Contemporary Art Sales at Sotheby’s, New York
Iconic Post-War American Art
Roy Lichtenstein’s Sleeping Girl, 1964
36″ x 36″
Estimate: $30 – $40 Million
“Sleeping Girl is one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century, counting iconic depictions of women by Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brancusi and Amedeo Modigliani among its peers,” commented Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art.
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #21
Estimate: $150,000 – $200,000
Untitled Film Still #21 is perhaps one of the most profound images that grew out of the second wave of the feminist movement. The 1950’s working girl has been transformed into a confident 1970’s businesswoman ready to assert herself upon the metropolis that surrounds her. Throughout the Untitled Film Stills series Sherman charts the evolution of the role of women from damsels in distress to women in control of their destiny. Nowhere is this transformation more clearly felt than in Untitled Film Still #21.
Gerhard Richter
The Cindy Sherman Film Still will lead Sotheby’s Mid-Season Contemporary Art Sale which is scheduled for Friday, March 9th. The celebrated series sees the artist cast herself as a modern 1970s businesswoman surrounded by the urban jungle. Sherman is widely recognized as one of the most important female artists of her generation and Untitled Film Still #21 appears at Sotheby’s as a major retrospective of the artist’s work that will go on view at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. All works in the sale go on view at the auction house this Saturday, March 3.
On Wednesday, May 9th, Sotheby’s will hold another important evening sale, which will highlight one of my favorites Roy Lichtenstein’s work – Sleeping Girl from 1964. The sexy blonde women of the comic book series are not only one of the most instantly recognizable icons of the Pop Art movement but continue the long, rich tradition of artists’ celebrations of the sleeping female form. Paintings from this series are featured in the collections of major institutions throughout the world such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York and this work has remained in private hands for the past 48 years. Like Picasso, Lichtenstein was fascinated by women but in contrast to the modern master, works like Sleeping Girl are a vehicle for his innovation and contribution to 20th century art history, rather than homage to specific women.
