JUDY CHICAGO: REVELATIONS

Judy Chicago In the Beginning from Birth Project (detail), 1982 Prismacolor on paper 65 x 389 in. (165.1 x 988.06 cm) © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Photo © Donald Woodman/ARS, NY Courtesy of the artist

Serpentine presents the first major interdisciplinary, immersive institutional exhibition in London of Judy Chicago. Focused on drawing, it will bring together new and little-seen works, preparatory studies alongside audio, visual and new technology materials.

For the first time, Serpentine and Thames & Hudson publish a manuscript Chicago penned in the early 1970s that provides the underlying vision of equality that shaped her career.

Serpentine is honoured to present Revelations, an exhibition of trailblazing artist, author, educator, cultural historian and feminist Judy Chicago (b. 1939, Chicago, USA). On view at Serpentine North from 23 May to 1 September 2024, this is the artist’s largest solo presentation in a London institution.

Chicago came to prominence in the late 1960s when she challenged the male-dominated landscape of the art world by making work that was boldly from a woman’s perspective. An artistic polymath, Chicago’s work is defined by a commitment to craft and experimentation, either through her choice of subject matter or the method and materials she employs.

Throughout her six-decade career, Chicago has contested the absence and erasure of women in the Western cultural canon, developing a distinctive visual language that gives visibility to their experiences. To this aim, Chicago has produced both individual and collaborative projects that grappled with themes of birth and creation, the social construct of masculinity, her Jewish identity, notions of power and powerlessness, extinction, and expressed her longstanding concern for climate justice.

Judy Chicago: Revelations charts the full arc of Chicago’s career with a specific focus on drawing, highlighting rarely seen works. Several immersive, multi-media elements, including an AR app, a video recording booth, and other audio-visual components, set this show apart from previous surveys of Chicago’s work. With never-before-seen sketchbooks, films and slides, video interviews of participants from The Dinner Party (1974–79), audio recordings, and a guided tour of The Dinner Party by Chicago herself, this novel approach to exhibiting Chicago’s work makes the artist’s presence felt throughout the gallery.

The exhibition takes its name from an unknown illuminated manuscript Chicago penned in the early 1970s which will be published for the first time in conjunction with the exhibition by Serpentine and Thames & Hudson. Titled Revelations, this visionary work is a radical retelling of human history recovering some of the stories of women that society sought to erase, and one that Chicago never imagined would be published in her lifetime. Audio excerpts from the book can be heard in each of the galleries through an accompanying audio guide, seamlessly creating a link between visual art and written word that has occupied the artist’s practice since the 1970s.

In the Beginning from Birth Project, 1982 Prismacolor on paper 65 x 389 in. (165.1 x 988.06 cm) © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Photo © Donald Woodman/ARS, NY Courtesy of the artist

Judy Chicago Peeling Back, 1974 Offset Photo-lithograph on rag paper 28.5 x 22 in. (72.39 x 55.88 cm) Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation Collection
© Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Photo © Donald Woodman/ARS, NY Courtesy of the artist

Judy Chicago And God Created Life (detail), 2023 Prismacolor on paper 30 x 22.25 in. (76.2 x 56.52 cm) © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Photo © Donald Woodman/ARS, NY Courtesy of the artist

udy Chicago Wrestling with the Shadow for Her Life from Shadow Drawings, 1982 Prismacolor on rag paper 29 x 23 in. (73.66 x 58.42 cm) © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Photo © Donald Woodman/ARS, NY Courtesy of the artist

AUCTION: WORKS BY THE DUTCH ARTIST M C ESCHER BOUGHT DIRECTLY FROM HIM

  

 

Ant by Maurits Cornelis (M.C.) Escher (1898-1972). Estimate £40,000-£60,000

Forum Auctions will offer seven works by one of the most prominent Dutch artists of the 20^th century, Maurits Cornelis (M.C.) Escher (1898-1972). The works have come to market from an important private collection in the UK, which has been amassed over the last 70 years. The current owner was born in Amsterdam and lived close to Escher as a child in the late 1940s. He would often visit the artist in his studio and purchase works directly from him, with his pocket money. Over the years he acquired some of the rarest and most sought-after of the artist’s images directly from him.

