Michele Della Valle, Buccellati ruby jewelry @ Christie's. Jewels: The Geneva Sale. 12 May 2010. Geneva
A ruby and diamond geranium brooch, by Michele Della Valle. photo Christie's Ltd 2010
The flowerheads and buds pavé-set with rubies, to the pavé-set diamond stem and leaf, mounted in 18k white gold and titanium, 14.0 cm high, in a fitted white leather Michele della Valle case. Signed Michele della Valle, no. 090725. Est. CHF40,000 - CHF60,000. ($36,098 - $54,146) Unsold.
A ruby and diamond bracelet, by Buccellati. photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Designed as a textured gold hinged cuff, the top set with square-cut rubies, each within a circular-cut diamond foliate openwork surround, mounted in 18k white and yellow gold, 16.7 cm inner circumference. Signed M. Buccellati. Est. CHF38,000 - CHF58,000 ($34,293 - $52,341) Unsold.
A pair of ruby and diamond ear pendants. photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Each designed as a drop-shaped cabochon ruby suspended from a line of marquise-shaped and brilliant-cut diamond clusters, 4.6 cm high. Est. CHF6,000 - CHF8,000 ($5,415 - $7,220) Price Realized CHF18,750 ($16,921)
A ruby and diamond bangle, by Michele Della Valle. photo Christie's Ltd 2010
The wooden bangle set with vari-cut rubies and diamonds, mounted in 18k white gold, 15.0 cm inner circumference. Signed and with maker's mark for Michele della Valle. Est. CHF5,000 - CHF7,000 ($4,512 - $6,317) Price Realized CHF10,000 ($9,024)
Notes: Christie's Geneva, 17 May 2006, lot 56, sold for Sfr 32'400
Christie's. Jewels: The Geneva Sale. 12 May 2010. Geneva - Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues www.christies.com
Underglaze copper-red-decorated, iron-red-decorated porcelains @ Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 11 May 2010
A pair of fine iron-red decorated holy water bottles. Qianlong period (1736-95). photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Each with baluster body and a cylindrical neck above a domed base, decorated with central lotus sprays between lappets and stylised foliate bands - 8½ in. (21.6 cm.) high, finely carved wood stands (2). Est. £10,000 - £15,000 ($14,840 - $22,260) Price Realized £187,250 ($277,879)
Notes: A single identical example can be seen in the painting by Giuseppe Castiglione in the National Palace Museum, showing the Emperor Qianlong seated beside a table set with some of his treasures, see Palastmuseum Peking Schätze aus der Verbotenen Stadt, Berlin, 1985, no. 41, pl. 24; for another example presented to Cheltenham College, England, by Yuan Shikai in 1914, and now in the Weishaupt Collection, see G. Avitabile, From the Dragon's Treasure, London, 1987, no. 176, p.127; and see P. Lam, Qing Imperial Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 83. Another example can be found in the British Museum, London.
A rare finely painted underglaze copper-red and blue 'mallet' vase, yaoling zun. Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722). photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Potted with high shoulders tapering towards the foot, finely painted in a soft copper-red with four roundels in the form of archaistic mirrors positioned above a band of upright blades rising from a herringbone band divided and outlined by fine lines in underglaze blue, the tall gently flaring neck rising from a bow-string band at its base - 9 1/8 in. (23 cm.) high. Est. £80,000 - £120,000 ($118,720 - $178,080) Price Realized £97,250 ($144,319)
Notes: Vases of this rare form appear decorated in both underglaze cobalt blue and also, like the current example, in underglaze copper red with underglaze-blue lines encircling the base. In both cases the Kangxi six-character marks are in underglaze blue. An underglaze-blue example in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 36 - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 15, no. 11. An underglaze copper-red-decorated yaoling zun in the collection of the Tianjin Museum is illustrated in Porcelains from the Tianjin Municipal Museum, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 130. Another copper-red example, similar to the current vase, but with less well-controlled copper red, is in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 10-11, no. 7. A further copper-red example in the Baur Collection is illustrated by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection, vol. 4, Geneva, 1974, no. A 528. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has two Kangxi vases of this form, one decorated in underglaze blue, and one, like the current example, in underglaze copper red. The latter appears slightly smaller and more delicately potted than the former (see Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol.11, Tokyo/New York/San Francisco, 1982, no. 119). Further copper-red examples include one from the Collection of Frederick J. and Antoinette H. Van Slyke, sold at Sotheby's, New York, 31 May 1989, lot 197, and two from the J.M. Hu Collection, sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 29 October 2000, lot 14, and 23 October 2005, lot 351. See also an identical example sold in our New York Rooms, 15 September 2009, lot 422.
