Photos 1970s 1980s
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
The date in the subtitles below is the date of the print when known.
not including Sherman.
See also : Photo
Chronology : 1980
The date in the subtitles below is the date of the print when known.
not including Sherman.
See also : Photo
Chronology : 1980
1973 To Her Majesty by Gilbert and George
2008 SOLD for £ 1.9M by Christie's
Students in sculpture, Gilbert and George observe other artists, who create when they are no longer drunk. It is fake art. To express real life, they imagine that the real work of art will be themselves. In 1972 they sing together on stage with an impassive face, without looking at each other, endless insipid songs with drunken lyrics. They are the Singing Sculptures of the music hall. Their repertoire is absurdity.
When they are being filmed, they waste less time than on stage. The video in which they glorify gin by singing Gordon's makes us very very drunk is a culmination of their new style of provocation.
It was at the same time and for the same reason that they tried photography, in the form of a series of installations titled Drinking Pieces or Drinking Sculptures. Among the blurry photos that evoke their visions of drunkards, appear their portraits in suits and ties, often duplicated in several places of the assembly.
The overall shape may evoke a silhouette but will soon become rectangular. To Her Majesty, produced in 1973, belongs to this period of transition. The work consists of 37 black and white photos in a symmetrical structure in five groups, for a total dimension of 145 x 350 cm. The title is a toast, of course. The skillfully distributed self-portraits have become the focal points. For the rest, the blur is replaced by insignificant details of their favorite pub.
To Her Majesty was sold on June 30, 2008 by Christie's for £ 1.9M from a lower estimate of £ 400K, lot 27.
Gilbert and George found with the photo the ideal medium to propagate their message, which will become increasingly political. They refuse the standardization of society and the socialism. Before Richard Prince and Barbara Kruger, they were the pioneers of protest photography.
When they are being filmed, they waste less time than on stage. The video in which they glorify gin by singing Gordon's makes us very very drunk is a culmination of their new style of provocation.
It was at the same time and for the same reason that they tried photography, in the form of a series of installations titled Drinking Pieces or Drinking Sculptures. Among the blurry photos that evoke their visions of drunkards, appear their portraits in suits and ties, often duplicated in several places of the assembly.
The overall shape may evoke a silhouette but will soon become rectangular. To Her Majesty, produced in 1973, belongs to this period of transition. The work consists of 37 black and white photos in a symmetrical structure in five groups, for a total dimension of 145 x 350 cm. The title is a toast, of course. The skillfully distributed self-portraits have become the focal points. For the rest, the blur is replaced by insignificant details of their favorite pub.
To Her Majesty was sold on June 30, 2008 by Christie's for £ 1.9M from a lower estimate of £ 400K, lot 27.
Gilbert and George found with the photo the ideal medium to propagate their message, which will become increasingly political. They refuse the standardization of society and the socialism. Before Richard Prince and Barbara Kruger, they were the pioneers of protest photography.
1977 Red Morning by Gilbert and George
2013 SOLD for $ 1.8M by Christie's
The almost single theme of the dual team Gilbert and George is the condition of life in London, not always easy in the East End where they live since 1968 in a house of the 18th century.
They are anti-conformists in all their actions. When they declare themselves royalists, it is because they perceive in the communism the threat of a social leveling. Their mural installations are assemblages of heteroclite photographs certainly inspired by their neighbors the punks.
In 1977 the socialists progress too much to their liking. They create a series of 17 prophetic works under the title Red Morning to predict by the subtitles all the coming disasters including Attack, Death, Dirt, Scandal.
Each opus is a regular rectangle of three to five elements in each row and column. The images are divided into three themes : the self-portrait of one or the other of the two artists standing in shirt-sleeves in a vulnerable attitude, large buildings in the City and the urban surrounding reflected in a puddle. Some elements are colored in dark red.
Hate is a 240 x 200 cm collage of sixteen elements 60 x 50 cm. The twelve photos of the perimeter are colored. This artwork was sold for $ 1.8M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 24.
Hell was sold for £ 850K by Christie's on October 3, 2017, lot 21.
