An automatic writing can be done in pencil on paper, but modern art appeals for large formats. From 1966, Twombly painted canvases in a uniform gray on which he was drawing with a wax crayon the figures of his mind. This series will be identified under the generic name of Blackboards.
The first tests combine the jerky action of the hand, expressing the reflex, with geometric figures that make a link with the former graffiti of the artist. This mixed meaning blurs his intention to express life. His Blackboards do not need to rely on the persistence of ancient impulses. The most interesting Blackboards will be performed in New York.
One of them, 173 x 216 cm, painted in 1968, has been sold for $ 8.7M including premium by Sotheby's on 9 November 2005. An oblique line of high jerky and irregular eight shaped loops runs throughout the width.
About that time, Twombly improves his approach like a proto-writing. The shape of the loop has a graphological value and will vary depending on the mood of the artist at the time of its creation.
On November 11 in New York, Sotheby's sells at lot 18 a 173 x 269 cm blackboard painted by Twombly also in 1968, but later in its maturity than the example discussed above.
The line consists in an entanglement of proto-writings in repetitive loops forming six thick horizontal lines within very regular limits. These lines that become wider from top to bottom of the canvas generate an illusion of perspective.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
SOLD for $ 71M including premium