A fine iron-red-decorated ceremonial vessel and cover, dou. Guangxu impressed six-character mark and of the period (1875-1908). photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Potted as a bowl supported on a high circular stem with tall spreading foot, finely decorated around the exterior with ferocious dragons amidst clouds in pursuit of the flaming pearl above a cloud band, all repeated around the base, supporting stem and cover - 11¾ in. (30 cm.) high. Est. £6,000 - £8,000 ($8,904 - $11,872) Price Realized £39,650 ($58,841)
An underglaze copper-red-decorated bottle vase. Kangxi period (1662-1722). photo Christie's Ltd 2010
The globular body surmounted by a long tubular neck and decorated around the exterior with three crouching mythical beasts - 15 7/8in. (40.3 cm.) high. Est. £6,000 - £8,000 ($8,904 - $11,872) Price Realized £22,500 ($33,390)
Provenance: The Estate of Leona M. Helmsley, New York.
Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 11 May 2010. London, King Street www.christies.com
Boivin jewelry @ Christie's. Jewels: The Geneva Sale. 12 May 2010. Geneva
A diamond 'torsade' bangle, by Boivin. photo Christie's Ltd 2010
The hinged bangle designed as seven graduated pavé-set diamond bombé scrolls, circa 1937, 15.5 cm inner circumference. By Boivin. Est. CHF42,000 - CHF62,000 ($37,902 - $55,951) Price Realized CHF183,000 ($165,146)
A diamond camelia brooch, by Boivin. photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Designed as a pavé-set diamond open camelia, circa 1926, 6.9 cm wide, with French assay marks for platinum and gold. By Boivin - Estimate CHF32,000 - CHF42,000 ($28,878 - $37,902) Price Realized CHF159,000 ($143,480)
Notes: Illustrated in Françoise Cailles, René Boivin Joaillier, Paris (1994), page 234.
An art deco sapphire, chalcedony and diamond necklace, by Boivin. photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Each side motif designed as graduated chalcedony bars inlaid with diamonds, alternated with sapphire-set lines, suspending five rows of graduated sapphire beads, to the back collar enhanced with sapphire and diamonds collets, circa 1930, shortest row 38.0 cm long. Designed by Suzanne Belperron for Boivin. Est. CHF32,000 - CHF42,000 $28,878 - $37,902) Price Realized CHF123,000 ($111,000)
A pair of diamond 'coquillage ailé' ear clips, by Boivin. photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Designed as a stylised shell set with circular-cut diamonds, circa 1933, 4.0 cm long, with French assay marks for platinum and 18k gold. By Boivin. Estimate CHF14,000 - CHF18,000 ($12,634 - $16,244) Price Realized CHF68,750 ($62,043)
An emerald "feuille de lilas" brooch, by Boivin. photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Set with calibré-cut emeralds between raised platinum veins, circa 1936, 4.5 cm long, with French assay marks for platinum and gold. By Boivin. Estimate CHF6,500 - CHF8,500 ($5,866 - $7,671) Price Realized CHF40,000 ($36,098)
Christie's. Jewels: The Geneva Sale. 12 May 2010. Geneva - Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues www.christies.com
Qianlong blue and white porcelains @ Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 11 May 2010. London
A pair of extremely rare blue and white vases. Qianlong seal marks and of the period (1736-95). photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Each of baluster form, the central section finely painted with circular medallions of stylized lotus flowers and scrolling leaves below a band of formal lappets and florets encircling the neck, the foot and rim moulded and shaped in the form of a series of ruyi heads, the shoulders applied with pierced handles in the form of sinuous chilong - 10 in. (25.4 cm.) high, fitted wood box (2). Est. £400,000 - £600,000 ($593,600 - $890,400) Price Realized £577,250 ($856,639)
Provenance: Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 27-28 April 1993, lot 163.
