20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale
Rashid Johnson is an American artist who produces conceptual post-black art. Johnson first received critical attention in 2001 at the age of 24, when his work was included in Freestyle (2001) curated by Thelma Golden at the Studio Museum in Harlem. He studied at Columbia College Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his work has been exhibited around the world.
Cecily Brown is a British painter. Her style displays the influence of a variety of contemporary painters, from Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon and Joan Mitchell, to Old Masters like Rubens, Poussin and Goya. Brown lives and works in New York.
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, a Spanish artist renowned for his revolutionary contributions to the 20th-century art scene, is a figure that resonates profoundly with collectors and art experts. His unique blend of talents in painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramic art, infused with his time in France, positioned him as a pivotal character in modern art history.
Picasso's artistic journey was marked by distinct periods, each showcasing his evolving style and genius. His early years were characterized by the Blue Period (1901-1904), followed by the Rose Period (1904-1906), and then the African-influenced Period (1907-1909). Picasso's name is synonymous with Cubism, a movement he co-founded, which significantly altered artistic perspectives and methods. Works like "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (1907) and "Guernica" (1937) are emblematic of his cubist legacy, the latter being a poignant anti-war statement that remains influential.
His later years saw a return to more traditional styles, with neoclassical and surrealist influences becoming evident. Works from these phases reflect a deep engagement with mythological themes, as seen in "Faun with Stars" (1955), symbolizing his late-life romance with Jacqueline Roque, his second wife.
Picasso's prolific output and innovative spirit made him a legend in his own time, a status that only grew after his death. His works, housed in major museums and private collections worldwide, continue to captivate and inspire.
As a collector or expert in art and antiques, staying informed about Picasso's works, their auction events, and sales is essential. To stay updated on the latest developments and opportunities related to Pablo Picasso, sign up for our specialized updates. Rest assured, this subscription will focus solely on new product sales and auction events pertaining to Picasso's art, ensuring that you receive only the most relevant and valuable information.
Lucian Michael Freud was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish architect Ernst L. Freud and the grandson of Sigmund Freud. Freud got his first name "Lucian" from his mother in memory of the ancient writer Lucian of Samosata. His family moved to England in 1933 to escape the rise of Nazism. From 1942 to 1943 he attended Goldsmiths College, London. He served at sea with the British Merchant Navy during the Second World War.
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, a Spanish artist renowned for his revolutionary contributions to the 20th-century art scene, is a figure that resonates profoundly with collectors and art experts. His unique blend of talents in painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramic art, infused with his time in France, positioned him as a pivotal character in modern art history.
Picasso's artistic journey was marked by distinct periods, each showcasing his evolving style and genius. His early years were characterized by the Blue Period (1901-1904), followed by the Rose Period (1904-1906), and then the African-influenced Period (1907-1909). Picasso's name is synonymous with Cubism, a movement he co-founded, which significantly altered artistic perspectives and methods. Works like "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (1907) and "Guernica" (1937) are emblematic of his cubist legacy, the latter being a poignant anti-war statement that remains influential.
His later years saw a return to more traditional styles, with neoclassical and surrealist influences becoming evident. Works from these phases reflect a deep engagement with mythological themes, as seen in "Faun with Stars" (1955), symbolizing his late-life romance with Jacqueline Roque, his second wife.
Picasso's prolific output and innovative spirit made him a legend in his own time, a status that only grew after his death. His works, housed in major museums and private collections worldwide, continue to captivate and inspire.
As a collector or expert in art and antiques, staying informed about Picasso's works, their auction events, and sales is essential. To stay updated on the latest developments and opportunities related to Pablo Picasso, sign up for our specialized updates. Rest assured, this subscription will focus solely on new product sales and auction events pertaining to Picasso's art, ensuring that you receive only the most relevant and valuable information.
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls and bridges throughout the world. Banksy's work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation, but is also active in painting, performance, video art, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, Art Brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism, and is infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content. She has been acknowledged as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan.
Lucio Fontana was an Argentine-Italian artist known for his pioneering work in the field of Spatialism, an artistic movement that explored the relationship between space and art.
