Sculpture
See also : Top 10 Bust Roman Empire Ancient sculpture French sculpture Koons The Man The Woman Animals Cats Flowers Tabletop and still life USA USA II France Matisse Italy Modigliani Giacometti Giacometti 1947-54 Eastern Europe Persia
Chronology : Origin 1 to 1000 20th Century 1910-1919 1911 1930-1939 1932 1940-1949 1947 1950-1959 1952 1955 1960-1969 1961 1970-1979 1980-1989 1986 2000-2009 2000
List of most expensive sculptures in Wikipedia.
Chronology : Origin 1 to 1000 20th Century 1910-1919 1911 1930-1939 1932 1940-1949 1947 1950-1959 1952 1955 1960-1969 1961 1970-1979 1980-1989 1986 2000-2009 2000
List of most expensive sculptures in Wikipedia.
5000 years ago - The Guennol Lioness, Elam
2007 SOLD for 57 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
The Guennol Lioness was sold for $ 57M including premium by Sotheby's on December 5, 2007, lot 30. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This very finely chiseled stone figure 8.3 cm high has the head of a lioness on a human body. It certainly comes from the Iranian plateau and was sold in 1931 to a New York merchant. Its discovery thus precedes the excavations of Tell Agrab, begun in 1936 by a team from the University of Chicago appealed by other finds among the antique dealers of Baghdad.
Such hybrid representations between human and feline date back to prehistoric cultures. The ivory lion-man from the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, dated ca 35,000 to 40,000 years ago by radiocarbon, is the oldest authenticated example of figurative art. The Chauvet cave, painted 30,000 years ago, also includes a lion-woman hybrid.
The Guennol Lioness was sculpted about 5,000 years ago. It belongs to the Proto-Elamite culture, characterized by the development of a proto-writing that has not been decrypted. It is several centuries earlier than the use of the sphinx as a necropolis guardian in Egypt.
It is one of a kind in the round, but is related to similar figures that raise mountains or huge trunks in two-dimensional sigillary iconography. These representations are therefore symbols of extreme power, confirmed in the Guennol Lioness by the hypertrophy of the muscles and the authoritarian position of the head. The head is pierced, allowing to hang it to the neck of a prominent character.
Its name and its exact role in the mythology of that time are not known. It must be analyzed alongside its male counterpart, a bull's head on a human body, of which a kneeling figure is kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Unlike the Guennol Lioness whose hands are joined on the abdomen, this proto-Elamite hybrid holds a liturgical vessel.
Guennol is the pseudonym chosen by the couple of collectors who acquired it in 1948 and entrusted its exhibition for almost 60 years to the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
This very finely chiseled stone figure 8.3 cm high has the head of a lioness on a human body. It certainly comes from the Iranian plateau and was sold in 1931 to a New York merchant. Its discovery thus precedes the excavations of Tell Agrab, begun in 1936 by a team from the University of Chicago appealed by other finds among the antique dealers of Baghdad.
Such hybrid representations between human and feline date back to prehistoric cultures. The ivory lion-man from the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, dated ca 35,000 to 40,000 years ago by radiocarbon, is the oldest authenticated example of figurative art. The Chauvet cave, painted 30,000 years ago, also includes a lion-woman hybrid.
The Guennol Lioness was sculpted about 5,000 years ago. It belongs to the Proto-Elamite culture, characterized by the development of a proto-writing that has not been decrypted. It is several centuries earlier than the use of the sphinx as a necropolis guardian in Egypt.
It is one of a kind in the round, but is related to similar figures that raise mountains or huge trunks in two-dimensional sigillary iconography. These representations are therefore symbols of extreme power, confirmed in the Guennol Lioness by the hypertrophy of the muscles and the authoritarian position of the head. The head is pierced, allowing to hang it to the neck of a prominent character.
Its name and its exact role in the mythology of that time are not known. It must be analyzed alongside its male counterpart, a bull's head on a human body, of which a kneeling figure is kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Unlike the Guennol Lioness whose hands are joined on the abdomen, this proto-Elamite hybrid holds a liturgical vessel.