Notes: This handsome pair of vases display an exuberant complexity of form and decoration that can be seen on a number of vessels made for the Qianlong emperor. Several published Qianlong vases have mouths which turn down in a series of pendant ruyi. Two blue and white vases with similar turned-down ruyi mouths decorated with lingzhi fungus have been published; one from the collection of the National Palace Museum in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue-and-White Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty II, Hong Kong, 1968, pp. 40-1, pl. 10; the other was sold in these rooms on 11 July, 2006, lot 142.
The turned-down mouths seen on Ming and Qing dynasty porcelains may ultimately derive from the vases with lobed turned-down mouths made in the 12th and 13th centuries. These latter vases were made at the Jun kilns and the Cizhou kilns, as well as among qingbai porcelains from the Jingdezhen kilns (see R. Kerr, Song Ceramics, London, 2004, p. 32, no. 22; T. Mikami, Sekai Toji Zenshu 13 Liao Jin Yuan, Tokyo, 1981, pp. 110-11, no. 92; and S. Pierson (ed.), Qingbai Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, London, 2002, pp. 136-7, no. 71). The first appearance of turned-down mouths on blue and white wares from the Jingdezhen kilns appears to be in the Xuande reign, on vases such as the vessel illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Hsüan-tê Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 80-1, no. 13.
However the distinctive ruyi or lappet-shape of the down-turned mouth on vessels such as the current pair of vases appears to be a Qianlong innovation. It can be seen not only on blue and white vases, but also on a famille rose vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Views of Antiquity in the Qing Imperial Palace: special exhibition to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Palace Museum, Museu de Arte de Macau, 2006, p. 25, no. 52); on another famille rose vase in the Palace Museum illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 39 - Porcelains with cloisonné enamel decoration and famille rose decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 137, no. 120; while this type of neck can also be seen on a gu-shaped, celadon-glazed, vase from the same collection, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong - Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 461, no. 143.
The current pair of vases is distinctive because the pendant ruyi at the mouth are balanced by similar ruyi at the foot. These lower ruyi, are not simply painted, but are cut to give the foot a much greater lightness, as well as matching the mouth detail more precisely. The fact that the vases were then fired on the lower edges of the ruyi, rather than on a solid edge, would have made firing considerably more difficult, which may explain the rarity of this feature. The form of the elaborate dragon handles on this pair of vases is also distinctive. The general form of the handles, and especially the feature of the dragon's head being turned away from the neck of the vessel, can be seen on the handles of a large Qianlong doucai dragon flask in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 38 - Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 278, no. 254.
A very rare blue and white 'dragon' vase. Qianlong seal mark and of the period (1736-95). photo Christie's Ltd 2010
Of unusual compressed baluster shape, the body tapering out from a short flaring base to a broad shoulder and waisted neck, finely painted with nine sinuous five-clawed dragons contesting flaming pearls among clouds, above breaking waves around the base and a ruyi band around the rim - 10¾ in. (27.3 cm.) high, wood stand, fitted box Est. £80,000 - £120,000 ($118,720 - $178,080) Price Realized £307,250 ($455,959)
Provenance: Acquired in the 1960s by the father of the current owner
Notes: The most prestigious decorative motif seen in the three-dimensional arts made for the Chinese imperial court in the Qing dynasty is the Imperial dragon - the symbol of the Son of Heaven, the Emperor himself. The Imperial dragon, a powerful creature with five claws on each foot and horns on either side of his head, provides the decoration for this exceptional blue and white porcelain vase.
In this case there are nine dragons, and this use of the sacred number nine reinforces the imperial connection, and suggests that the vase was intended for the Emperor's personal use, possibly even an imperial birthday. The dragons on this vase are especially powerful and well painted. The heads of the creatures are painted with particular skill - each depicted with a different expression and from a different angle. A famille rose and blue and white example with similarly painted dragons and clouds is illustrated in New History of World Art, Volume 9 - Qing, Shogakukan, Tokyo, 1998, pl. 182.
The use of lingzhi fungi in the decoration on the vase, some clasped in the dragons' claws and others appearing as stylised motifs around the mouth, provides an auspicious wish for their imperial owner. Lingzhi fungi are symbols of longevity, partly because the species of fungi that inspired them turns woody with age and appear to survive indefinitely. They are also believed to grow near the springs in the lands of the immortals. Not only did these fungi wish the Emperor long life, they were also a compliment, since it was believed that they would only appear when a virtuous ruler was on the throne and the empire was peaceful and prosperous.
