post war abstraction and the influence of hans...

POST WAR ABSTRACTION AND THE INFLUENCE OF HANS HOFMANNMONOCHROME MINIMALISM 1959 to the Present

www.borghi.org ART MIAMI BOOTH C19

Hofmann’s lessons from afar. Joan Mitchell, for example, attend-ed Hofmann’s school for less than a week only to drop out be-cause she was terrified of the man. And of course there’s Stella, who once called himself “a Hofmann student without knowing he was one.” While his reputation has been eclipsed by his students, Hofmann more than holds his own here. One painting from 1946 depicts a blood-red claw menacing a prostrate body as the Eiffel Tower looms in the distance. The result evokes the horrors of WWII while reminding us of a more recent tragedy; it’s title -- “Fear” -- is unnecessary to know it’s emotion. Times change: less than a decade later Hofmann was living in Berkeley, where he painted “Blue Arcata” in a more upbeat palate: rhythmic patterns of orange, yellow, and blue evoke warm, sunny skies -- a climate not unlike Miami Beach.

A second thematic grouping in the MBFA show centers on the concept of Monochrome-Minimalism 1959 to the Present. Easily the most striking of these is an untitled Robert Morris wall sculp-ture. The spiritual twin to Hofmann’s “Fear,” this memento Morris uses plaster imprinted with bones and body parts to conjure the horror of nuclear Armageddon in the manner of an ancient ar-chitectural site. One of Morris’s Firestorm series, the work dates from 1982, the Reagan-era peak of Cold War tensions. Here again, current events come to mind. Although Morris made his name as a minimalist, he broke the mold with works like this one, tossing aside the cloisters of formalism in favor of raw emotions

Among the most stunning works in the critically lauded Frank Stella retrospective at the Whitney Museum this fall are four wall sculptures -- three-dimensional paintings, if you prefer -- that revel in nautical themes inspired by Melville’s White Whale. Rejected by many when they were first shown in the 1990s, the Moby Dick series has grown in stature in recent years. There is no better way to appreciate these works than by understanding their aesthetic foundations. Like many of the biggest names in Post-War Ameri-can Art, Stella internalized the ideas of German-American painter and teacher Hans Hofmann. Go no further than Art Miami, as a part of 2 curated exhibitions, the first being Post War Abstraction and the influence of Hans Hofmann where a standout example from the Moby Dick series, “The Honor and Glory of Whaling,” is part of an exhibit by Mark Borghi Fine Art highlighting the art and influence of Hofmann. Combining elements from a harpoon to a whale’s tail in a multi-tiered frenzy of post-Pop whimsy, the Stella work, says Mark Borghi, is nothing less than “Hofmann’s push-pull theory of spatial manipulation fully realized.” An emigrant from Germany not long before the Nazis seized power, Hofmann estab-lished himself as a teacher in the United States, bridging European Modernism and American Contemporary and shaping the styles of generations of artists, in and out ofhis classroom. This exhibition puts Hofmann side-by-side with students and admirers such as Willem de Kooning (a bright, layered canvas oozing confidence) and Helen Frankenthaler (an eruption of blood red recaller her teacher’s post-WWII palate), as well as those who absorbed

POST WAR ABSTRACTION AND THE INFLUENCE OF HANS HOFMANNMONOCHROME MINIMALISM 1959 to the Present


and painterly gestures that (once again) echo Hofmann and his progeny. Likewise this selection of monochromes breaks with received ideas, broadening the concept to be inclusive of many styles -- and colors. Among these is a cheeky Tom Wesselman sculpture of a “dropped bra” in green, Yves Klein’s homage to Michelangelo in his trademark blue, and a red Donald Judd. A pair of incredibly rare Andy Warhol paintings in a private collection since 1966 are from his Jackie series, one silver, the other gold, invites contemplation by way of a tabloid image of the mourning Jacqueline Onassis. The results pulse with their own brand of push-pull, shuttling the viewer between heartbreak and glamour. In another work, the large black-and-white unique screen-print, “Tres Amici,” Warhol joins with artist pals Jean Michel Basquiat and Francisco Clemente to sketch a beach scene with two bathers and a “swordfish” (the quotation marks are a dead giveaway that the fish belongs to Basquiat). The most recent of the monochromes is a Richard Prince form 2014, the latest iteration of the artist’s Joke series. The canvas is covered in bright, white impasto save for a single tiny word isolated from a New York Times article: “brilliant.” Is this a sly expression of self-regard or a reference to a shade of the paint? In either case, it’s easy to agree.