Guennol is the pseudonym chosen by the couple of collectors who acquired it in 1948 and entrusted its exhibition for almost 60 years to the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
1910 (<1913) The Ovoid Muse
2017 SOLD for $ 57M including premium
The art of Brancusi is too fundamental, too seminal and too personal to be associated with any artistic movement. Very gifted in his hands since his childhood, this son of poor Carpathian peasants arrived in Paris on foot in 1904. The period is exceptional : the artistic Parisian bubbling opens the way to his creativity.
He learns with Rodin that the human figure can be reduced to a single element. A head lying on a ground symbolizes the serenity. He appreciates from Gauguin that Oceanic tribal art can influence the modern universal art through its extreme simplification of forms. The skilled bearded strongman chooses the direct cut contrary to the practice of his time. He will influence Modigliani.
Brancusi began in 1907 to conceive his series of masterpieces. In Le Baiser he is the first artist who suggests a development of Cubism in sculpture.
In 1909 he creates the prototype of La Muse endormie in white marble. The lying head is an egg in which the facial features and the hair are only lightly incised. The nape of the neck is used as a support. Despite the stylization it is unquestionably a portrait of his model the baronne Frachon. The artist succeeded in the impossible synthesis between geometry and portraiture.
In 1910 Brancusi produces three plasters and six bronzes from his first Muse endormie. The bronzes are cast by Valsuani but the patina different in each of the bronzes is executed by the artist himself with a painstaking care.
On May 15 in New York, Christie's sells one of the six bronzes, 27 cm long, lot 32 A estimated $ 20M. This specimen has an exceptional matte and warm patina enhanced in places with gold leaf which is perfectly suited to the illusion of serenity desired by the artist. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
He learns with Rodin that the human figure can be reduced to a single element. A head lying on a ground symbolizes the serenity. He appreciates from Gauguin that Oceanic tribal art can influence the modern universal art through its extreme simplification of forms. The skilled bearded strongman chooses the direct cut contrary to the practice of his time. He will influence Modigliani.
Brancusi began in 1907 to conceive his series of masterpieces. In Le Baiser he is the first artist who suggests a development of Cubism in sculpture.
In 1909 he creates the prototype of La Muse endormie in white marble. The lying head is an egg in which the facial features and the hair are only lightly incised. The nape of the neck is used as a support. Despite the stylization it is unquestionably a portrait of his model the baronne Frachon. The artist succeeded in the impossible synthesis between geometry and portraiture.
In 1910 Brancusi produces three plasters and six bronzes from his first Muse endormie. The bronzes are cast by Valsuani but the patina different in each of the bronzes is executed by the artist himself with a painstaking care.
On May 15 in New York, Christie's sells one of the six bronzes, 27 cm long, lot 32 A estimated $ 20M. This specimen has an exceptional matte and warm patina enhanced in places with gold leaf which is perfectly suited to the illusion of serenity desired by the artist. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
1911-1912 Woman and Caryatid
2014 SOLD for $ 71M including premium
Amedeo Modigliani is a young Italian immigrant who is learning the tendencies of modern art in Paris at the Bateau-Lavoir. From his meeting with Brancusi he discovers the sculpture in direct carving, perfectly suited to his skills : Modi operates quickly and without rework.
Brancusi is one of the greatest innovators of sculpture. Reacting against the realistic details of clay and bronze, he is the first to seek beauty through basic and simplified forms that will lead him up to abstraction.
Brancusi and Modigliani find inspiration for their new styles in the antique and African arts. In 1910, Modi draws women topped with a tablette in reference to the Caryatids of the Erechtheion. His series of busts made in 1911 and 1912 will be his temple of art.
Modi is not yet famous. He uses limestone blocks taken from construction sites and carries them in a wheelbarrow to his modest studio in Montparnasse. His heads of women create around him a crowd of pure and stylized faces with the intense force of a tribal ceremony.
On June 14, 2010, a caryatid bust 64 cm high including the cubic base was sold for € 43M including premium by Christie's.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells a bust, 73 cm high including the base, lot 8. The press release of October 3 is announcing an estimate in excess of $ 45M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
Brancusi is one of the greatest innovators of sculpture. Reacting against the realistic details of clay and bronze, he is the first to seek beauty through basic and simplified forms that will lead him up to abstraction.