They are anti-conformists in all their actions. When they declare themselves royalists, it is because they perceive in the communism the threat of a social leveling. Their mural installations are assemblages of heteroclite photographs certainly inspired by their neighbors the punks.
In 1977 the socialists progress too much to their liking. They create a series of 17 prophetic works under the title Red Morning to predict by the subtitles all the coming disasters including Attack, Death, Dirt, Scandal.
Each opus is a regular rectangle of three to five elements in each row and column. The images are divided into three themes : the self-portrait of one or the other of the two artists standing in shirt-sleeves in a vulnerable attitude, large buildings in the City and the urban surrounding reflected in a puddle. Some elements are colored in dark red.
Hate is a 240 x 200 cm collage of sixteen elements 60 x 50 cm. The twelve photos of the perimeter are colored. This artwork was sold for $ 1.8M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 24.
Hell was sold for £ 850K by Christie's on October 3, 2017, lot 21.
1977 Dirty Words Pictures by Gilbert and George
2014 SOLD for £ 960K by Sotheby's
Gilbert and George made their first composite mountings of photographs in 1971. From 1974 these compositions become geometrically structured, in rectangular formats.
In their early days, Gilbert and George exhibited themselves on stage as living sculptures, with a deliberately shocking fantasy. Residing in the East End, they gradually take abhorrence of the punk society and of the dirt that invades London.
In 1977 they produce two large series of photographs whose message is openly political. They want to draw the attention of the general public and of the politicians by these sordid and decadent illustrations of real modern life. They almost always insert in these works their selfies dressed as businessmen of the City.
The first of these series, titled Red Morning to denounce Communism, is a prophecy of social disasters. The next series is named Dirty Words Pictures. For the individual titles of these 26 pieces, the artists mix slang insults and sexual vocabulary. Bummed, 355 x 255 cm in 25 parts, was sold for £ 960K by Sotheby's on June 30, 2014.
Bugger, 300 x 250 cm also in 25 parts, signed George and Gilbert, was sold for £ 800K by Sotheby's on June 26, 2019, lot 13. The two outer columns are pictures of crumpled and soiled newspapers.
In their early days, Gilbert and George exhibited themselves on stage as living sculptures, with a deliberately shocking fantasy. Residing in the East End, they gradually take abhorrence of the punk society and of the dirt that invades London.
In 1977 they produce two large series of photographs whose message is openly political. They want to draw the attention of the general public and of the politicians by these sordid and decadent illustrations of real modern life. They almost always insert in these works their selfies dressed as businessmen of the City.
The first of these series, titled Red Morning to denounce Communism, is a prophecy of social disasters. The next series is named Dirty Words Pictures. For the individual titles of these 26 pieces, the artists mix slang insults and sexual vocabulary. Bummed, 355 x 255 cm in 25 parts, was sold for £ 960K by Sotheby's on June 30, 2014.
Bugger, 300 x 250 cm also in 25 parts, signed George and Gilbert, was sold for £ 800K by Sotheby's on June 26, 2019, lot 13. The two outer columns are pictures of crumpled and soiled newspapers.
1979 Dovima with Elephants by Avedon
2020 SOLD for $ 1.8M by Christie's
The public has always been passionate about fashion. The evolution of techniques facilitates the dissemination of information by the specialized magazines. Harper's Bazaar and Vogue were the leaders in this market sector in the 1930s when it became necessary to replace drawings with photographs.
After the war the phenomenon is accentuated. A couture designer will have no success if he does not seduce the editors of the magazines. In 1947 Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar, assures the glory of Christian Dior by expressing her enthusiasm with exuberance. It was she and no one else who triggered the instant success of this fashion that she named the New Look.
Carmel Snow comes twice a year in Paris to visit the couturiers before the launch of the collections. In 1955 Richard Avedon feels that he has a role to play. He obtains the mission of the photographic coverage of Carmel Snow's report for the fall-winter collection.
This new trend just created a new job, the supermodel, as Lisa Fonssagrives who will marry Irving Penn. The girls are beautiful but static and the photographers pay full attention to the garment.