POST WAR ABSTRACTION AND THE INFLUENCE OF HANS HOFMANN




Elaine de KooningUntitled (Collage), 1960Mixed media and collage on paper18 x 24 inches (45.7 x 61 cm)Signed and dated lower left Ex-collection:The estate of the artist and by descent until the present



Willem de KooningWillem de Kooning (1904-1997)East Hampton VIII 1968Oil on paper laid on canvas41.25 x 29. 5 inchesSigned upper right

Ex-collectionGift of the artistPrivate collection East Hampton until 2015



Helen FrankenthalerApril VI 1962

Signed lower right

Oil on paper

17 x 14 inches ( 43.2 x 35.6 cm)

Ex-collection:The ArtistDore Ashton 1963-2015

Exhibitions:Andre Emmerich Gallery , New York



Helen FrankenthalerUntitled 1958Mixed media on paper12 x 8 1/2 inchesSigned, dated ’58 lower right

Ex-collection:Direct from the artist to Harold Rosenberg, New YorkPrivate Collection, New YorkExhibitions:“Art in the Making,” FreedmanArt, New York, Octo-ber 30, 2014 – April 18, 2015. Traveling to The Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, George Washington University, Washington, DC, May 6 – July 17, 2015, and The Read-ing Public Museum, Reading, PA, August 15 – October 18, 2015, as “Art in the Making: A New Adaptation.”



Keith HaringUntitled, 1983 Acrylic on shaped panel19 1/4 x 11 1/4 inchesSigned, dated and inscribed verso To Diane love Keith 1984 Ex-collectionThe ArtistCollection of Dianne Brill 1984 until 2014 Dianne Brill arrived in New York City from Tampa in 1980 and left an indelible mark on the city in the years that followed.“Within six months I knew I was at home in New York. The way I looked, the way I dressed, the way I thought — I knew I was understood,” she says. Design-ing menswear by day and wowing the party circuit by night, Brill applied the same passion she had for New York City into her encounters with others. Her genuine interest for people and their life stories made her universally liked. She became a nightlife fixture at hotspots like Danceteria and Area.“I got to know the right people. Every door was open to me. Andy introduced me to a lot of people. So did Jean-Michel,” she says. For the unfamiliar she’s talking about art legends Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Running with the “It” crowd, Brill was regularty featured in newspapers and magazines, deemed “The Queen of the Night” by Warhol, often alternating covers with Madonna, with whom she did not have a warm relationship.“Madonna was the most ambitious person I have ever met but since we were competitive I never felt comfortable around her,” Brill remembers. “She invited me to a lot of events but I always declined. Looking back I realize that I could have been nicer.”Brill may have been famous for her bubbly personality but she was certainly just as well known for herva-va-voom looks and outfits. She designed and wore latex clothes showing off her bodacious physique and made a splash during her nights on the town. Working with Andy Warhol on short films and videos, he reportedly made a note of Brill in his diary writing, “Dianne Brill with her big tits and hourglass figure.”Her infamous body translated into work. She became the muse and model for fashion icons Thierry Mugler and Jean-Paul Gaultier. In fact, a mannequin was created in honor of her buxom figure and is still used by Agent Provocateur today. Naturally she distilled her knowledge on beauty, fashion and attracting the opposite sex into a book, Boobs, Boys and High Heels. Before today’s social media tools Facebook and Twitter existed, Brill was the ultimate connector and self-promoter. She built relationships with people from all walks of regardless of whether they were uptown or down-town, rich or poor, creative or corporate.



