Provenance
Simon Lee Gallery, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
London, Simon Lee Gallery, Sherrie Levine, May 29 - July 31, 2009
London, Simon Lee Gallery, Elective Affinities, July 11 - August 27, 2014
Catalogue Essay
“I think it's the auratic quality that's built into [a work of art]. There's a level of seduction in the work that keeps you . . . It's a visceral, sensual seduction that always draws you back.” Sherrie Levine, 1993

Sherrie Levine's The Cradle, 2009 explores the artist’s long term fascination with strategic re-contextualization of the readymade object. The Cradle, 2009 references Van Gogh’s painting La Berceuse from 1889, which magnificently depicts Augustine Roulin, the wife of the postmaster of Arles, holding a rope attached to a cradle positioned just outside the frame of the painting. Van Gogh chooses very specifically to illustrate this beautiful, maternal moment, only subtly alluding to the baby and cradle rocking quietly to the side. Levine in her glistening rendition of The Cradle, chooses instead to reverse the focus, crafting a physically stunning interpretation of the object while only alluding to the subject Van Gogh’s painting. She deftly collapses function and originality into a graceful, minimalist, form. As curator Johanna Burton has observed, “Levine not only re-emphasizes the importance of a certain work, art-maker, or the ethos of a particular moment, but also reveals beliefs and biases that might not have been readily apparent before. Formally elegant and even sensual, Levine’s work presents an alternative story, or stories, delivering a deep disruption to canons and conventions.” (Johanna Burton, Sherrie Levine, MAYHEM, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2012)

Levine’s series of cast bronze sculptures began with Levine’s Fountain (After Marcel Duchamp) of 1991. As Levine explains, “when I first cast the urinal in high polished bronze, I really didn't know what to expect. When I got the first one back, I was totally amazed at the reference to Brancusi and Arp.” This translation of the original object into something simultaneously wholly original and grounded in, indeed made up of, something already extant, exposed a particular aura within Levine’s work. Interestingly, Walter Benjamin first identified the “aura” of a particularly resonant art object, but also claimed that replication, duplication, destroyed this aura. However, Levine, in her translation of the original object, imbues her works such as The Cradle with her own aura. “For me the tension between the reference and the new work doesn't really exist unless the new work has an auratic presence of its own. There's a level of seduction in the work that keeps you. It's a visceral, sensual seduction that always draws you back. That's where the hook is. Otherwise it would be an idea as opposed to . . . I want it to be an experience.” (Sherrie Levine in conversation with Constance Lewallen, Journal of Contemporary Art)

Levine evinces the sensuality of her forms through her intervention and reconsideration of the art historical cannon – works often by male artists for male consumption. The intellectualism of her art is not diminished but rather heightened by the intense attention she pays to the surface and structure of her works. The Cradle, 2009 though referencing a painting by a male artist, depicts a form pregnant with feminine allusion – a beautiful, elegant and technically precise empty cradle, a sensual object left undepicted by Van Gogh. Levine’s “history making” objects, cast in bronze call to mind a religious relic of veneration. In so doing, Levine “creates visually and emotionally complex artworks that evoke a profound sense of pathos.” (Adam Weinberg, Sherrie Levine, MAYHEM, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2012, p. 8)

Ο◆27

Sherrie Levine

The Cradle

2009
cast bronze
18 7/8 x 39 3/8 x 23 5/8 in. (48 x 100 x 60 cm)
This work is number 5 from an edition of 6 plus 1 artist's proof.

Estimate
$500,000 - 700,000

Sold for $461,000

Contact Specialist
Kate Bryan
Head of Evening Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1267

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 8 May 2016

1
Mike Kelley
Memory Ware #37
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $641,000
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2
Klara Lidén
Untitled (Poster Painting)
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $161,000
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3
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $305,000
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4
Marino Marini
Cavaliere
Estimate $900,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $905,000
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5
Jean Dubuffet
Barbe des rites
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $3,077,000
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6
Louise Bourgeois
Untitled (The Wedges)
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,925,000
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7
Mark Bradford
Building "The Big White Whale"
Estimate $3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for $3,525,000
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8
Mark Bradford
Mixed Signals
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $2,965,000
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9
Mark Bradford
Untitled (Corner of Desire and Piety) III
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $173,000
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10
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #5A
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $461,000
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11
Albert Oehlen
Lämmle live
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $845,000
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12
Martin Kippenberger
Plusquamperfekt - gehabt haben (Past Perfect - have had)
Estimate $600,000 - 900,000
Sold for $485,000
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13
Anselm Kiefer
Der Wolken heitere Stimmung
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $797,000
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14
Günther Förg
Untitled
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $815,000
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15
Glenn Ligon
Stranger in the Village #11
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,445,000
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16
On Kawara
Four Decades (OCT.13, 1970 / MAY 7, 1980 / NOV.22, 1990 / APR.16, 2000)
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $1,565,000
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17
Brice Marden
Star (for Patti Smith)
Estimate $5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for $5,989,000
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18
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $725,000
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19
Marlene Dumas
Night Nurse
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,517,000
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20
René Daniëls
Eindelijk
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $269,000
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21
John Currin
Angela
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
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22
Maurizio Cattelan
Mini-me
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $749,000
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23
Jeff Koons
Jim Beam - Passenger Car
Estimate $900,000 - 1,400,000
Sold for $965,000
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24
Yayoi Kusama
INFINITY-NETS (QRTWE)
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,045,000
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25
Jeff Koons
Naked
Estimate $5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for $5,765,000
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26
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,965,000
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27
Sherrie Levine
The Cradle
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $461,000
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28
Leon Kossoff
Two seated Figures no.1 (My Parents)
Estimate $350,000 - 450,000
Sold for $737,000
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29
Roy Lichtenstein
Metallic Brushstroke Head
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
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30
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
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31
Willem de Kooning
Tattooed Lady
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $365,000
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32
Willem de Kooning
Stenographer
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $485,000
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33
This lot is no longer available.
34
Takeo Yamaguchi
Work
Estimate $350,000 - 550,000
Sold for $509,000
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35
Joe Bradley
Mouth and Foot (Cock and Balls)
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $725,000
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36
Nate Lowman
White Escalade
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $365,000
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37
Sterling Ruby
SP25
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $581,000
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38
KAWS
Untitled
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $269,000
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20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 8 May 2016

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Provenance

Exhibited

Catalogue Essay

Ο◆27

Sherrie Levine

The Cradle

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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