Richard Avedon offers a more dynamic vision. To show Dior's evening dresses, he designs a staging with Dovima, one of the most popular supermodels of the period. At that moment Carol Reed is shooting a movie at the Cirque d'Hiver under the large glass canopy that allows the same brightness as outside. Avedon places Dovima in the middle of a row of elephants.
The September 1955 edition of Harper's Bazaar includes fifteen photos from Avedon's Parisian report. Dovima with her elephants appears once in a white dress and once in a black dress, both by Dior.
The black dress, more precisely a white satin drape in a black velvet girdle, is a conception by Yves Saint-Laurent in his very first participation for Dior. Dovima's theatrical attitude stretching an arm towards each beast created a masterpiece of fashion photography.
In 1962 Avedon prepares two 124 x 100 cm prints for an exhibition at the Smithsonian, all the more rare in such size that the original use had been exclusively for the magazine. One of them mounted on masonite passed at Sotheby's on November 9, 2018, lot 57.
Editions and large prints were made later after retouching the negative. A 217 x 167 cm print prepared in 1978 for a retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was sold for € 840K by Christie's on November 20, 2010.
A 1979 print 203 x 161 cm from an edition of 10 was sold for $ 1.8M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 81.
Grok thought :
Quote
Minnie @saintdutchess
One of the most important pictures in fashion history. This was one of the first dresses YSL created when he was 19 as an assistant at Dior. The picture achieved a world auction record at Christie's New York, selling for $1,815,000. x.com/saintdutchess/…
After the war the phenomenon is accentuated. A couture designer will have no success if he does not seduce the editors of the magazines. In 1947 Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar, assures the glory of Christian Dior by expressing her enthusiasm with exuberance. It was she and no one else who triggered the instant success of this fashion that she named the New Look.
Carmel Snow comes twice a year in Paris to visit the couturiers before the launch of the collections. In 1955 Richard Avedon feels that he has a role to play. He obtains the mission of the photographic coverage of Carmel Snow's report for the fall-winter collection.
This new trend just created a new job, the supermodel, as Lisa Fonssagrives who will marry Irving Penn. The girls are beautiful but static and the photographers pay full attention to the garment.
Richard Avedon offers a more dynamic vision. To show Dior's evening dresses, he designs a staging with Dovima, one of the most popular supermodels of the period. At that moment Carol Reed is shooting a movie at the Cirque d'Hiver under the large glass canopy that allows the same brightness as outside. Avedon places Dovima in the middle of a row of elephants.
The September 1955 edition of Harper's Bazaar includes fifteen photos from Avedon's Parisian report. Dovima with her elephants appears once in a white dress and once in a black dress, both by Dior.
The black dress, more precisely a white satin drape in a black velvet girdle, is a conception by Yves Saint-Laurent in his very first participation for Dior. Dovima's theatrical attitude stretching an arm towards each beast created a masterpiece of fashion photography.
In 1962 Avedon prepares two 124 x 100 cm prints for an exhibition at the Smithsonian, all the more rare in such size that the original use had been exclusively for the magazine. One of them mounted on masonite passed at Sotheby's on November 9, 2018, lot 57.
Editions and large prints were made later after retouching the negative. A 217 x 167 cm print prepared in 1978 for a retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was sold for € 840K by Christie's on November 20, 2010.
A 1979 print 203 x 161 cm from an edition of 10 was sold for $ 1.8M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 81.
Grok thought :
Quote
Minnie @saintdutchess
One of the most important pictures in fashion history. This was one of the first dresses YSL created when he was 19 as an assistant at Dior. The picture achieved a world auction record at Christie's New York, selling for $1,815,000. x.com/saintdutchess/…
- This post spotlights Richard Avedon's iconic 1955 photograph "Dovima with Elephants," where supermodel Dovima wears a black silk evening gown designed by 19-year-old Yves Saint Laurent during his early tenure at Dior, capturing the era's blend of elegance and whimsy in a circus setting.
- The image fetched a record $1,815,000 at Christie's New York in 2017, surpassing previous fashion photo sales and affirming its cultural value as a symbol of post-WWII haute couture revival under Dior's innovative "Trompette" line.