Brancusi and Modigliani find inspiration for their new styles in the antique and African arts. In 1910, Modi draws women topped with a tablette in reference to the Caryatids of the Erechtheion. His series of busts made in 1911 and 1912 will be his temple of art.
Modi is not yet famous. He uses limestone blocks taken from construction sites and carries them in a wheelbarrow to his modest studio in Montparnasse. His heads of women create around him a crowd of pure and stylized faces with the intense force of a tribal ceremony.
On June 14, 2010, a caryatid bust 64 cm high including the cubic base was sold for € 43M including premium by Christie's.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells a bust, 73 cm high including the base, lot 8. The press release of October 3 is announcing an estimate in excess of $ 45M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
1932 The Faceless Head
2018 SOLD for $ 71M including premium
Being a muse for Brancusi was not a difficult task. He had met Margit Pogany very briefly in 1910 but liked the shape of her head which inspired him until the mid-1920s.
The heads sculpted by Brancusi are not abstract. He considers that everything that overflows, mainly nose and ears, is inappropriate to express the deep reality of a portrait. He gradually reduces these growths to a surface carving up to removing them completely.
Around 1925 he made a wooden bust 55 cm high on the theme of La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée. He takes Nancy Cunard as a model, without telling her. The heiress of the Cunard shipowners, she has an eccentric life that symbolizes the roaring twenties in the Parisian literary and artistic circles. She is sexually liberated and anarchist, and her attires are inspired by Africa.
The almost abstract head is indeed a portrait. Comparing with the photos of the period, we recognize the bulging forehead and the receding chin, and the stiff neck from behind. This disturbing muse always offers in the photos an unpleasant pout that we imagine also through the rare incisions of the sculpture. The pinched bun is an evocation of her signature bunches.
Brancusi made a plaster in 1928 and a unique polished bronze in 1932. This bronze is still installed on the marble base designed by the artist, for a total height of 80 cm. It will be sold at lot 19 A by Christie's in New York on May 15. Please watch the videoshared by the auction house.
Nancy Cunard discovered many years later that she had served as a model for this artwork. After hesitating in its interpretation as a bust or a torso, she expressed her admiration for the artist.
The heads sculpted by Brancusi are not abstract. He considers that everything that overflows, mainly nose and ears, is inappropriate to express the deep reality of a portrait. He gradually reduces these growths to a surface carving up to removing them completely.
Around 1925 he made a wooden bust 55 cm high on the theme of La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée. He takes Nancy Cunard as a model, without telling her. The heiress of the Cunard shipowners, she has an eccentric life that symbolizes the roaring twenties in the Parisian literary and artistic circles. She is sexually liberated and anarchist, and her attires are inspired by Africa.
The almost abstract head is indeed a portrait. Comparing with the photos of the period, we recognize the bulging forehead and the receding chin, and the stiff neck from behind. This disturbing muse always offers in the photos an unpleasant pout that we imagine also through the rare incisions of the sculpture. The pinched bun is an evocation of her signature bunches.
Brancusi made a plaster in 1928 and a unique polished bronze in 1932. This bronze is still installed on the marble base designed by the artist, for a total height of 80 cm. It will be sold at lot 19 A by Christie's in New York on May 15. Please watch the videoshared by the auction house.
Nancy Cunard discovered many years later that she had served as a model for this artwork. After hesitating in its interpretation as a bust or a torso, she expressed her admiration for the artist.
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 :
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.
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 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.
1961 Man's Energy viewed by Giacometti
2010 SOLD 65 M£ including premium
The walking man is a favorite subject and perhaps also the most emblematic one in the sculpture work of Giacometti.
In 1960, for an order, the artist designs a life heighted walking man, 1.83 m. I dare not saying lifesize, because of its wiry structure. The symmetrical stride is a mark for energy, ambition and desire. The bronze provides an idea of solidity contradicted by the slender lines of the character. He comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. He is alone, as the "foreigner" of Camus.
The Homme Qui Marche I was edited in bronze the following year, 1961, by Susse in six numbered copies for trade and four artist's proofs. The serial number 2 / 6 is estimated £ 12 million, for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 3. It is here, shared by AuctionPublicity.