A fine Ming-style blue and white vase, meiping. Qianlong seal mark and of the period (1736-95). photo Christie's Ltd 2010
With a broad shoulder below a waisted neck, the exterior painted in shades of deep blue simulating 'heaping and piling' with six fruit and flower-sprays in two registers, comprising lychee, peach, pomegranate, peony, prunus and lotus, above a band of stiff leaves around the base, and below four floral sprays around the neck with a collar of ten pendent petal panels - 12¾ in. (32.4 cm.) high. Est. £60,000 - £80,000 ($89,040 - $118,720) Price Realized £115,250 ($171,031)
Notes: A number of these tall, high-shouldered vases are published, one formerly from the Edward T. Chow Collection, was sold Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19 May 1981, lot 546; a vase from the Eugene O. Perkins Collection, sold Sotheby's New York, 2 June 1989, lot 90; and a pair from the T. Y. Chao Collection, exhibited at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, Catalogue, no. 79. One of this pair of vases is now in the S. C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, and is illustrated in Blue and White Porcelains in the Collection of Tianminlou Foundation, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 222, no. 94.
The inspiration for this shape and pattern originates from examples produced during the early Ming period, cf. a 15th century meiping in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dyansty, Book II (part I), pl. 1.
A blue and white ming-style hexagonal vase, hu. Qianlong seal mark and of the period (1736-95). photo Christie's Ltd 2010
The body finely painted with two continuous bands of lotus scroll separated by a border of crashing waves above pendent ruyi-head lappets and pendent jewels, the neck and tubular handles painted in a similar manner below a border of floral scroll and pendent ruyi heads along the mouth rim, all supported on a recessed, flaring foot of conforming shape painted with floral scroll below ruyi-head and lappet borders - 13 5/8 in. (34.6 cm.) high. Est. £20,000 - £30,000 ($29,680 - $44,520) Price Realized £58,850 ($87,333)
Provenance: Christie's, London, 25 July 1977, lot 52.
Notes: A Qianlong period vase of this form, although with different decoration, was included in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty, Taipei, 1986, no. 68. Other related examples are illustrated by X. Ma, ed., Beauty of Ceramics: Blue and White Porcelain, Taipei, 1993, pl. 154, and by Misugi Takatoshi, Blue and White Ceramics of the World, vol. 3, Kyoto, 1982, pls. 68a-c.
A small blue and white zhadou. Qianlong seal mark and of the period (1736-95). photo Christie's Ltd 2010
The swollen body supported on a short slightly splayed foot and surmounted by a wide flaring neck, the exterior painted with meandering lotus scrolls above a lappet band at the foot and a band of geometric design at the shoulder - 3½ in. (8.6 cm.) high Est. £6,000 - £8,000 ($8,904 - $11,872) Price Realized £7,500 ($11,130)
Notes: A very similar vessel was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 & 6 November 1996, lot 815.
Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 11 May 2010. London, King Street www.christies.com
Flag Flies at Christie's Sale - Record for Jasper Johns Whose Flag Sells for $28.6 Million
Laura Vere-Hodge of Christies surveys "Flag" by artist Jasper Johns. The painting is part of the collection of Michael Crichton, best selling author of Jurassic Park, which highlighted a sale of post-war and contemporary art at Christies in New York on May 11. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs.
NEW YORK, NY.- The quality, scope and innovative vision of the late author Michael Crichton’s collection of contemporary art compelled buyers at Christie’s on May 11. The focal point of the sale was Jasper Johns’ Flag, 1960-1966, selling for $28,642,500 million (£19,476,900/€ 22,627,575) (estimate: $10 million-$15 million), the highest price ever achieved for a work by Johns at auction. The collection realized $93,323,500 (£63,459,980/€ 73,725,565) and sold 100% by lot and by value, becoming one of the most significant.
Four bidders vied for the flag which took two minutes to sell ending at 6:55 pm. The winning bidder was a member of the U.S. art trade. Completed by Johns in 1966, the work, executed in encaustic, was purchased by Crichton over thirty years ago from the artist’s own collection. It was last seen in public in 1992 and was a key piece in the comprehensive and prized collection cultivated by the best-selling author of Jurassic Park. Johns’ iconic American flag are credited with jumpstarting the Pop art movement; paving the way for the avant garde works of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein in the mid 1960’s. The previous record was for Johns’ Figure 4, 1959, encaustic and printed paper collage on canvas, sold at Christie’s in May 2005 for $17.4.
