the view of each profile is as realistic as a drawing, with the frank gaze and the mouth opened for speaking.
This step forward revolutionized the modern sculpture, but Alberto's view of art history went much farther up to the flat figures in ancient Egyptian art, as it is evidenced by another bust of Diego subtitled Amenophis in the same series.
The two brothers had a strong physical resemblance and there is no doubt that Alberto sought also to reach the truth about himself. He voluntarily maintained this ambiguity in an exhibition in 1962 when he chose to name this sculpture the Grande tête mince rather than Grande tête de Diego.
The bronze 3/6 of the Grande tête mince was sold for $ 53M including premium at Christie's on May 4, 2010. The serial number 6/6 is estimated $ 35M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 6. Here is the link to the catalog.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 50M including premium, is consistent with the price recorded on another copy in 2010.
Grande Tête Mince is a masterpiece of sculpture of the twentieth century. The assumption that one side is a portrait of Diego and the other side a self-portrait is fascinating and shows that this work will never deliver the whole of its mystery, the real mystery of mankind that is behind all Alberto's post-war art.
He used to say that he did not make a difference between sculpture and drawing. He then takes as model only his family and close friends, especially his brother Diego younger than himself by only thirteen months. People outside his narrow circle would probably hardly support to be so scrutinized by this artist in search of a new ideal.
The tall thin head 65 cm high is the masterpiece from this series which was cast in bronze in 1955 by Susse. The head is reduced to a blade but the view of each profile is as realistic as a drawing, with the frank gaze and the mouth opened for speaking.
This step forward revolutionized the modern sculpture, but Alberto's view of art history went much farther up to the flat figures in ancient Egyptian art, as it is evidenced by another bust of Diego subtitled Amenophis in the same series.
The two brothers had a strong physical resemblance and there is no doubt that Alberto sought also to reach the truth about himself. He voluntarily maintained this ambiguity in an exhibition in 1962 when he chose to name this sculpture the Grande tête mince rather than Grande tête de Diego.
The bronze 3/6 of the Grande tête mince was sold for $ 53M including premium at Christie's on May 4, 2010. The serial number 6/6 is estimated $ 35M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 6. Here is the link to the catalog.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 50M including premium, is consistent with the price recorded on another copy in 2010.
Grande Tête Mince is a masterpiece of sculpture of the twentieth century. The assumption that one side is a portrait of Diego and the other side a self-portrait is fascinating and shows that this work will never deliver the whole of its mystery, the real mystery of mankind that is behind all Alberto's post-war art.
1957 No. 11 by Mark Rothko
2013 SOLD for $ 46M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1958 The Transcending Color of Mark Rothko
2015 SOLD for $ 82M including premium
In 1958, Mark Rothko is famous and unhappy. He is unhappy because he is famous and because he sees the public admiring the game of balance between the bright colors of his signature blocks. He targeted to show the variety of emotions from mystical to profane but is he more than just a designer?
He accepts at first a huge order for the future restaurant in Seagram's building but this step forward certainly increases his confusion. In an extraordinary burst of creativity, he rejects the vivid colors. Rembrandt knew how to throw the light out of the shadow, there is no reason that could prevent Rothko to do it.
On May 15, 2013 in New York, Christie's sold for $ 27M including premium a Black on Maroon 183 x 114 cm that participates in that momentum and is not yet a symptom of the tragic depression of the artist in the following decade.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 35B the No 10 (1958), oil on canvas 239 x 176 cm. An infinite variety of colors predominantly brown interweaves within the rectangles whose structure is superseded by a magnificent halo effect.
When he broke with Seagram's, Rothko said not without wickedness that he wanted to cut hunger to the restaurant's guests. With this No. 10 contemporary of that failed project, the frustrated artist wanted to replace the sensational by the sublime but his art was to become increasingly elitist.
The video shared by Christie's shows the key importance of that year in the creative process of this highly temperamental artist.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
He accepts at first a huge order for the future restaurant in Seagram's building but this step forward certainly increases his confusion. In an extraordinary burst of creativity, he rejects the vivid colors. Rembrandt knew how to throw the light out of the shadow, there is no reason that could prevent Rothko to do it.
On May 15, 2013 in New York, Christie's sold for $ 27M including premium a Black on Maroon 183 x 114 cm that participates in that momentum and is not yet a symptom of the tragic depression of the artist in the following decade.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 35B the No 10 (1958), oil on canvas 239 x 176 cm. An infinite variety of colors predominantly brown interweaves within the rectangles whose structure is superseded by a magnificent halo effect.
When he broke with Seagram's, Rothko said not without wickedness that he wanted to cut hunger to the restaurant's guests. With this No. 10 contemporary of that failed project, the frustrated artist wanted to replace the sensational by the sublime but his art was to become increasingly elitist.
The video shared by Christie's shows the key importance of that year in the creative process of this highly temperamental artist.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
