Provenance
Collection of the artists; Sean Kelly Gallery, New York
Exhibited
Antwerp, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, 16 Installaties, 17 April–23 August 1998; Goslar, Monchehaus Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Ilya Kabakov, 16 October, 1998–3 January 1999
Literature
16 Installaties, exh. cat., Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, 1998 (illustrated); Ilya Kabakov, Catalogue Raisonné Installations 1983–2000, vol. 2, Düsseldorf, 2003, pp. 280–83 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
"My father was a great prankster – he figured out a way to drag an old piano in a cage through the streets of the city!
I also love to joke.
The question is: why must all things stand up on the floor – they could easily wind up on the ceiling. A table, chair, bed – everything could ‘stand' there just beautifully, if you attach them right. True, there is a danger: one of these objects could fall on your head, for example, the lid of a teapot, a cushion from the couch. ... A complete, radical shift of things is not necessary, something should be left in its old place, and a happy medium should be sought, everything should be harmonious. That's how all wise politicians act, just like my grandmother: whenever she put fresh food on the table, she would always add something left-over from yesterday's dinner."
Text in the installation
The Painting on an Easel is a powerful manifestation of the Kabakovs' ability to question the history of artistic practice and challenge traditional practice. To the Kabakovs, the installation of The Painting on an Easel is the most important aspect, so that, while the painting, an idyllic Russian village on a summer's day, appears to float at eye level, all is not what it seems (typically of the Kabakovs' work), and the viewer's eye is pushed beyond the realm of the canvas to the easel that is suspended from the ceiling. The subject matter and the painting itself thus appear to lose substance or meaning as an object of contemplation and instead takes on an air of the unlikely or the absurd, ie. the impossible existence of an ‘ideal' Soviet landscape.
"J. Bakshtein: ...it is clear that this is like a model for Soviet existence that was elaborated throughout the lives of Soviet people: no matter how the everyday circumstances of life changed around a person, he, in order to live, had to become a tightrope-walker like Chaplin. He constantly had to twist and turn, deceiving himself and others in his outer life, the life of Soviet socium, so that his own apartment and family could remain in relative stability.
Ilya Kabakov: That's rather accurate, but there is yet another meaning, another image: in today's art situation, where everything is so tightly wound, in order to exhibit something natural and simple that you really love and know, you have to twist it and turn it around so much so that, recognizing you as a modernist, avant-garde etc., people will actually look carefully at what you really want to say – otherwise, no one will pay any attention to you whatsoever.
(Interview with Ilya Kabakov, in T. Stoos, Ilya Kabakov Installation 1983–2000 Catalogue Raisonné: Vol. II, Dusseldorf, 2003, pp. 281–83

PROPERTY FROM THE VALENCIA CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION

17

Ilya Kabakov and Emilia Kabakov

The Painting on an Easel

1998
Oil on canvas and wooden easel.
Site specific installation with variable dimensions. Easel: 207 x 65 x 60 cm. (81 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 23 1/2 in); Painting: 143 x 228 cm (56 1/4 x 89 3/4 in).

Estimate
£400,000 - 600,000 ♠

Sold for £361,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011
London

1
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £213,650
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2
Mary Heilmann
Rude Boy
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡
Sold for £103,250
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3
Jim Lambie
Night Divides the Day
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £91,250
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4
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, Attesa
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
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5
Günther Uecker
Mutation
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £223,250
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6
Robert Morris
Felt
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
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7
Georg Herold
Untitled
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
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8
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
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9
Peter Fischli and David Weiss
4 Hostessen (4 Stewardesses)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £277,250
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10
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £350,000 - 550,000 ‡♠
Sold for £337,250
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11
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Overrun
Estimate £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 ‡
Sold for £1,127,650
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12
Raqib Shaw
Absence of God III... And His Tears of Blood Will Drown the Cities of Men II
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £553,250
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13
Anselm Reyle
Harmony
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ♠
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14
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 100,000 ♠
Sold for £79,250
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15
Subodh Gupta
No. 1
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡
Sold for £121,250
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16
Donald Judd
Untitled (89-30)
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £169,250
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17
Ilya Kabakov and Emilia Kabakov
The Painting on an Easel
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
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18
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Ritratto sigg. Lerre (Portrait of Mr. Lerre)
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ♠
Sold for £67,250
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19
Martin Kippenberger
Mirror for Hang-Over Bud
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
Sold for £145,250
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20
Robert Rauschenberg
Address Unknown
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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21
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
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22
Albert Oehlen
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ♠
Sold for £193,250
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23
Karel Appel
Birds Over the Red Sea
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £205,250
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24
Victor Vasarely
Cassiopée II NB
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £157,250
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25
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Disco con Sfera
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ♠
Sold for £61,250
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26
Bill Viola
Basin of Tears
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 Ω
Sold for £181,250
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27
Marlene Dumas
Equality
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
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28
Dan Colen
Wouldn't it be Nice
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 †
Sold for £85,250
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29
Martin Creed
Work no. 230 (Don’t Worry)
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ♠
Sold for £51,650
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011 London

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Provenance

Exhibited

Literature

Catalogue Essay

17

Ilya Kabakov and Emilia Kabakov

The Painting on an Easel

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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17 Feb 2011
London