Jasper Johns’ Flag, 1960-1966, selling for $28,642,500 million (£19,476,900/€ 22,627,575). Estimate: $10 million-$15 million.
signed 'Johns' (on the underside); signed again and dated 'J. Johns 1960-'66' (on the reverse), encaustic and printed paper collage on paper laid down on canvas, 17½ x 26¾ in. (44.5 x 67.9 cm.) Painted in 1960-1966.
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner, 1973 Literature: R. Bernstein, Jasper Johns' Paintings and Sculptures 1954-1974: The Changing Focus of the Eye, Ann Arbor & London, 1975 and 1985, pp. 9 and 145. Exhibited: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Pop Art, October 1992-January 1993, pp. 65 and 277, pl. 1, no. 78 (illustrated in color). Notes: "One night I dreamed that I painted a large American flag, and the next morning I got up and went out and bought the materials to begin it. And I did" (Johns, quoted in K. Varnedoe, Jasper Johns: A Retrospective, exh. cat., New York, 1996, p. 124). Another record was set for Mark Tansey’s Push/Pull, 2003, sold for $3, 28300 (₤2,188,580/ € 2,542,615) (estimate $800,000 to $1.2 million). The previous record for a Tansey was $3,040,000.
G. Boudaille, Jasper Johns, New York, 1989, p. 127, no. 51 (illustrated in color).
A. Duncan, "Pop Art," Montreal Gazette, 24 October 1992, p. J2 (illustrated).
Jasper Johns Flags: 1955-1994, exh. cat., Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, 1996, p. 79.
Jasper Johns' Flag is recognized as one of the greatest icons of Modern Art alongside Picasso's Guernica and Andy Warhol's Marilyn. Appropriating the supreme image of American national identity, famous the world over, Johns' Flag paintings are often seen as the crucial stepping stone between the supremacy of Abstract Expressionism and subsequent movements such as Pop Art, Minimalism and Conceptual Art - profoundly influencing artists as diverse as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Donald Judd and Brice Marden.
Flag, 1960-66, is a painstakingly beautiful rendition of the American Flag. Bought directly from the artist's own collection over thirty years ago, it is one of only a handful of paintings by Johns that stays true to his original iconic image of the single flag in red, white and blue. Johns painted the work in encaustic, a difficult and seldom-used technique that dates back to the ancient Egyptians, in which pigment is mixed with hot wax and applied in meticulous brushstrokes to the surface. As was often his method, the artist used one of his Flag prints as a template for the Flag design, wrapping the paper around the sides of the stretcher. Johns completely covers the surface with encaustic as well as painting the red, white and blue stripes over the edges of the painting. He has placed torn newspaper collage within the encaustic to create an additional layering of surface and to introduce an aspect of the real, everyday world into his art. The fast-drying medium of encaustic enabled Johns to give each brushstroke a distinct and luxurious substantiality, the richly varied surface ranging from translucent to opaque. The Flag motif is contiguous with the perimeters of the picture, while the painted sides force the viewer to contemplate the "objecthood" of the work.
It was the literalness of Johns' Flag that was so revolutionary: during a time when abstraction was the dominant style, Johns created a picture that took trompe-l'oeil to a new level. Where René Magritte's 1929 painting La trahison des images had the words "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" under a picture of a pipe, Johns now painted a Flag and declared that it was just that - a flag. As with his Targets, he selected images that were already semi-abstract: it is the appearance of the American flag or the concentric circles of a target that defines it as such, rather than any intrinsic properties as objects. Thus, the boundary between representation and reality is blurred. Anticipating Frank Stella's statement, "What you see is what you see," Flag declares that what Johns paints is what Johns paints. In his 1997 television series American Visions, Robert Hughes explained that the original source material, Old Glory, is itself, "an abstraction - the most recognised abstraction in the world," going on to voice the conundrum that lies at the heart of the Flag and which would prove such a lasting influence on artists to this day: "Is a picture of an abstraction a representation? Is this a flag or a painting?"