The walking man is a close cousin to the Homme Qui Chavire (falling man), a copy of which was sold $ 19.3 million including premium by Sotheby's in New York on November 4, 2009. This one had the advantage of belonging to a period of great creativity by Giacometti (1951) but the disadvantage of being small (59 cm).
POST SALE COMMENT
All conditions were met for this sculpture to become the most important work of Giacometti at auction. It is an apotheosis for his art: £ 65 million including premium. It is a great price for a bronze: note that this version has been published in six numbered copies and four artist's proofs.
In 1960, for an order, the artist designs a life heighted walking man, 1.83 m. I dare not saying lifesize, because of its wiry structure. The symmetrical stride is a mark for energy, ambition and desire. The bronze provides an idea of solidity contradicted by the slender lines of the character. He comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. He is alone, as the "foreigner" of Camus.
The Homme Qui Marche I was edited in bronze the following year, 1961, by Susse in six numbered copies for trade and four artist's proofs. The serial number 2 / 6 is estimated £ 12 million, for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 3. It is here, shared by AuctionPublicity.
The walking man is a close cousin to the Homme Qui Chavire (falling man), a copy of which was sold $ 19.3 million including premium by Sotheby's in New York on November 4, 2009. This one had the advantage of belonging to a period of great creativity by Giacometti (1951) but the disadvantage of being small (59 cm).
POST SALE COMMENT
All conditions were met for this sculpture to become the most important work of Giacometti at auction. It is an apotheosis for his art: £ 65 million including premium. It is a great price for a bronze: note that this version has been published in six numbered copies and four artist's proofs.
(1930) - 1978 The Lengthy Creation of Matisse's Back
2010 SOLD 49 M$ including premium
The art market has a passion for the sculpture of the twentieth century: Brancusi, Modigliani, Giacometti, Moore, and now Marini. The sale on November 3 by Christie's in New York of a strange masterpiece of Matisse is an event. The lot is estimated $ 25M.
In 1906, the artist designs an original theme of sculpture: a nude woman standing, life size, seen from behind, leaning against a wall. The subject fascinated him to such a degree that he created three further versions, in 1913, 1916 and 1930. Psychoanalysts could probably tell us why the sculpted woman is liked by Matisse when she turns her back.
These four naked Backs are changing from realism to stylization, from flexibility to a balance of the masses. The last state is broad and symmetrical, the body barred from head to buttocks by a vertical braid that resembles the tail of a heavy horse.
Twelve bronzes were published from each of the four plasters between 1948 and 1981. The piece for sale by Christie's is a bronze of the last state, 189 cm high, with brown patina, cast in 1978, the penultimate of this model to be still in private hands. It is shown on the Reuters news shared by Artdaily.
POST SALE COMMENT
The meeting of Henri Matisse with the Art Déco style has generated a very high price: $ 49M including premium. The fact that this original edition is largely posthumous has not hampered the buyers.
In 1906, the artist designs an original theme of sculpture: a nude woman standing, life size, seen from behind, leaning against a wall. The subject fascinated him to such a degree that he created three further versions, in 1913, 1916 and 1930. Psychoanalysts could probably tell us why the sculpted woman is liked by Matisse when she turns her back.
These four naked Backs are changing from realism to stylization, from flexibility to a balance of the masses. The last state is broad and symmetrical, the body barred from head to buttocks by a vertical braid that resembles the tail of a heavy horse.
Twelve bronzes were published from each of the four plasters between 1948 and 1981. The piece for sale by Christie's is a bronze of the last state, 189 cm high, with brown patina, cast in 1978, the penultimate of this model to be still in private hands. It is shown on the Reuters news shared by Artdaily.
POST SALE COMMENT
The meeting of Henri Matisse with the Art Déco style has generated a very high price: $ 49M including premium. The fact that this original edition is largely posthumous has not hampered the buyers.
1986 A Carrot Eater
2019 SOLD for $ 91M including premium
Jeff Koons began his artist's career by gathering casts and ready-mades in solo and group exhibitions. In 1979 Inflatables assembles vinyl flowers with mirrors. He exhibits Equilibrium in 1983 and Luxury and Degradation including the Jim Beam train in 1986.