Hans HofmannBlue Arcata, 1955Oil on canvas52.25 x 60 inchesSigned and dated lower right: “hans hofmann 55.” Titled, dated and signed verso: “blue arcata 1955 hans hofmann.”



Hans HofmannBlack, Red, Yellow, 1949Oil on canvas48 x 36 inchesSigned and dated lower right: “49 hans hofmann.” HH-Est#M-1083 HH cat. nos. 1117-1949 and 320-1947

Ex-collection:Estate of Hans HofmannExhibited:André Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY, Hans Hofmann:The Years 1947 – 1952, 3 – 28 April 1976. Asher/Faure Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Hans Hofmann: Paintings. Presented by André Emmerich, 30 May – 27 June 1981. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, Miró in America, 21 April – 27 June 1982. Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, New York, NY, Hans Hofmann, 5 December 2013 – 25 January 2014.Literature:Goodman, Cynthia. Hans Hofmann, catalogue for the exhibition, New York: Am-eringer | McEnery | Yohe, 2013, illustrated in color, p. 71. Muchnic, Suzanne. “Galleries: La Cienega Area.” Los Angeles Times, 5 June 1981 [Asher/Faure Galleryexhibition review], comm. p. 4. Rose, Barbara, Judith McCandless, and Duncan Macmillan. Miró in America, catalogue for the exhibition, Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1982.



Hans HofmannFear 1946 Oil on canvas42 x 58 inches (106.7 x 147.3 cm)Signed and dated lower right: “hans hofmann IX 24 46.” HH-Est#M-1149HH cat. no. 1120-1946 Ex-collection:Estate of Hans Hofmann Literature:Goodman, Cynthia. Hans Hofmann, catalogue for the exhibition, New York: Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, 2013, illustrated in color, p. 61.Perl, Jed. Hans Hofmann, The Unabashed Unconscious: Reflections on Hofmann and Surrealism, catalogue for the exhibition, New York: Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art, 2006, illustrated in color, p. 24.Walla, Christin. 2011. Hans Hofmann: Der Beitrag des deutschen Kunstleh-rers zur americkanischen Kunstszene von 1930 bis 1958, MA thesis, Univer-sitåt Leipzig (Leipzig University), illustrated in color, p. 121, figure no. 10: I, comm. p. 73.Yohe, James, Editor. Hans Hofmann, essays by Tina Dickey, Sam Hunter and Frank Stella, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 2d ed., 2006, illustrated in color, p. 129.



Roy LichtensteinDots ca.1970Oil on paper3.86 x.38 inches (9.80 x 41.60 cm.) Signed ‘rf Lichtenstein’ (on an accompanying tag)

Ex-collection:The ArtistConejo Valley Art Museum Benefit Auction, Thousand Oaks, California. Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1980 until 2015



Reacting against the previous generation, Pop artists stood for a break from tradition, from what comes before them. They abandoned the Abstract Expres-sionist painterly gesture and the zeitgeist of artistic genius, while they adopted everyday object and commercial art as their subject matter. Upon close exam-ination, every stroke on a Lichtenstein piece was painstakingly painted by hand through careful deliberations, comparable to Brunelleschi’s calculated use of linear perspective in the 15th century. As Lichtenstein elaborated, “[the Brushstroke] was the way of portraying this romantic and bravura symbol in its opposite style, classicism. The Brushstroke plays a big part in the history of art. Brushstroke almost means painting or art. I did isolate Brushstrokes in 1965 and used cartoon brushstrokes to depict subject matters in the 1980s. I also did Brushstroke sculptures in bronze and wood to make them more palpable” (R. Lichtenstein, quoted in Meditations on Art, Milan, 2010, p.211). Lichtensteinwas one of the fathers of Pop Art in the 1960s. He was known for the appropriation of commercial subjects and the use of Ben-Day dots at the beginning of his artistic career. Later on, Lichtenstein frequently adopted the motifs of comical brushstrokes in his paintings and sculptural works for over four decades. To Lichtenstein, sculptural works were important because they showed what was otherwise absent in paintings. As the artist suggested: “Painting makes it more concrete, but when you do it in bronze sculpture, it becomes real and has weight and is absurd, contradictory and funny” (Ibid., p. 211). The Yellow Brushstroke is a quintessential sculpture of its kind, specially designed for the Weisman Art Foundation in 1991. The Weisman Art Award provides funds for established institutions in order to allocate resources to support the purchase of less established artists.