- Embedded in a thread of legendary fashion portraits, including Dovima's Sphinx shoot, it highlights her pioneering role as a 1950s supermodel while revealing production details like the challenging elephant interactions, educating on the artistry behind mid-century editorial photography.
1980 The New Jeff Koons
2013 SOLD for $ 9.4M by Sotheby's
Jeff Koons' first solo exhibition, titled The New, took place in May and June 1980 in New York at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. It consists of Hoover and Shelton vacuum cleaners and household items installed individually in plexiglass display cases, with fluorescent lighting by spotlights and through the rear.
Another step is immediately taken. If a vacuum cleaner is a work of art, the artist himself is also worthy to be admired.
Under the title The New Jeff Koons, he introduces in his series The New a photographic portrait of himself at the age of 4, which he assembles in a fluorescent light box 103 x 78 x 20 cm. This piece will remain unique in its kind, as if it were a prototype intended to explore new avenues of creativity.
Koons is ambitious. The image he displays of himself is a model of kindness devoid of shyness : calm, smiling amiably, dressed and combed neatly. The felt-tip pens symbolize the birth of his artistic genius.
The New Jeff Koons was sold for $ 9.4M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2013 from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M, lot 9.
Another step is immediately taken. If a vacuum cleaner is a work of art, the artist himself is also worthy to be admired.
Under the title The New Jeff Koons, he introduces in his series The New a photographic portrait of himself at the age of 4, which he assembles in a fluorescent light box 103 x 78 x 20 cm. This piece will remain unique in its kind, as if it were a prototype intended to explore new avenues of creativity.
Koons is ambitious. The image he displays of himself is a model of kindness devoid of shyness : calm, smiling amiably, dressed and combed neatly. The felt-tip pens symbolize the birth of his artistic genius.
The New Jeff Koons was sold for $ 9.4M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2013 from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M, lot 9.
1981 Sie kommen by Newton
2019 SOLD for $ 1.82M by Phillips
Helmut Newton (1920–2004), born Helmut Neustädter in Berlin, was a German-Australian fashion photographer renowned for his provocative, high-contrast black-and-white images that blended eroticism, power dynamics, and haute couture. Closely associated with designers like Yves Saint-Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld, he worked extensively for Vogue (in its various international editions), Playboy, Spiegel, and Stern. Newton sought eroticism that transcended mere charm, often infusing his work with tension, dominance, and a cinematic edge inspired by film noir and expressionist cinema. His early books established this signature: White Women (1976) juxtaposed nudes and clothed figures in stylized scenarios, while Sleepless Nights (1978) incorporated mysterious urban street scenes in Paris alongside color elements and wax mannequins, adding layers of surreal detachment.
In 1980, amid the German police hunt for the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group (Red Army Faction), full-length, life-size wanted posters circulated. Newton seized on this format for his favorite subject—the empowered female form. He created the Big Nudes series: at least sixteen monumental black-and-white images (often around 2 x 1 meters) depicting sculptural women standing full-frontal, typically in high-heeled shoes, against stark, undecorated studio backgrounds. The heels amplified an aura of power, dominance, and completion of the sexual revolution, transforming vulnerability into assertive presence. These large-format gelatin silver prints, with their razor-sharp detail and scathing light on bare skin, became some of his most iconic and museum-worthy works. The series culminated in his third book, Big Nudes (published in Paris in 1981), which collected these images and elevated photography into a bolder, more confrontational dimension.
A psychological evaluation of Newton reveals a complex personality shaped by early trauma and resilience. A Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany as a teenager, he adopted a nomadic, self-supporting life before rising to international fame. Outwardly charismatic, fun-loving, warm, and generous—with a playful, boundary-pushing sense of humor—he channeled darker undercurrents into his art: menace, erotic tension, and control fantasies. His work often reflected voyeuristic and sadomasochistic subtexts, yet he framed them as celebrations of female strength and liberated sexuality post-1960s. The shift to monumental nudes in the 1980s may represent a bold assertion of creative control after a 1970 heart attack that slowed his output, encouraged by his wife June (who later managed his estate). Newton’s provocative persona—“King of Kink”—masked a sophisticated explorer of human desire’s complexities, blending obsession with beauty, power dynamics, and the performance of identity. His images slice through layers of psyche, revealing irony, strangeness, and empowerment without descending into vulgarity.