In 1960, Johns addressed this paradox: "Two meanings have been ascribed to these American Flag paintings of mine. One position is: 'He's painted a flag so you don't have to think about it as a flag but only as a painting.' The other is: 'You are enabled by the way he has painted to see it as a flag and not as a painting.' Actually both positions are implicit in the paintings, so you don't have to choose" (Johns in 1960, quoted in S. Rodman, "The Insiders: Rejection and Rediscovery of Man in the Arts of Our Time," p. 82, K. Varnedoe (ed.), Jasper Johns: Writings, Sketchbook Notes, Interviews, New York, 1996, p. 82).
It was this paradoxical balance that led to Flag's immense influence, placing Johns at the vanguard of contemporary art during the late 1950s onwards. In its emphasis on its own status as an object, Flag is the precursor to Minimalism; and in its reintroduction of figuration and use of imagery taken from the everyday, image-saturated world around us, it launched Pop Art.
Johns was still in his 20s when he first dreamed of the Flag in 1954. During that period, he had been living in New York and working in near isolation, ignoring many of the debates and frustrations raging in the avant-garde of the time, which remained under the sway of the Abstract Expressionists, now well into a second or even third generation. Johns had recently destroyed almost all of his earlier works, and was determined to find his own idiom. One of the few artists he knew at the time was Robert Rauschenberg: the pair had studios in the same building and saw each other almost every day, discussing art, inspiring and motivating each other. Johns remained in near cultural seclusion: when the dealer Leo Castelli was brought to his studio by Rauschenberg, he discovered an entire oeuvre, later describing that moment as, "Probably the crucial event in my career as an art dealer, and... an even more crucial one for art history" (Castelli, quoted in M. Lublin, "American Galleries in the Twentieth Century: From Stieglitz to Castelli," pp. 157-163, C.M. Joachimedes & N. Rosenthal (ed.), American Art in the 20
Johns had discovered through his Flags and Targets a means of taking a subject, rather than an object, that was a readymade. "Using the design of the American flag took care of a great deal for me because I didn't have to design it," Johns explained. "So I went on to similar things like the targets - things the mind already knows. That gives me room to work on other levels" (Johns, quoted in R. Francis, Modern Master: Jasper Johns, New York, London & Paris, 1991, p. 20). In a sense, then, Johns chose the Flag as his subject matter because it allowed the viewer to focus on other qualities than its composition. The appearance is almost arbitrary, hence Johns' claim regarding motif and medium: "I think it's just a way of beginning" (Johns, quoted in D. Sylvester, Interviews with American Artists, London, 2002, p. 159). The Flag serves as a pretext for an exploration of the nature of painting; with its composition completely filled with the motif, Johns emphasizes the objecthood of his Flag and reinforces this quality by allowing the stripes to continue over the edges. Johns deliberately sabotages the viewer's reflex suspension of disbelief and reveals the simple fact that a painting is not just a plane, but is an object projecting from a wall, another plane.
This highlights Flag's ambiguous status as an artefact. At the same time, the viewer's automatic recognition of the Star-Spangled banner means that the viewer can focus on the act of painting. The subject is thus a pretext for Johns to paint, to revel in the act of mark-making itself. As he said, "the painting of a flag is always about a flag, but it is no more about a flag than it is about a brushstroke or about a color or about the physicality of the paint, I think" (Johns, quoted in ibid., p. 159). This is clear in the lush surface of Flag, which reveals Johns' interest in the act of painting, and indeed his own enjoyment of the process. While Flag places the distance between the painter and his work under a new scrutiny, intellectualizing the divide that Jackson Pollock had introduced with his drips, it also reveals in its gesturality and variety of textures his sheer delight in the act. His incredibly literal subject matter can be seen as a means of recovering the tradition of painting from the grasp of the Action Painters still active at the time, and a gleefully, irreverently figurative means at that.
Johns had begun his first Flag, now in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, with household enamel paints. This did not dry quickly enough for his purpose: "And then I had in my head this idea of something I had read or had heard about: wax encaustic. In the middle of the painting I changed to that, because encaustic just has to cool and then it's hard and you don't blur it again; with enamel you have to wait eight hours. With encaustic you can just keep on going" (Johns, quoted in K. Varnedoe, Jasper Johns: A Retrospective, exh. cat., New York, 1996, p. 124).