Roy LichtensteinYellow Brushstroke, 1991Cast bronze and enamel paint11 3/8 x 12 1/2 x 4 3/4 inches (29 x 32 x 12 cm.)Incised with the artist’s signature ‘Roy Lichtenstein’ (on the base);stamp numbered ’11’ (on the underside of the base)

Ex-collection:Private collection until the present

This work is number eleven from an edition of nineteen.



Joan MitchellUntitled, c. 1951-52Oil on canvas82 7/8 x 101 3/4” (210.5 x 258.5 cm)Signed lower right

Ex-collection:Joan Mitchell, New York, N.Y. Robert Miller Gallery, New York, N.Y. Mr. David Coe, Sydney, Australia Private collection, New York, N.Y.



Alfonso OssorioTwo Stars, 1962Ink and wax on paper25 x 20 inchesSigned with artist’s monogram and dated lower left

Ex-collection:The Artist 1962Private collection until 2015



Larry PoonsUntitled 1972Acrylic on canvas88 x 37 inches (223.5x 94 cm) Ex-collectionThe Artist , 1972Knoedler Gallery , New YorkPrivate collection until 1990Christies, New York November 6th 1990Private collection until 2015

Naturally, the result is the thing – and – it doesn’t make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement. — Jackson Pollock Pollock notably dispensed with the traditional use of artist’s brushes in the key period of his career. In what has been described as a kind of rhythmic dance, he dripped and poured elegant curlicues of paint on unstretched canvas laid out on his studio floor. His methods had an immediate and clear effect on his contemporaries and the next generation of painters. The younger Frankenthaler too explored the fluidity of paint, pouring paint onto unprimed canvas. She evolved to be a skillful practitioner of works that welcome the accidental effect. Morris Louis, like Frankenthaler stained his canvases, in bands and stripes of unmodulated hues in rich harmonies of translucent color. Poons for a period of a few years, threw paint and the studio in which Poons’ throw paintings were made retainsmore than mere traces of his method. The walls and floors are covered in a thick skin of pigment. The multi-col-ored room has the feeling of a hallowed and ancient place reserved for religious ritual. In the catalogue to Poons’ 1981 retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Kenworth Moffett reconstructed the artist’s working meth-od in some detail. A canvas of fifteen to twenty yards was tacked onto a frame covering three walls of the studio. The paint was thrown from a can weighing as much as thirty pounds. The weight of the can and the expanse of canvas to coverrequired an athletic sturdiness. The throw involving the whole body was two handed, and from the shoulder. If the paint wasn’t thrown with real force, it would fall onto the floor instead of adhering to the weave of the canvas. Moffett describes the succession of throws, the more or less intermingling of colors to produce a fluid shroud of light, both transparent and opaque.The throw paintings, formed a bridge from his earlier optical dot paintings for which he became well known and his very recent lyrical abstractions, redolent of Impressionism. The throw paintings remain Poons’ unique contri-bution to Color Field painting of the 1960s and 1970s. In spite of their radical nature and aggressive means, their amorphous quality makes them appear more and more akin to Monet’s idyllic water lilies, anticipating Poons’ most recent work.