Dragon by Maurits Cornelis (M.C.) Escher (1898-1972). Estimate £10,000-£15,000 

The family of the current owner tells us: “Our father was very drawn to Escher’s’ works, he particularly loved the mathematical aspect to them. He purchased 50 or more of his works directly from him over the years. He met Escher through a school friend and would then often frequent his studio with his mother, to spend his saved-up pocket money on another of Escher’s works. His love of them never waned and we now hope that whoever buys these works will be just as passionate about them.”

Alexander Hayter, Senior Consultant, Editions and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions tells us: “Each of the works selected for this auction exemplifies the weird and wonderful world of M.C. Escher, from two-dimensional flatworms floating in a three-dimensional space and alien birds in an impossible moonscape, to an extraordinary hellish tessellation of bats and devils. The highlight of the sale is an incredibly rare 1943 lithograph of an ant, extant in only 20 impressions, this is particularly extraordinary as there have been only two copies seen on the open market in the past 25 years. We are therefore delighted to be able to offer these works for auction, which have been treasured for many years by the current owner.

Other World by Maurits Cornelis (M.C.) Escher (1898-1972). Estimate £15,000-£20,000

“A skilled graphic artist, Escher was fascinated with mathematics and is known for creating lithographs, mezzotints and woodcuts all with a mathematical or scientific leaning. His intricate mind-bending images have delighted and confounded for over 100 years. His work has always appealed to mathematicians and scientists, so much so, that Martin Gardener explored his images in his revolutionary Mathematical Games Column in the Scientific American in 1968, a publication that in many respects brought Escher’s work to the mainstream. Escher’s almost hallucinatory images struck a chord with the social climate of the late 1960s and since then his work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the globe.

Escher was enthralled with the science of geometry and obsessed with the mosaic tiles in the Alhambra Palace in Spain. The intricate geometric patterns formed the basis of some of his most famous works. He explores the ways in which geometry can create almost impossible three-dimensional forms in two-dimensions, creating from a flat surface a multi-dimensional confluence of impossible realities. These ‘worlds’, as he described them, are built up of staircases that lead to nowhere but their own beginning, waterfalls that flow backwards, as well as forwards, inhabited by all manner of creatures that defy logical movement and possibility. Escher principally was a printmaker and utilised a range of mediums to produce his intricate images. Printmaking is one of the most technically complicated methods of image making and it seems apt that an artist so obsessed with science would choose to create images in a medium that is in many respects the most complex.”

Contrast by Maurits Cornelis (M.C.) Escher (1898-1972). Estimate £8,000-£12,000

The works on offer include a rare 1943 lithograph titled Ant, which is from an edition of 20 (estimate £40,000-£60,000), Dragon (wood engraving, 1952. Estimate £10,000-£15,000), Flatworms (lithograph 1959. Estimate £8,000-£12,000), Contrast - Order and Chaos (lithograph, 1950. Estimate £8,000-£12,000), Stars (wood engraving, 1948. Estimate £15,000-£20,000), Plane Filling I (mezzotint, 1951. Estimate £15,000-£20,000) and Other World (wood engraving and woodcut printed in black, 1947. Estimate £15,000-£20,000). They will be offered in Forum Auctions Editions and Works on Paper 1500 – 2024 sale on Wednesday, July 3^rd, 2024.

Stars by Maurits Cornelis (M.C.) Escher (1898-1972). Estimate £15,000-£20,000

Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Auction 13 May 2024

115. Francis Bacon

Portrait of George Dyer Crouching

Estimate:

30,000,000 - 50,000,000 USD

112. Lucio Fontana

Concetto spaziale, La fine di Dio

Estimate:

20,000,000 - 30,000,000 USD

118. Richard Diebenkorn

Ocean Park #126

Estimate:

18,000,000 - 25,000,000 USD

108. Joan Mitchell

Noon

Estimate:

15,000,000 - 20,000,000 USD

105. Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat

Untitled

Estimate:

15,000,000 - 20,000,000 USD

113. Frank Stella

Ifafa I

Estimate:

14,000,000 - 18,000,000 USD

109. Joan Mitchell

Ground

Estimate:

12,000,000 - 18,000,000 USD

110. Joan Mitchell

Untitled

Estimate:

8,000,000 - 12,000,000 USD

125. Jean-Michel Basquiat

Campaign

Estimate:

8,000,000 - 12,000,000 USD

106. David Hockney

A Bigger Wave

Estimate:

7,000,000 - 10,000,000 USD

116. Jean-Michel Basquiat

Untitled

Estimate:

