Robert Indiana, Numbers (detail), 1968. Evening & Day Editions London.
Richard Hamilton, Picasso’s Meninas, from Hommage à Picasso, 1973. Lot 10 >
Grace Brown, Associate Cataloguer
Combining over 350 years of art history into one elegant and refined print, Richard Hamilton’s Picasso’s Meninas is a real crowd pleaser. The enigmatic composition of a Spanish Golden Age masterpiece? Tick. Representations of Pablo Picasso’s numerous stylistic periods? Check. Witty, multi-layered Pop art appropriation? Absolutely. And all this exquisitely etched? Of course — Hamilton truly has something for everyone! As we mark ten years of the London Editions department at Phillips, Richard Hamilton demonstrates the importance of celebrating the past.
Joan Miró, Gaudí XVI, 1979. Lot 112 >
Georgie Byworth-Morgan, Associate Researcher
Joan Miró’s Gaudí series is a celebration of color, form, and rhythm evocative of a summer fiesta on the streets of Barcelona or the beaches of Mallorca. A testament to Miró’s enduring admiration of Gaudí, whom he crossed paths with at the Centre Artístic de Sant Lluc in Barcelona, the series pays homage to the imagination, modernity, and musicality of Gaudí’s unique architectural style. Luminous splodges of pink, turquoise, and tangerine are overlapped with Miro’s distinctive black forms. Much like musical notes, they dance across the page with a tempo to match the Catalan Sardana on a hot summer’s evening.
Bruce Nauman, Soft Ground Etching Series, 2007. Lot 173 >
Rebecca Tooby-Desmond, Head of Sale, Auctioneer
The tip of the tongue, the teeth, and the lips: perhaps I could learn a thing or two from Nauman before taking to the rostrum for our 10th anniversary auctions — if not least the skin’s elasticity over a decade! Malleable (ironically coming from the Latin malleare meaning ‘to hammer’) implies the capacity for adaptive change — appropriate for such a restlessly inventive artist, who so often examines the inherent fallacies of language as a tool for communication. Let the pictures do the talking instead!
Pablo Picasso, Le crapaud (The Toad), 1949. Lot 5 >
Louisa Earl, Associate Specialist
The princely toad boldly sits atop his perch, confidently assessing the questionable surroundings of its monochromatic world. In master fashion, Picasso succinctly anthropomorphizes the lone amphibian’s character with defined simplified line and intricately textured surfaces. If only Le crapaud existed in the digital realm — we’d all have the perfect descriptor for those days of aloofness. Emojis get in line!
Gerhard Richter and Isa Genzken, Tri-Star, 1981. Lot 52 >
Anne Schneider-Wilson, Senior International Specialist
When is a print not a print? When it is a phonograph record with paint…
The ‘ready-made’ meets painting: a masterful collaboration between Isa Genzken and Gerhard Richter. Genzken developed the idea for Tri-Star in 1979, creating a phonograph record featuring the sound of a Tri-Star aeroplane motor. Preserving the ears of the listener, Richter aptly applied his signature grey paint to the object, obscuring its practicality and utility. The result is a concept represented by a three-dimensional object — a true testament to the creative transformation in art of the twentieth century.
...or when it is a spin-painting with household paint on a box and more…
Damien Hirst, In a Spin, the Action of the World on Things, Volume I, 2002. Lot 40 >
Anne Schneider-Wilson, Senior International Specialist
Covered with a colorful and dynamic spin painting, In a Spin, the Action of the World on Things, Volume I unfolds into a treasure trove of 23 colour spin-etchings. Leafing through this ambitious and extensive publication reveals jewel-like images full of energy and fun, all created on the same machine as the cover. The machine, which rotates copper plates at high speed, results in works that are as whimsical as their titles like You threw a melon at my head and Oh my God... and for those really stubborn stains. As Hirst was mirror-writing directly onto the etching plates, some sheets are inscribed with child-like writing, even some in reverse. A combination of experimentation and tradition, the project is as joyous as it is important — a significant body of work in the printmaker’s extensive output.
Patrick Caulfield, Some Poems of Jules Laforgue, 1973. Lot 15 >
Rebecca Tooby-Desmond, Head of Sale, Auctioneer
How to fathom that these oh so vibrant snapshot still lifes were published 50 years ago? They seem lifted straight out of a 2023 Instagram grid: artful table corner, melancholic fence, the clock a memento mori for the Age of Influencers. Caulfield mirrors the 19th century love-sick poetry of Jules Laforgue with saturated moments of exquisite stillness, providing meditations on the banality of existence that ooze Gen-Z ennui. “Ah! This Life is so Everyday,” sighs every teenager believing their generation the first to discover existential dread.
Jonas Wood, Landscape Pot with Plant, 2017. Lot 71 >
Louisa Earl, Associate Specialist
A still-life filled with life! In Landscape Pot with Plant, Jonas Wood combines the age-old tradition of Dutch still-life extravaganzas with the Romantics illustriously bucolic landscapes. The indoor and outdoor combined, Wood’s plant is potted in a parallel life — a life alongside a pond, tended to by two loving gardeners. A celebration of what is, what was, and what could be, this reinvention of genres is a toast to the eternal thread of the natural world represented in the art historical canon.
Pablo Picasso, Hommage à Bacchus (Homage to Bacchus), 1960. Lot 6 >
Robert Kennan, Head of Editions, Europe
Picasso’s rumbunctious Hommage à Bacchus comes from his exploration of works by the great masters during the late 1950s. The inspiration here is Nicolas Poussin, whose depictions of Bacchus’s arcadian antics resonated strongly with Picasso, especially whilst he was based in the south of France, surrounded by an abundance of ancient Roman sites. Our event on 1 June may not be quite as riotous, but please do join us to celebrate 10 years of Editions in London, in spirit if not in person. Another important event being celebrated this year is the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death, marked by a retrospective exhibition at Musée de Picasso in Paris, of which Phillips is a proud sponsor.
Robert Indiana, Numbers, 1968. Lot 35 >
Robert Kennan, Head of Editions, Europe
If there is anyone who knows the importance of keeping count, it’s Robert Indiana. Featuring the digits 0 to 9 in his ten striking screenprints, Indiana’s Numbers portfolio is a testament to the artist’s fascination with incorporating integers into his work. Viewed as visual shorthand for the words they symbolise, or as simple geometric forms, Indiana also recognises the power of numbers to mark important milestones. We’ll take a ‘1’ and a ‘0’ for our 10-year anniversary please!
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