Elizabeth PeytonUntitled, 1986Oil on canvas21 7⁄8 x 29 3⁄4 inches (55.6 x 75.6 cm.)Signed and dated ‘Elizabeth Peyton 1986’ (on the reverse)

Ex-collection:Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner, 1986 until 2015



Frank StellaThe Honor and Glory of Whaling (Maquette), 1991Mixed media on aluminium and magnesium98 x 101 x 40 inches

Ex-collection:The ArtistMeredith Long , Houston TexasPrivate collection 2005 until 2015

This work is from the series inspired by Melville’s Moby Dick. The severity of his earlier works gives way here to an interest in collage in-spired by Pop-Art which recalls the compositions of synthetic Cubism. A delight in the decorative is noticeable here without any loss of the central theme of his art – the relation of image, object and space. The detailed narrative delight of the piece bundles fish-like forms, includ-ing tails, heads and teeth.Stella does without the illusion of depth. He uses flat forms, separate from one another, whose strong colors and sometimes conical con-tours create an optically charged confusion. The numerous overlap-ping forms awaken associations with the powerful movements of the animal and the water around it. The front edge forms a frame which seems to inflate like a sail from the force of the thrusting forms. This depiction is far from the drama of its literary model. The colors counteract the irony hinted at in the title: The whale hunt threatens above all to end in heroic failure.



Bernie TaupinPlain Brown Wrapper, 2015Mixed media on 60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.92 cm)

Ex Collection:The Artist until the present

MONOCHROME MINIMALISM 1959 to the Present




Josef AlbersStudy for Homage to the Square: Ancient, 1963Oil on masonite16 x 16 inches (40.6 x 40.6 cm.)Signed with the artist’s monogram and dated ’63’ (lower right); signed, titled and dated again ‘Study for Homage to the Square: “Ancient” Albers 1963’ verso

Ex-collection:Sidney Janis Gallery, New YorkDonald Morris Gallery, BirminghamAnon. sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 23 February 2000, lot 203 Acquired at the above sale by the present owner until 2015

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonnébeing prepared by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.



Carl AndreSatier: Zinc on Steel, 1989Two elements–zinc, steelZinc element: 7/16 x 6 x 11 7/8 in. (1 x 15 x 30 cm.)Steel element: 7/16 x 6 x 11 7/8 in. (1 x 15 x 30 cm.)overall: 7/8 x 6 x 11 7/8 in. (2 x 15 x 30 cm.)

Ex-collection:Konrad Fisher Galerie, DusseldorfAcquired from the above by the present owner, 1989 until 2015

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.



Richard ArtschwagerUntitled (Corner with Thumbprints), 2002Charcoal on paper31 3⁄4 x 25in. (80.5 x 63.5cm.)Signed and dated ‘Artschwager ’02’ (lower right)

Ex-collection:Nolan/Eckman Gallery, New York.Galerie Judin Belot, Zurich.Haunch of Venison, London.



John ChamberlainSchizoverbia, 1994Painted and chromed steel49 x 44 x 42 inches (124.5 x 111.8 x 106.7 cm)

Ex-collection:The ArtistPace Gallery, New York Private collectionExhibtions:Waddington Custot Galleries, London, John Chamberlain: Without Fear20 Apr — 21 May 2005 Galeria Elvira Gonzales, Madrid, Spain, John Chamberlain May 5- July 7, 2010



Dan FlavinUntitled (Sails), 1986Pastel on paper10 7/8 x 14in. (27.8 x 35.5cm.)Signed and dated ‘DNF 9 18 86’ (centre right)

Ex-collection:The ArtistGalerie Nächst St. Stephan, Vienna.Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1991 until 2015



Lucio FontanaConcetto Spaziale, 1959Ballpoint pen on metallic foil on card31⁄2 x 43⁄4inches (9 x 12cm.)Signed and dated ‘l. fontana 59’ (lower centre) Ex-collection:The Artist, 1959The collection of Hubert Peeters, Belgium until 2015

This work is registered in the Archivio Lucio Fontana, Milan.



Mark GrotjahnUntitled, 1996-98Marker on paper11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm)

Ex-collection:Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner until 2015This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist ‘Untitled, 1996-98 by Mark Grotjahn’

Grotjahn moved to Los Angeles in 1996, the year in which the drawing began. By the time of the drawing’s completion in 1998, Grotjahn had his first show at Blum & Poe Gallery in Los Angeles.Untitled, 1996-98 is an early composition which encompasses all aspects of Grotjahn’s investigative practice into color, perspective and line, which would later become his artistic signifiers within the contem-porary art world.