In 1980, amid the German police hunt for the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group (Red Army Faction), full-length, life-size wanted posters circulated. Newton seized on this format for his favorite subject—the empowered female form. He created the Big Nudes series: at least sixteen monumental black-and-white images (often around 2 x 1 meters) depicting sculptural women standing full-frontal, typically in high-heeled shoes, against stark, undecorated studio backgrounds. The heels amplified an aura of power, dominance, and completion of the sexual revolution, transforming vulnerability into assertive presence. These large-format gelatin silver prints, with their razor-sharp detail and scathing light on bare skin, became some of his most iconic and museum-worthy works. The series culminated in his third book, Big Nudes (published in Paris in 1981), which collected these images and elevated photography into a bolder, more confrontational dimension.
A psychological evaluation of Newton reveals a complex personality shaped by early trauma and resilience. A Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany as a teenager, he adopted a nomadic, self-supporting life before rising to international fame. Outwardly charismatic, fun-loving, warm, and generous—with a playful, boundary-pushing sense of humor—he channeled darker undercurrents into his art: menace, erotic tension, and control fantasies. His work often reflected voyeuristic and sadomasochistic subtexts, yet he framed them as celebrations of female strength and liberated sexuality post-1960s. The shift to monumental nudes in the 1980s may represent a bold assertion of creative control after a 1970 heart attack that slowed his output, encouraged by his wife June (who later managed his estate). Newton’s provocative persona—“King of Kink”—masked a sophisticated explorer of human desire’s complexities, blending obsession with beauty, power dynamics, and the performance of identity. His images slice through layers of psyche, revealing irony, strangeness, and empowerment without descending into vulgarity.
Sie kommen, Paris (Dressed and Naked) forms a key diptych within this context and the related Naked and Dressed explorations. Shot in 1981 in a bare Paris studio, it shows four models advancing toward the camera in a fashion-show stride, maintaining identical full-frontal poses and attitudes across both panels. In the “Dressed” version, they wear elegant designer clothing (including pieces by Emmanuelle Khanh, Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé, Angelo Tarlazzi, and Fournier). In the “Naked” version, they appear solely in high heels, their bodies rendered sculptural and commanding. First published as a two-page spread in French Vogue (November 1981), the work plays on themes of revelation, performance, and the thin line between clothed sophistication and raw power. The title “Sie kommen” (“They are coming”) carries a sense of impending, almost threatening advance, echoing the mugshot inspiration while subverting it into erotic theater.
Newton’s intention with the Big Nudes and Naked and Dressed series was multifaceted. He aimed to portray strong, confident women as active agents rather than passive objects—challenging traditional femininity and the male gaze by emphasizing agency, irony, and defiance. High heels symbolized deliberate self-presentation and control. The stark, clinical lighting and life-size scale created a voyeuristic yet confrontational effect, blending fetishistic elements with psychological depth. Newton maintained he “loved strong women,” using provocation to explore desire, power, subversion, display, and gender performance. Critics have debated the work as either empowering or objectifying (notably Susan Sontag’s critique: “The master adores his slaves”), yet Newton consistently pushed boundaries in commercial and artistic photography, reinventing its language through theatrical staging and technical mastery. His legacy endures in the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, major retrospectives (such as Legacy exhibitions), and influence on contemporary fashion and fine-art photography. The series opened new dimensions for the photographic human image, with prints frequently entering museum collections and fetching record prices.