With Statuary in 1986 and Banality in 1988, Koons pushes kitsch to the rank of a major art : his unlimited exploitation of the consumer society is ultra-modernist, in the wake of the everyday objects hugely increased by Oldenburg.
Statuary includes ten stainless steel sculptures. The terrible banality of this group is broken by the two highest pieces in a total opposition of style : a bust of Louis XIV 117 cm high and a rabbit 104 cm high. With this Rabbit, Koons makes a great promotion for his own art. The closest antecedent is the unique Bunny which had slipped into his previous series of inflatable flowers.
The new rabbit has smooth forms and no face. It brings up to the position of its mouth a carrot in which some visitors see a sexual symbol, an impression reinforced by the information that the steel had been molded over an inflatable doll. The spectators satisfy their own ego by contemplating themselves in the mirror-like surface of the rabbit. The artist's statements complacently maintain all these ambiguities.
After this great success of his rabbit, Koons appreciates that other figures or toys much stylized and disproportionately enlarged will have a considerable impact on the public. His Celebrations, designed from 1994 in a range of colors, will offer a similar mirror effect.
Rabbit was edited in three units plus one artist's proof. Number 2/3 is estimated $ 50M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 15 B. The Louis XIV artist's proof was sold for $ 10.8M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2015.
With Statuary in 1986 and Banality in 1988, Koons pushes kitsch to the rank of a major art : his unlimited exploitation of the consumer society is ultra-modernist, in the wake of the everyday objects hugely increased by Oldenburg.
Statuary includes ten stainless steel sculptures. The terrible banality of this group is broken by the two highest pieces in a total opposition of style : a bust of Louis XIV 117 cm high and a rabbit 104 cm high. With this Rabbit, Koons makes a great promotion for his own art. The closest antecedent is the unique Bunny which had slipped into his previous series of inflatable flowers.
The new rabbit has smooth forms and no face. It brings up to the position of its mouth a carrot in which some visitors see a sexual symbol, an impression reinforced by the information that the steel had been molded over an inflatable doll. The spectators satisfy their own ego by contemplating themselves in the mirror-like surface of the rabbit. The artist's statements complacently maintain all these ambiguities.
After this great success of his rabbit, Koons appreciates that other figures or toys much stylized and disproportionately enlarged will have a considerable impact on the public. His Celebrations, designed from 1994 in a range of colors, will offer a similar mirror effect.
Rabbit was edited in three units plus one artist's proof. Number 2/3 is estimated $ 50M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 15 B. The Louis XIV artist's proof was sold for $ 10.8M including premium by Christie's on May 13, 2015.
2000 Celebration and Joy with Jeff Koons
2013 SOLD 58 M$ including premium
The series of the "Celebrations" was designed by Jeff Koons in 1994. The first themes, in five monochrome sculptures each made in a different color, cover universal symbols. Their monumental size invites to exhibition in prestigious locations. The perfect mirror of the surface is a technical feat.
Two specimens of the Balloon Flower were auctioned : £ 12.9 million including premium for the magenta by Christie's on 30 June 2008, $ 16.9 million including premium for the blue on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
Same as for the Balloon Flower, the Balloon Dog is an assembly of rounded shapes that reflect their environment in all directions. Looking more like a toy than like the animal that could serve as a model, it appears as a symbol of happy childhood. The bright orange specimen is joyful.
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie 's in New York on November 12. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkably cheerful artwork was introduced by Christie's as an icon of contemporary art. It was sold for $ 58M including premium.
Two specimens of the Balloon Flower were auctioned : £ 12.9 million including premium for the magenta by Christie's on 30 June 2008, $ 16.9 million including premium for the blue on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
Same as for the Balloon Flower, the Balloon Dog is an assembly of rounded shapes that reflect their environment in all directions. Looking more like a toy than like the animal that could serve as a model, it appears as a symbol of happy childhood. The bright orange specimen is joyful.
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie 's in New York on November 12. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkably cheerful artwork was introduced by Christie's as an icon of contemporary art. It was sold for $ 58M including premium.