Fontana studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Italy. In the 1940s, he began experimenting with a technique he called "Spatial Concept," in which he punctured or cut holes into the canvas to create a sense of depth and dimensionality.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Fontana continued to explore the possibilities of Spatialism, creating works in a variety of media, including sculpture, ceramics, and painting. One of his most famous series of works is the "Tagli" (Cuts), which consist of monochromatic canvases with one or more slashes or punctures.
Fontana's work had a significant influence on the development of the Arte Povera movement in Italy, as well as on the development of Minimalism and Conceptual Art. He exhibited his work widely in Europe and the United States, and his legacy continues to be celebrated by artists and critics today.
Fontana's innovative approach to art and his exploration of the relationship between space and form continue to be a source of inspiration for artists working in a wide range of media.
Pierre Soulages was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. In 2014, François Hollande described him as "the world's greatest living artist."
Soulages is known as "the painter of black," owing to his interest in the colour "both as a colour and a non-colour. When light is reflected on black, it transforms and transmutes it. It opens a mental field all its own." He saw light as a work material; striations of the black surface of his paintings enable him to reflect light, allowing the black to come out of darkness and into brightness, thus becoming a luminous colour.
Alberto Burri was an Italian visual artist, painter, sculptor, and physician based in Città di Castello. He is associated with the matterism of the European informal art movement and described his style as a polymaterialist. He had connections with Lucio Fontana's spatialism and, with Antoni Tàpies, an influence on the revival of the art of post-war assembly in America (Robert Rauschenberg) as in Europe.
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (Russian: Василий Васильевич Кандинский) was a trailblazer in the art world, known for his pioneering role in the development of abstract art. Born in Moscow, Russia, in 1866, Kandinsky embarked on a journey that would take him from the study of law and economics to becoming one of the most influential artists of his time. His journey into the arts began at 30, a significant shift from a promising career in law to attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. This decision marked the start of a profound exploration of color, form, and the spiritual in art.
Kandinsky's work is celebrated for its innovative use of color and abstract forms, with notable pieces such as "Composition VII" and "On White II" showcasing his ability to evoke emotional resonance through non-representational means. His art was not just about visual aesthetics but also aimed to touch the spiritual and emotional realms of the viewer. He often compared his method of painting to composing music, emphasizing the emotional power of abstract forms and colors. This philosophy was reflected in his theoretical writings, notably in "Concerning the Spiritual in Art," where he laid out his beliefs about the role of art and the artist in society.
Throughout his career, Kandinsky was involved with several avant-garde groups, including Der Blaue Reiter and Die Blaue Vier, collaborating with other influential artists of the time like Paul Klee and Alexej Jawlensky. After the Bauhaus school, where he taught, was closed by the Nazis, Kandinsky moved to France, where he spent the remainder of his life, continuing to evolve his style and contribute to the art world until his death in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1944.
Kandinsky's legacy is not only in his artworks, which are held in esteemed collections worldwide, such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, but also in his impact on the course of modern art. He opened up new possibilities for artists by demonstrating that art could venture beyond the representational and delve into the purely abstract, exploring the inner emotional and spiritual life through form and color.
For those captivated by Kandinsky's revolutionary approach to art and interested in the evolution of abstract expression, signing up for updates on new product sales and auction events related to Kandinsky's work is an excellent way to stay informed. This subscription service is tailored for collectors and art experts, ensuring you are the first to know about opportunities to acquire pieces by or related to this groundbreaking artist.
Agnes Martin was an American abstract painter. Her work has been defined as an "essay in discretion on inward-ness and silence". Although she is often considered or referred to as a minimalist, Martin considered herself an abstract expressionist and was one of the leading practitioners of Abstract Expressionism in the 20th century. She was awarded a National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1998. She was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2004.
Louise Joséphine Bourgeois was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a variety of themes over the course of her long career including domesticity and the family, sexuality and the body, as well as death and the unconscious. These themes connect to events from her childhood which she considered to be a therapeutic process. Although Bourgeois exhibited with the Abstract Expressionists and her work has much in common with Surrealism and Feminist art, she was not formally affiliated with a particular artistic movement.