7,000,000 - 10,000,000 USD

128. Andy Warhol

Late Four-Foot Flowers

Estimate:

7,000,000 - 10,000,000 USD

117. Andy Warhol

Carat

Estimate:

5,000,000 - 7,000,000 USD

126. Roy Lichtenstein

Woman Reading

Estimate:

5,000,000 - 7,000,000 USD

119. Andy Warhol

The Last Supper

Estimate:

5,000,000 - 7,000,000 USD

114. Gerhard Richter

Abstraktes Bild

Estimate:

4,000,000 - 6,000,000 USD

130. Lucio Fontana

Concetto spaziale, Attese

Estimate:

4,000,000 - 6,000,000 USD

124. Keith Haring

Untitled

Estimate:

4,000,000 - 6,000,000 USD

104. Cy Twombly

Untitled

Estimate:

4,000,000 - 6,000,000 USD

133. Roy Lichtenstein

Purple Range

Estimate:

3,000,000 - 4,000,000 USD

111. Agnes Martin

Earth II

Estimate:

3,000,000 - 4,000,000 USD

127. Ed Ruscha

Christ Candle

Estimate:

2,500,000 - 3,500,000 USD

134. Wayne Thiebaud

Shadow Streets

Estimate:

2,500,000 - 3,500,000 USD

121. Wayne Thiebaud

Suckers

Estimate:

1,800,000 - 2,500,000 USD

131. Ad Reinhardt

Abstract Painting

Estimate:

1,500,000 - 2,000,000 USD

123. Ellsworth Kelly

Yellow Relief with White

Estimate:

1,500,000 - 2,000,000 USD

103. Christopher Wool

Untitled (TRBL)

Estimate:

1,500,000 - 2,500,000 USD

135. Helen Frankenthaler

Stretch

Estimate:

1,500,000 - 2,000,000 USD

132. Alice Neel

Gerard Malanga

Estimate:

1,500,000 - 2,000,000 USD

136. Yayoi Kusama

The Pacific Ocean

Estimate:

1,000,000 - 1,500,000 USD

107. Joan Mitchell

Untitled

Estimate:

1,000,000 - 1,500,000 USD

102. David Hammons

Untitled (Body Print)

Estimate:

1,000,000 - 1,500,000 USD

122. Wayne Thiebaud

Watermelon & Knife

Estimate:

1,000,000 - 1,500,000 USD

Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale, on Thursday, May 16, 2024

Christie’s has announced the 20th Century Evening Sale, on Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 7PM live in Christie’s Rockefeller Center saleroom in the heart of New York City. Taking place during the Spring Marquee Week, this sale celebrates the most significant artistic movements throughout the entirety of the twentieth century, through the Impressionist, Modern, and Post-War eras. The sale features an array of spectacular highlights that represent a range of groundbreaking artists across genres and mediums, including Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Georgia O’Keeffe, David Hockney, Rene Magritte, and more.

The top lot of the sale is Vincent Van Gogh’s Coin de jardin avec papillons, a luminous depiction of a flower bed in the public gardens at Asnières, a suburban town on the Seine to the northwest of Paris (estimate: $28,000,000– 35,000,000). Additional leading highlights include 

Andy Warhol’s Flowers, the only 82-inch ‘Flowers’ where all four flowers are painted in Day Glo paint and one of just three ‘Flowers’ in the 82-inch square scale included in the landmark Leo Castelli 1964 exhibition, 

and Femme au chapeau assise, an exemplary portrait by Pablo Picasso painted in 1971, demonstrative of the iconic artist’s enduring vitality. Both works are estimated to realize $20,000,000 – 30,000,000.

The sale also features five exquisite examples by Impressionist master Claude Monet, 

including the rare and exceptional Moulin de Limetz from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Heirs of Ethel B. Atha. Christie’s is particularly honored to offer these works as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition.

Across the sale are a number of exceptional collections, including The Collection of Norman & Lyn Lear, Property from the Collection of Mary & John Pappajohn, Surrealist Dream: The Shirley Ann and Frank Wozencraft Collection, the Collection of Fritz and Lucy Jewett, Vital Line: A New York Collection, and Property from the Collection of the Viennese Cabaret And Film Star Fritz Grünbaum. In total, across the 64 exemplary lots, the sale is estimated to achieve $340 million – 500 million.

The full selection of works on offer in the sale will be on view at Christie’s New York in an exhibition free and open to the public beginning May 4, 2024 until May 16, 2024.