Auction History of Related Works
Previous sales of Sie kommen and related pieces underscore their market strength:
Newton’s intention with the Big Nudes and Naked and Dressed series was multifaceted. He aimed to portray strong, confident women as active agents rather than passive objects—challenging traditional femininity and the male gaze by emphasizing agency, irony, and defiance. High heels symbolized deliberate self-presentation and control. The stark, clinical lighting and life-size scale created a voyeuristic yet confrontational effect, blending fetishistic elements with psychological depth. Newton maintained he “loved strong women,” using provocation to explore desire, power, subversion, display, and gender performance. Critics have debated the work as either empowering or objectifying (notably Susan Sontag’s critique: “The master adores his slaves”), yet Newton consistently pushed boundaries in commercial and artistic photography, reinventing its language through theatrical staging and technical mastery. His legacy endures in the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, major retrospectives (such as Legacy exhibitions), and influence on contemporary fashion and fine-art photography. The series opened new dimensions for the photographic human image, with prints frequently entering museum collections and fetching record prices.
Auction History of Related Works
Previous sales of Sie kommen and related pieces underscore their market strength:
- A set of four 193 × 99 cm exhibition panels (each numbered II/III, annotated 1995 for the Venice Biennale) sold for $660,000 at Christie’s, December 16, 2008, lot 59. In the largest format on which the four women are life-size, each photo of the diptych is separated into two elements.
- A group of four unmounted prints numbered 1/3 (similar mural format) achieved $1.82 million (against a $600,000 low estimate) at Phillips, April 4, 2019,, lot 85 —then a personal record for Newton.
- A diptych in two elements (106 × 106 cm, without central separation) realized $670,000 at Sotheby’s, April 3, 2016.
- Big Nude III (Henrietta, sculptural and domineering) sold for $480,000 at Christie’s, December 16, 2008, lot 16. A rare variation (same model, closed mouth) — a 196 × 110 cm gelatin silver print from the 1990s — fetched $2.34 million at Christie’s, May 10, 2022, lot 25 B (a then-record).
- The related triptych Walking Women, Paris (three sequenced naked images with slight pose variations, allowing models freedom of movement) — edition 3/3 from 1981, each panel 135 × 113 cm in mounts 172 × 150 cm — sold for $1 million at Sotheby’s, November 18, 2025, lot 142.
1981 Your Manias Become Science by Kruger
2021 SOLD for $ 1.17M by Christie's
Images and words deceive us constantly. Their associations lead us into a dummy universe. Their creators manipulate our thinking for a purpose that can be social, political, commercial. We follow like a gigantic flock of sheep.
The images are innumerable and overused. Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and Richard Prince originally built their universes on poor pictures cut from newspapers.
Barbara Kruger was working as a graphic designer for a fashion magazine. In the early 1980s she wants to share her vision of the unlimited lie of postmodern social life.
She photographs her collages made of bad pictures of magazines, often torn and reassembled, on which she adds an incisive slogan. The widespread use of You, We, or I applied to undefined groups encourages to think about the balance of powers in the modern world. The observer expects a link between the image and the phrase, and its absence reinforces his discomfort.
In 1981 'Your manias become science' calls out those mad scientist whose work adds threats to mankind. The black and white photo behind that text is the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion. The artist's proof aside an edition of 1 in an artist's frame 125 x 156 cm was sold for $ 1.17M from a lower estimate of $ 500K by Christie's on November 9, 2021, lot 16A.
In 1982 'We have received order not to move' is a cry against the oppression of women. 'We' appears as the identification of women as opposed to the society whose rules have been established by and for men.
On June 27, 2018, Sotheby's sold for £ 220K a photo 187 x 124 cm printed in 1984 displaying the threatening slogan 'We are public enemy number one', lot 194. In this image the human form is not identifiable : character or shadow, face or back, man or woman.
'When I hear the word culture I take out my checkbook', a parody of a Nazi phrase inscribed over the photo of a puppet from children's television, 350 x 170 cm made in 1985, was sold for $ 900K by Christie's on November 8, 2011, lot 3.
Some slogans are based on well-known utterances understandable by anybody and diverted against the consumer society : 'Your fact is stranger than fiction' in 1983, 'I shop therefore I am' in 1987.
The images are innumerable and overused. Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and Richard Prince originally built their universes on poor pictures cut from newspapers.
Barbara Kruger was working as a graphic designer for a fashion magazine. In the early 1980s she wants to share her vision of the unlimited lie of postmodern social life.