Charles HinmanDesert Wind, 1982Acrylic on shaped canvas45 x 76 x 7 inches (114.3 x 193 x 17.8 cm.)Signed , dated and titled verso

Ex-collectionIrving Galleries, Palm BeachAcquired from the above by the present owner until 2015



Charles HinmanUntitled, 1971Acrylic on canvas25.25 x 34.75 x 2.5 inches.Signed, dated and inscribed to verso ‘Hinman 1971.’

Ex-collection:The ArtistEstate of Dr. and Mrs. Jerome H. Hirschmann, Winnetka, until 2015



Donald JuddUntitled (woodblock, 89-32) , 1989Oil on wood16 x 20 3/4 inches (40.6 x 52.7 cm)Incised `JUDD 89-32 25 R S.F.A. 8.89 on the reverse.

Ex-collection:The ArtistPrivate collection until 2015



Yves KleinL’esclave mourant d’après Michel-Ange, 1962Blue pigment on resin.23.6 x 7.1 x 6.3 inches (60 x 18 x 16 cm)Signed R. Klein Moquay on label. Certificate issued by Rotraut Klein Moquay, numbered 170/300

Ex-collection:Fabian Carlsson Gallery, LondonPrivate collection, SwedenLiterature:P. Wember, Yves Klein, Cologne, 1969, p. 98 (illustrated);S. Stich, Yves Klein, Stuttgart, 1994, p. 247 (illustrated); J.-P. Ledeur,Yves Klein: Catalogue raisonné des éditions et sculptures éditées, Knokke-le-Zoute, p. 249 (illustrated)



If Robert Morris were out to remind us of present death, he is peculiarly well-qualified to manage the job. The artist has long been considered a bulwark of the radical New York sculptural establishment whose work shades from confrontational Minimalist monoliths to the perceptual mind-games of Process art and the subversive aggression of Performance. Morris’ peers are the likes of Richard Serra, Carl Andre and Sol Lewitt.His trademark works in the past have been pieces like a big solid ring divided by a light that made it seem to float, great swags of gray felt somehow suggesting prehistoric animals and odd, cage-like structures. Morris’ work never limited itself to the purely formal qualities of some Minimalist art. It often carried slightly Surreal overtones of threat and pure provocation, a tendency dramatized in 1974 when the artist issued an exhibition poster that was a photograph of himself, muscular and nude to the waist, wearing a Nazi-style army helmet and festooned with chains. It was a macho- Sadist image typical of a then-prevailing fashion that encouraged acting out fantasies.Given that command of modernist syntax, it would have been easy enough for Morris to couch his ruminations on mortality in present terms. Instead, he has done a dramatic volte-face, fleeing into the past with such force as to make the recidivist Neo-Expressionists look downright Mod in their mild retreat to the teens of the century. Morris’ plaster reliefs look absolutely archeological, more like scientific records of ancient tomb sites than modern art. The only non-prehistoric note is the use of casts of heads, hands and other anatomical parts obviously taken from a live person, possibly the artist himself.

Robert MorrisUntitled, 1982Plaster relief with metal frame61 5/8 x 51 1/4 inches (156.5 x 130.1 cm.)

Ex-collection:The ArtistSonnabend Gallery, New YorkAcquired from the above by the present owner until 2015



Richard Pousette-DartUntitled, 1978Acrylic and graphite on paper22.5 x 29.9 inches ( 57.2 x 76 cm)Signed and dated verso

Ex-collection:The ArtistObelisk Gallery, BostonAcquired by the present owner from the above



Richard PrinceUntitled (Good Painting- Brilliant), 2014Acrylic and collage on canvas60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.92 cm)Signed and dated verso

Ex-collection:Acquired directly from the Artist



Richard PrinceUntitled (Good Painting – Lucky ), 2013Acrylic and newspaper on canvas40 x 34 in (101.6 x 86.36 cm)Signed and dated on verso

Ex-collection:Acquired directly from the artist



Richard PrinceUntitled, 1990Inkjet and acrylic on canvas24 x 18 inchesSigned and dated verso