When he created this present Flag in the 1960s, Johns had become renowned for his skilled use of encaustic. His virtuosity in this medium is in clear evidence in Flag. The encaustic technique has allowed him to illustrate and underline the very process, the accumulation of gestures, by which the painting came into being. It is an impassioned inventory of marks, allowing Flag to become a self-conscious record of its own creation, a notion emphasized by the presence of the sections of newspaper which have been dipped in the wax and applied to the surface in places. There is a sense, then, in which the surface of his picture acts as a proof of movement, a proof of life, documenting each artistic decision and each motion taken by Johns.
The critic Robert Rosenblum wrote of Johns' Flag paintings: "Is it blasphemous, disrespectful, simple minded or recondite." In the 1950s, the legendary curator Alfred H. Barr, Jr. had been reluctant to buy the first Flag for the Museum of Modern Art, as he feared that the Museum Board would consider it unpatriotic. Despite Johns' protestations to the contrary, Old Glory is a loaded image, and this was all the more the case during the 1960s when Flag was created, during McCarthyism and the controversial increase of military involvement in Vietnam. Then as today, the flag carries with it countless interpretations and implications. It is worn and flown by proud Americans, has been seen draped over soldiers' coffins returning from Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan alike, burned in protests in the States and the Middle East, defended by legislation from being disrespected. Indeed, it comes with its own set of abstract rules, the United States Flag Code: it should not be dipped, should only be hung upside down in case of distress, should be well-maintained and, if not, properly disposed of.
Was Johns' choice of motif, then, the wilful act of a young rebel or an act of worship from a devout American who himself had served in the U.S. Army? Was Johns deliberately attacking the Abstract Expressionists, considered the States' first home-grown artistic movement, by rubbing their noses in such emphatic, flag-flying figuration? His choice of motif may find its parallel in Jimi Hendrix' Star-Spangled Banner, played at Woodstock only a few years after Flag was completed: his reverb-drenched reinvention of the national anthem was adopted as an anti-war cry, yet Hendrix's own decision to choose it and play it may have owed more to its merely being around and to his own years in the 101st Airborne Division; he himself said of his choice, voicing a sentiment similar to that in Johns' Flag, "I'm an American, so I played it. They used to make me sing it in school, so it was a flashback" (Hendrix, quoted in C.J. Farley, "A Personal National Anthem," The Wall Street Journal, 3 July 2007, reproduced at online.wsj.com).
When asked whether his choice of subject-matter was deliberately anti-establishmentarian, Johns gave a simple, though perhaps disingenuous explanation: "To me the flag turned out to be something I had never observed before. I knew it was a flag, and had used the word 'flag'; yet I had never consciously seen it. I became interested in contemplating objects I had never before taken a really good look at. In my mind that is the significance of these objects" (Johns, quoted in A. Pohlen, "Interview mit Jasper Johns," 1978, pp. 170-73, Varnedoe (ed.), loc. cit., 1996, p. 171).
In this, he echoed the Philosophical Investigations of his great hero, Ludwig Wittgenstein, published in 1953: "The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something because it is always before one's eyes.) The real foundations of his inquiry do not strike a man at all. Unless that fact has at some time struck him - And this means: we fail to be struck by what is most striking and powerful" (Wittgenstein, quoted in R. Bernstein, Jasper Johns' Paintings and Sculptures 1954-1974: The Changing Focus of the Eye, London, 1985, p. 94).
By placing the Flag in a new context, by surprising the viewer and locating it within the realm of art, Johns has taken something from the everyday world around us and allowed us to view it with new wonder. It is a revelation, a contemporary epiphany: in the mysterious transformative act of rendering it as a painting, the artist himself has refused to take for granted this formal composition, this masterpiece of simple, bold design with its powerful red, white and blue in the stars and bars. As Michael Crichton explained, "The flag, the familiar image, becomes unfamiliar in a way that re-creates childish awe, the vision of a truly naïve observer. We look at it with the blatant curiosity of someone who has never seen a flag before - not because we haven't, but because it is 'out of place' in a new setting, and because it is treated in a new way" (M. Crichton, Jasper Johns, exh. cat., New York, 1977, p. 87).