She photographs her collages made of bad pictures of magazines, often torn and reassembled, on which she adds an incisive slogan. The widespread use of You, We, or I applied to undefined groups encourages to think about the balance of powers in the modern world. The observer expects a link between the image and the phrase, and its absence reinforces his discomfort.
In 1981 'Your manias become science' calls out those mad scientist whose work adds threats to mankind. The black and white photo behind that text is the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion. The artist's proof aside an edition of 1 in an artist's frame 125 x 156 cm was sold for $ 1.17M from a lower estimate of $ 500K by Christie's on November 9, 2021, lot 16A.
In 1982 'We have received order not to move' is a cry against the oppression of women. 'We' appears as the identification of women as opposed to the society whose rules have been established by and for men.
On June 27, 2018, Sotheby's sold for £ 220K a photo 187 x 124 cm printed in 1984 displaying the threatening slogan 'We are public enemy number one', lot 194. In this image the human form is not identifiable : character or shadow, face or back, man or woman.
'When I hear the word culture I take out my checkbook', a parody of a Nazi phrase inscribed over the photo of a puppet from children's television, 350 x 170 cm made in 1985, was sold for $ 900K by Christie's on November 8, 2011, lot 3.
Some slogans are based on well-known utterances understandable by anybody and diverted against the consumer society : 'Your fact is stranger than fiction' in 1983, 'I shop therefore I am' in 1987.
Untitled Fashion by PRINCE
1
1982
2016 SOLD for $ 2.85M by Christie's
It is not always easy to extract the truth from the statements of a plagiarist. Richard Prince is undoubtedly ambitious and certainly an asocial who admired Pollock and wanted to construct and express his own vision of the world. We trust him when he says that he has no photographic talent. He will become the flagship of appropriation art. He is also a provoking character.
Artists are appealed by recuperation around 1980. Before the digital age, the world is already flooded with the lying photographs of the consumerism. The bypassing of these images, while challenging the copyright laws, becomes a new art that expresses the profound reality of the contemporary world. A rule made in 2013 is now case law : Prince does not copy the images, he transforms them.
He got a job wonderfully adapted to his desire : employee in the tear sheet department of Time magazine, he was paid to cut the pages for sending to the customer the legal evidence of the actual publication of the advertisement. The pitch is quickly taken : he will shear the magazines for his own art.
Prince does not know to photograph from nature but is skilled to copy documents from which he has carefully removed the texts. The result is weird : stripped of its wording, an ordinary picture becomes surrealist and expresses the profound imbalance in a society driven by the marketing.
From 1982 to 1984, Prince realizes his series Untitled (Fashion) with images of young women whose eyes were clogged in the original advertisement for whatever a fool idea of a marketing agent. The black and white prints are re-photographed by Prince on color film. The artist has already appreciated the incentive of large size and scarcity, and his editions are made from that early time in very small quantities.
The sale by Christie's on May 10, 2016 included two examples from this rare series.
An Ektacolor 102 x 71 cm dated 1982 by the artist is the artist's proof from an edition of only one other copy. It was sold for $ 2.85M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M, lot 3 B .
A unique Ektacolor 152 x 102 cm dated 1982-1984 and numbered 1/1 by the artist was sold for $ 2.4M, lot 4 B.
Artists are appealed by recuperation around 1980. Before the digital age, the world is already flooded with the lying photographs of the consumerism. The bypassing of these images, while challenging the copyright laws, becomes a new art that expresses the profound reality of the contemporary world. A rule made in 2013 is now case law : Prince does not copy the images, he transforms them.
He got a job wonderfully adapted to his desire : employee in the tear sheet department of Time magazine, he was paid to cut the pages for sending to the customer the legal evidence of the actual publication of the advertisement. The pitch is quickly taken : he will shear the magazines for his own art.
Prince does not know to photograph from nature but is skilled to copy documents from which he has carefully removed the texts. The result is weird : stripped of its wording, an ordinary picture becomes surrealist and expresses the profound imbalance in a society driven by the marketing.