Ex-collection:The artistBarbara Gladstone Gallery, New YorkThe Sender Collection, Miami ( acquired from the above) 2015



Richard PrinceUntitled (Joke : Missing and presumed dead ), 1986Ektacolor printSheet (sight): 74 3/16 × 47 3/16 inches (188.4 × 119.9 cm) Image (sight, each): 6 1/2 × 9 3/4 in. (16.5 × 24.8 cm) Image (sight, each): 9 1/2 × 6 3/4 in. (24.1 × 17.1 cm)Signed dated and numbered verso 2 of 2

The AP from the edition is in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; (Promised gift of Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner) and Number 1 from the edition is in the collection of JP Morgan Chase

Ex-collection:The ArtistBarbara Gladstone Gallery, 1986Thea Westreich 1986Suellen and Mel Estrin, acquired from the above 1986 until 2015Literature:Phillips, Lisa. Richard Prince. (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1992), illus. p. 39. Richard Prince is perhaps best known for the different series of mixed media paintings and prints that he has cre-ated during his career. These include, but are not limited to, his appropriated prints, nurse paintings, gangs, and joke paintings. Oftentimes two or more of these series overlap in one single piece. In the lexicon of Prince’s work, a “gang” consists of a series of prints brought together collectively in one image. While the individual images do not touch, their presentation together in one artwork challenges the viewer’s holistic perception of the piece and the interrelatedness of its fragments.These gang pieces are typically made up of appropriated elements, another of Prince’s main artistic tactics, one that he began in 1977 as an artist working in New York’s then thriving downtown art scene by re-photographing an already existing photograph. (1)Untitled (Joke) from 1986, combines elements from both the gang and the joke paintings. This piece features an appropriation of a cartoon from The New Yorker, which features two suited businessmen drinking at a bar. The caption to the original image reads “I’m missing and presumed dead,” but as one is able to see, Prince has dis-mantled the original image in such a way that the joke is no longer legible. Prince has also includes the signature of the cartoonist – Stan Hunt – blown up in the middle column of the bottom row. This inclusion of the original artist’s signature as appropriated by Prince brings up questions of authorship in the image, a theme that runs throughout the course of Prince’s oeuvre.In the essay “People Keep Asking: An Introduction,” from the monograph Richard Prince, Lisa Phillips addresses the issue of authorship in this work: “Untitled (Joke) is a self-portrait – a joke on himself [Prince], on appropriation, and on the idea of art as a personal expression. It mocks a critical system wherein one group was complaining about his (and other appropriators’) lack of imagination, lack of transformation, and lack of invention, while anoth-er was insisting that he fulfilled Walter Benjamin’s prophecy of the ‘death of the author’.” (2)1. Nancy Spector, “Nowhere Man,” Richard Prince. Ed., Nancy Spector. (New York: Hatje Cantz Verlag in collabo-ration with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2007), 23.2. Lisa Phillips, “People Keep Asking: An Introduction,” Richard Prince. Ed., Lisa Phillips. (New York: Whitney Museum of Art in collaboration with Harry N. Abrams, 1992), 38.



Donald SultanSeptember 28 2014, 2014Gold Leaf and Latex on Sommerset White 40 x 35 inches Signed upper left edge

Ex-collectionAcquired directly from the artist



Richard TuttleSource of Imagery I, No. 5, 1996Gouache, coloured pencil and graphite on joined sheets of paperOverall: 15x 15 1/8inches (38 x 38.5 cm.)Signed, titled and dated ‘“SOURCE OF IMAGERY. I, no 5” RICHARD TUTTLE, 1996’ verso

Ex-collection:Galleria Alessandra Bonomo, Rome.Acquired from the above by the present owner until 2015



Andy WarholGold Jackie, 1964Acrylic, silkscreen and black spray paint on canvas20 x 16 inches

Ex-collection:Acquired directly from the artist 1964 Private collection until 2015

After the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, Andy Warhol chose photographs used in media accounts before and after the event and cropped them to focus on the president’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. The artist often employed this unorthodox approach to portraiture, appropriat-ing photographs of celebrities from magazines and newspapers to reinforce an individual’s public image rather than creating his own artistic interpreta-tion of a sitter’s inner character. Here, the image brilliantly condenses and intensifies the numbing effects of the mass media coverage that shaped the nation’s experience of this shared tragedy.