Further highlights included Ed Ruscha’s Voltage, 1964 that sold for $1,650,500 (₤776,900/ € 902,575) (estimate $700,000 to $1 million), Robert Rauschenberg’s Trapeze, 1964 which went for $6,354,500 (₤ 4,321,060/€ 5,020,055) (estimate $5 million to $7 million) and Andy Warhol’s Mao, 1973 that sold for $2,378,500 (₤ 1,617,380/ € 1,879,015).
Jean Clemmer & Paco Rabanne @ Pierre Bergé & Associés Bruxelles
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), La Femme masquée, Paco Rabanne © Copyright Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck
Tirage argentique d'époque, encadré. Signé sur la photo. Tamponné au dos avec la signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné par Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_40 cm L_30 cm - Estimation : 800 / 1 200 €. Résultat : 1 200 €
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), Nu avec accessoires Paco Rabanne © Copyright Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck
Tirage photo noir et blanc sur papier couleur métallique, encadré. Tirage numéroté 1/30. Certificat d'authenticité au dos. Tampon signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_90 cm L_60 cm - Estimation : 1 500 / 2 000 €
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), Nu avec accessoires Paco Rabanne © Copyright Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck
Tirage photo noir et blanc sur papier couleur métallique, encadré. Tirage numéroté 1/30. Certificat d'authenticité au dos. Tampon signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_90 cm L_60 cm - Estimation : 1 500 / 2 000 €
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), Nu avec accessoires Paco Rabanne © Copyright Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck
Tirage photo noir et blanc sur papier couleur métallique, encadré. Tirage numéroté 1/30. Certificat d'authenticité au dos. Tampon signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_90 cm L_60 cm - Estimation : 1 500 / 2 000 €
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), Nu avec accessoires Paco Rabanne © Copyright Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck
Tirage photo noir et blanc sur papier couleur métallique, encadré. Tirage numéroté 1/30. Certificat d'authenticité au dos. Tampon signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_90 cm L_60 cm - Estimation : 1 500 / 2 000 €
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), Nu avec accessoires Paco Rabanne © Jean Clemmer / Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck 2010.
Tirage photo noir et blanc sur papier couleur métallique, encadré. Tirage numéroté 1/30. Certificat d'authenticité au dos. Tampon signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_90 cm L_60 cm - Résultat : 1 500 €
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), Femme de profil avec accessoires Paco Rabanne © Copyright Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck
Tirage argentique d'époque, encadré. Tamponné au dos avec la signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné par Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_40 cm L_30 cm - Estimation : 800 / 1 200 €
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), Nu avec accessoires Paco Rabanne © Copyright Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck
Tirage argentique d'époque, encadré. Tamponné au dos avec la signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné par Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_30 cm L_24 cm - Estimation : 600 / 800 €
Représenté dans le livre « Nues »édité par Pierre Belfond.
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), Nu avec accessoires Paco Rabanne © Copyright Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck
Tirage argentique d'époque, encadré. Tamponné au dos avec la signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné par Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_24 cm L_18 cm - Estimation : 600 / 800 €. Résultat : 650 €
Photographie représentée dans le livre « Nues »édité par Pierre Belfond.
Jean Clemmer (1926-2001), Nu avec accessoires Paco Rabanne © Copyright Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck
Tirage argentique d'époque, encadré. Tamponné au dos avec la signature de Jean Clemmer. Contresigné par Hélène Clemmer-Heidsieck. H_24 cm L_18 cm - Estimation : 600 / 800 €
Photographie représentée dans le livre « Nues » édité par Pierre Belfond.
Jean Clemmer/ Paco Rabanne, Nues, 1969
Edition limitée à 30 exemplaires réalisée en 2002. Portfolio signé par Paco Rabanne, tampon de Jean Clemmer et signature d'Hélène Clemmer Heidseick. Portfolio comprenant 7 photographies en noir et blanc. Chacune signée par Paco Rabanne, tampon de Jean Clemmer, et numérotée 5/30. Estimation : 3 000 / 5 000 €
H_42 cm L_31,2 cm
Pierre Bergé & Associés Bruxelles - Bruxelles. Vente du Mardi 11 mai 2010. Salle des Beaux Arts - Bruxelles. Pour tout renseignement, veuillez contacter la maison de ventes au 00 32 2 504 80 30 et au 00 32 2 504 80 30 pendant les expositions et la vente.
