Cy Twombly Untitled 1962 graphite, oil stick and ink on Fabriano paper 50.2 x 69.9 cm (19.8 x 27.5 in.) Signed and dated 'Cy Twombly 1962' on the reverse.
Provenance Galleria la Tartaruga, Rome Leo Castelli Gallery, New York James Jacobs, New York Jarold Evans, San Francisco Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art, San Francisco Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1992) Christie's, New York, Post War and Contemporary Art, 14 May 2009, Lot 142 Private Collection Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art Evening Auction, 15 February, 2012, Lot 65 Acquired at the above sale by the present owner Catalogue Essay ‘My line is childlike but not childish. It is very difficult to fake ... to get that quality you need to project yourself into the child's line. It has to be felt.’ - CY TWOMBLY 1994 Edmond Parker Twombly, best known as Cy, sustained his existence largely on the periphery of the New York Expressionist scene. His sparse, unfeigned scrawls and his deeply elegiac engagement with a reliquary epoch drew him almost entirely from the vogue movements of post-war art in America. Despite this detachment, Twombly cultivated dear friendships with some of the leaders of the Expressionism movement, while managing to avert any explicit artistic affiliation. Electing to reside and work in Italy when the art world’s focus had only just shifted to New York, the artist effectively developed an aesthetic that was unmistakably his alone. Though he endured harsh criticism due to his challenging techniques, Twombly both preserved and expanded his calligraphic method of passionate abstraction until his death in 2011. Drawing timeless inspiration from poetry and classical history, Twombly’s expressive markings and humanistic motifs subtly allude to an idiosyncratic narrative coursing its way through the artist’s mind and onto the canvas. Once practicing his drawing in dark rooms to ensure his line retained an objective, he steadfastly revered his own muses, including handwriting and the keen relationship between words and image. According to his 1957 artistic statement, which remained his only written reflection on his work for nearly half a century, ‘Each line is now the actual experience with its own innate history. It does not illustrate — it is the sensation of its own realisation.’ (Cy Twombly ‘Signs,’ L’Esperienza moderna, no.2, August/September 1957, pp.32–3). Renouncing an equitable or descriptive line, Twombly responded sensually and intensely to the Greco-Roman settings in which he immersed himself in Italy. The present lot encapsulates the artist’s marked shift to the wholly subjective utilisation of erotic signifiers in his works. This emphasis on the erotic and its recurrent themes finds pronunciation in the pink and coppery red, which materialise from the robust turmoil of the strokes to acquire recognisable shapes. An erratically-rendered cluster of female breasts seems to sweep toward the male form centrally located, only to disintegrate into the lines whence they materialised. The comparable image Priapus, created just two years prior, employs the same antithetical narrative, as erect forms punctuating the picture plane’s edges capriciously approach the female sexual motif anchored at the centre. Releasing his process from a clear artistic lexicon as well as his academic education, Twombly desired to 'disconnect ... his hand from his eye in a subliminal and an unburdened mode.' (J. Lawrence, 'Cy Twombly's Cryptic Nature,' in Cy Twombly Works from the Sonnabend Collection, London and New York, p. 13). The sexually-charged nature of the forms apparent in his work from the early 1960s may thus be construed through a lens of an invisible, formidable battle between the rational ego and aggressive id. The frenetic energy racing through Untitled, 1962 typifies the formative years of lyricism and complexity illustrated in the evolution of Twombly’s oeuvre. The prominent emergence of dark, more starkly opaque colours sharply contrasts with the alabaster background, providing an aberrant sense of depth in an otherwise turbulent composition. In an analogous vein, the artist’s exercise of
Cy Twombly Untitled 1962 graphite, oil stick and ink on Fabriano paper 50.2 x 69.9 cm (19.8 x 27.5 in.) Signed and dated 'Cy Twombly 1962' on the reverse.
Provenance Galleria la Tartaruga, Rome Leo Castelli Gallery, New York James Jacobs, New York Jarold Evans, San Francisco Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art, San Francisco Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1992) Christie's, New York, Post War and Contemporary Art, 14 May 2009, Lot 142 Private Collection Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art Evening Auction, 15 February, 2012, Lot 65 Acquired at the above sale by the present owner Catalogue Essay ‘My line is childlike but not childish. It is very difficult to fake ... to get that quality you need to project yourself into the child's line. It has to be felt.’ - CY TWOMBLY 1994 Edmond Parker Twombly, best known as Cy, sustained his existence largely on the periphery of the New York Expressionist scene. His sparse, unfeigned scrawls and his deeply elegiac engagement with a reliquary epoch drew him almost entirely from the vogue movements of post-war art in America. Despite this detachment, Twombly cultivated dear friendships with some of the leaders of the Expressionism movement, while managing to avert any explicit artistic affiliation. Electing to reside and work in Italy when the art world’s focus had only just shifted to New York, the artist effectively developed an aesthetic that was unmistakably his alone. Though he endured harsh criticism due to his challenging techniques, Twombly both preserved and expanded his calligraphic method of passionate abstraction until his death in 2011. Drawing timeless inspiration from poetry and classical history, Twombly’s expressive markings and humanistic motifs subtly allude to an idiosyncratic narrative coursing its way through the artist’s mind and onto the canvas. Once practicing his drawing in dark rooms to ensure his line retained an objective, he steadfastly revered his own muses, including handwriting and the keen relationship between words and image. According to his 1957 artistic statement, which remained his only written reflection on his work for nearly half a century, ‘Each line is now the actual experience with its own innate history. It does not illustrate — it is the sensation of its own realisation.’ (Cy Twombly ‘Signs,’ L’Esperienza moderna, no.2, August/September 1957, pp.32–3). Renouncing an equitable or descriptive line, Twombly responded sensually and intensely to the Greco-Roman settings in which he immersed himself in Italy. The present lot encapsulates the artist’s marked shift to the wholly subjective utilisation of erotic signifiers in his works. This emphasis on the erotic and its recurrent themes finds pronunciation in the pink and coppery red, which materialise from the robust turmoil of the strokes to acquire recognisable shapes. An erratically-rendered cluster of female breasts seems to sweep toward the male form centrally located, only to disintegrate into the lines whence they materialised. The comparable image Priapus, created just two years prior, employs the same antithetical narrative, as erect forms punctuating the picture plane’s edges capriciously approach the female sexual motif anchored at the centre. Releasing his process from a clear artistic lexicon as well as his academic education, Twombly desired to 'disconnect ... his hand from his eye in a subliminal and an unburdened mode.' (J. Lawrence, 'Cy Twombly's Cryptic Nature,' in Cy Twombly Works from the Sonnabend Collection, London and New York, p. 13). The sexually-charged nature of the forms apparent in his work from the early 1960s may thus be construed through a lens of an invisible, formidable battle between the rational ego and aggressive id. The frenetic energy racing through Untitled, 1962 typifies the formative years of lyricism and complexity illustrated in the evolution of Twombly’s oeuvre. The prominent emergence of dark, more starkly opaque colours sharply contrasts with the alabaster background, providing an aberrant sense of depth in an otherwise turbulent composition. In an analogous vein, the artist’s exercise of
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