Andy WarholSilver Jackie, 1964Acrylic, silkscreen and black spray paint on canvas20 x 16 inches

Ex-collection:Acquired directly from the artist 1964 Private collection until 2015

After the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, Andy Warhol chose pho-tographs used in media accounts before and after the event and cropped them to focus on the president’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. The artist often employed this unorthodox approach to portraiture, appropriating photographs of celebrities from magazines and newspapers to reinforce an individual’s public image rather than creating his own artistic interpretation of a sitter’s inner character. Here, the image brilliantly condenses and in-tensifies the numbing effects of the mass media coverage that shaped the nation’s experience of this shared tragedy.



Andy WarholUntitled (Tre Amici), 1984Screenprint in black on paper60 x 60 in. (152.4 x 152.4 cm.)Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc., stamped and numbered ‘UP 77.01’ verso

Ex-collection:Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts until 2015This work is a collaboration between Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, & Andy Warhol.



Tom WesselmannTiny Dropped Bra # 1, 1980Liquidtex on board3 1/2 x 5 inchesSigned verso Tom Wesselmann

Ex-collection:Private collection until 2015



Christopher WoolUntitled, 1984Flashe on board14 x 14 inches (35.5 x 35,5 cm)Signed and dated 1984 verso

Ex-collection:Jack Tilton Gallery, New YorkLuhring Augustine & Hodes, New YorkAcquired by the present owner from the above until 2015



Christopher WoolUntitled, 1988

Alkyd and Flashe on aluminum12 x 12 inchesSigned, dated and inscribed to the reverse‘Wool 1988 For George My Left Hand Christopher 9/88’Ex-collection:The artistPrivate collection until 2013

The exploration of repetition is a common theme found throughout Christopher Wool’s oeuvre. From his early pattern paintings to his col-lections of photographs and artist books, Wool’s work blends mechani-cal processes with the physical act of creation or manipulation. This small early dot painting was made with a pattern roller on alumi-num panel. Wool made only a handful of works this size.


ABOUT MARK BORGHI FINE ART

The gallery specializes in American Post-War Art, maintaining a strong inventory of the New York School, European Modern, and Contemporary Art, with works by celebrated artists, from the 20th Century masters such as Robert Rauschenberg, Franz Kline, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd and icons of the present day including works by Richard Prince, Christopher Wool, and Nate Lowman. After working Borghi & Co. from 1976 until 1996 Mark Borghi founded his eponymous callery in 1998 in New York City followed by locations in Bridghampton in 2003, and Palm Beach in 2011. A regular presence at Art Miami and art fairs in New York, Paris, Los Angelas, Chicago, and Houston, the gallery has organized a retrospective of works by Willem de Kooning as well as shows highlighting recent works by Bob Dylan, and Larry Poons.

Born into the art world, Mark Borghi spent his early years between New York, Beverly Hills and Rome, getting a hands-on education in the history and business of art from his father, Paul Borghi, Reared on Impressionism and European Modern Art, Borghi developed a passion for Post-War American Art after a revelatory encounter with Jackson Pollack’s large canvas One: Number 31 at MOMA. An ardent collector for decades, his first purchase in 1980 was a small flower painting by Georgia O’Keefe, won at auction for $18,000. As a dealer, Borghi combines an uncommon visual and historical eye, tracing connec-tion between European Old Masters, Post-War American Art, and Contemporary Art. Borghi favors unconventional juxtapo-sitions: in his home, a 16th century drawing by Jacopo Pontormo hangs next to a drawing by Andy Warhol. Calling art his “never-ending obsession;” in an average month, he reviews more than 1,000 works to identify a single remarkable object. Major sales include works by Joan Mitchell, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Alexander Calder, Frank Stella and Constantin Brancusi.

post war abstraction and the influence of hans...

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