From 1982 to 1984, Prince realizes his series Untitled (Fashion) with images of young women whose eyes were clogged in the original advertisement for whatever a fool idea of a marketing agent. The black and white prints are re-photographed by Prince on color film. The artist has already appreciated the incentive of large size and scarcity, and his editions are made from that early time in very small quantities.
The sale by Christie's on May 10, 2016 included two examples from this rare series.
An Ektacolor 102 x 71 cm dated 1982 by the artist is the artist's proof from an edition of only one other copy. It was sold for $ 2.85M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M, lot 3 B .
A unique Ektacolor 152 x 102 cm dated 1982-1984 and numbered 1/1 by the artist was sold for $ 2.4M, lot 4 B.
2
1982-1984
2016 SOLD for $ 2.4M by Christie's
In the same sale as the 1982 example narrated above by Christie's on May 10, 2016, a unique Ektacolor 152 x 102 cm dated 1982-1984 and numbered 1/1 by the artist was sold for $ 2.4M, lot 4 B. It has been sold for £ 740K by Christie's on 30 June 2008.
1983 Spiritual America by Prince
2014 SOLD for $ 4M by Christie's
Richard Prince is not a creator, he reappropriates the work of others. In 1983 a legal battle between Teri Shields, mother of Brooke Shields, and Gary Gross, a photographer for glamor magazines, brings Prince the opportunity for a conceptual provocation, questionable both in terms of copyright and on mores.
Teri ever knew that her daughter was pretty. Brooke began her career as a model at the age of 11 months. She reached fame at the age of 13, in 1978, with the role of the child prostitute in Pretty Baby. Her career continues in a similar style and Brooke becomes a symbol of sexual permissiveness in that period between birth control pill and AIDS.
The mother wants to recover the rights to photos taken in 1976, collected at the time by Gross in a self-published booklet. The court rules in favor of the photographer. Prince manages to get hold of a copy of Gross's booklet. He is captivated by the ambiguity of an image of the ten-year-old future star standing in a tub full of foam, with her soap covered naked body and her adult makeup.
For his reappropriation of this image, Prince chooses the title of a photo by Stieglitz, Spiritual America. This title openly castigates the excesses of the well-thinking bourgeoisie, which is also the clientele of Pretty Baby's brothel. Prince does not care about Gross, who does not enter a new trial, and the temporarily disowned Shields can no longer intervene.
Prince succeeds in that spectacular demonstration of the lie of images. Very skillfully, he does not appear during the exhibition and does not take a position. The title speaks for itself and visitors must be made to feel guilty : they came on purpose to see a sulphurous photo. His career is launched. He will always keep it on the verge of scandal.
Spiritual America has been edited in ten units plus two artist's proofs in Ektacolor 60 x 50 cm. The copy 10/10 was sold for $ 4M by Christie's on May 12, 2014, lot 19.
Teri ever knew that her daughter was pretty. Brooke began her career as a model at the age of 11 months. She reached fame at the age of 13, in 1978, with the role of the child prostitute in Pretty Baby. Her career continues in a similar style and Brooke becomes a symbol of sexual permissiveness in that period between birth control pill and AIDS.
The mother wants to recover the rights to photos taken in 1976, collected at the time by Gross in a self-published booklet. The court rules in favor of the photographer. Prince manages to get hold of a copy of Gross's booklet. He is captivated by the ambiguity of an image of the ten-year-old future star standing in a tub full of foam, with her soap covered naked body and her adult makeup.
For his reappropriation of this image, Prince chooses the title of a photo by Stieglitz, Spiritual America. This title openly castigates the excesses of the well-thinking bourgeoisie, which is also the clientele of Pretty Baby's brothel. Prince does not care about Gross, who does not enter a new trial, and the temporarily disowned Shields can no longer intervene.
Prince succeeds in that spectacular demonstration of the lie of images. Very skillfully, he does not appear during the exhibition and does not take a position. The title speaks for itself and visitors must be made to feel guilty : they came on purpose to see a sulphurous photo. His career is launched. He will always keep it on the verge of scandal.
Spiritual America has been edited in ten units plus two artist's proofs in Ektacolor 60 x 50 cm. The copy 10/10 was sold for $ 4M by Christie's on May 12, 2014, lot 19.
