Provenance
Willard Gallery, New York
Garth Clark Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Literature
R. Clayton Baker, 'Ken Price at Castelli's', Ceramics Monthly, January 1984, pp. 46-47 (similar examples illustrated)
Ken Price: Sculpture and Drawings 1962-2006, exh. cat., Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, 2006, p. 85 (a similar example illustrated)
Stephanie Barron, Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective, exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2012, pp. 100-01, 168, 237 (similar examples illustrated)
Ken Price: A Survey of Sculptures and Drawings, exh. cat., Hauser & Wirth, London, 2017, pp. 42, 91 (similar examples illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
Ken Price was a potter before he became a sculptor. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, he studied under Peter Voulkos at the Los Angeles County Art Institute (later Otis College of Art and Design) and went on to earn an MFA from the acclaimed ceramics program at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Upon returning to Los Angeles in 1959, he was picked up by the Ferus Gallery, which, under the directorship of Irving Blum, exhibited Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and Frank Stella, among others. Success in the contemporary art world followed shortly thereafter: in 1962 he was included in Fifty California Artists: An Exhibition and in 1963 his sculpture Red was featured on the cover of Artforum. Price then went on to participate in the seminal exhibition American Sculpture of the Sixties at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1967, a vast survey of new American sculpture that comprised works by eighty artists, among them John Chamberlain, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Morris (a number of these artists would also go on to collect Price’s work).

Edo, belongs to a series of sculptures that made their debut at Willard Gallery and Leo Castelli Gallery in New York in 1983. That year Price had relocated with his family to Massachusetts and embarked on a major new phase of his career, moving from glazed ceramics to fired and painted clay. Now fully detached from traditional ceramic techniques, he never looked back. As R. Clayton Baker observed in his review of the Castelli show for Ceramics Monthy, ‘Those looking for stunning ceramic technique won’t find it here, but these works do have a clear, color field/expressionist identity in a style which obviously appeals to the collector with an affinity for paint on canvas. These sculptures have as much relation to Mondrian as they do to Peter Voulkos’ (R. Clayton Baker, ‘Ken Price at Castelli’s’, Ceramics Monthly, January 1984, p. 46). His new technique involved priming his fired ceramic sculptures with over a dozen layers of acrylic paint in rich metallic hues. He created the rough edges, evocative of geological formations, by ripping off bits of drying clay. The Specimen Rocks, as the sculptures are known, are of a diminutive, hand-held scale. Price had custom vitrines made for each work, which only furthered their charm, elevating them like treasures in a curio cabinet. It was a sophisticated pun, burying clay under layers of acrylic paint, only to create sculptures that evoke the mineral composition of earth.

55

Ken Price

Edo

painted ceramic, maple, painted wood, and glass
ceramic: 11.2 x 10.8 x 11 cm (4 3/8 x 4 1/4 x 4 3/8 in.)
display box: 43.8 x 44.3 x 44.3 cm (17 1/4 x 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.)
Executed in 1983.

Estimate
£150,000 - 200,000 ‡

Contact Specialist
Meaghan Roddy
Senior International Specialist, Head of Sale
+1 267 221 9152 mroddy@phillips.com

Henry Highley
Specialist, Head of Sale
+ 44 20 7318 4061 hhighley@phillips.com

Shape & Space: A New Ceramic Presence

London Auction 5 October 2018

51
Kathy Butterly
Overgrown
Estimate £12,000 - 16,000 ‡
Sold for £16,250
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52
This lot is no longer available.
53
George Ohr
Tall two-handled vase
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
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54
George Ohr
Mottled two-sided, two-handled vase
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
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55
Ken Price
Edo
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡
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56
Yoshitomo Nara
Untitled
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £125,000
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57
This lot is no longer available.
58
Claudi Casanovas
Lluna Nova (Juno, La Daurada, Mercè, Nigra sum, Nuria), from the 'Lunar Cycle' series
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠†
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59
Lucio Fontana
Testa di Medusa
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000 ♠
Sold for £37,500
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60
Ai Weiwei
He Xie
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
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61
Lucie Rie
Footed bowl
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £50,000
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62
Lucio Fontana
Cavallo
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £549,000
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63
Fausto Melotti
Female figure
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £56,250
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64
Simone Leigh
Untitled
Estimate £10,000 - 15,000 ‡
Sold for £27,500
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65
Sarah Lucas
Toilet Elevation
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ♠†
Sold for £87,500
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66
Roy Lichtenstein
Ceramic Sculpture #10
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £309,000
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67
Peter Voulkos
Untitled vase
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £40,000
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68
Andrew Lord
The Italian set in intense light. Angled. Black.
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000 ‡♠
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69
Betty Woodman
Balustrade Relief Vase 07-4
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £47,500
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70
Hans Coper
Spade form
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ♠
Sold for £62,500
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71
Hans Coper
Cycladic arrow form
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £102,500
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72
Hans Coper
Cycladic arrow form
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £156,250
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73
Roberto Lugo
Obama and Me
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000 ‡
Sold for £35,000
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74
Pablo Picasso
Hibou
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ♠
Sold for £93,750
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75
Ron Nagle
Tail Dragger
Estimate £12,000 - 16,000 ‡
Sold for £12,500
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76
Ron Nagle
Schtub
Estimate £12,000 - 16,000 ‡
Sold for £13,750
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77
Ken Price
Flat Back
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 †
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78
Ewen Henderson
Form from the ‘Complex Series’
Estimate £10,000 - 15,000 ♠
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79
This lot is no longer available.
80
Sterling Ruby
The Fed Mortar (Rainbow)
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000
Sold for £50,000
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81
Otani Workshop
Netherworld Resident
Estimate £7,000 - 9,000 ‡
Sold for £6,250
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82
Otani Workshop
Lion Head
Estimate £7,000 - 9,000 ‡
Sold for £6,250
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Shape & Space: A New Ceramic Presence

London Auction 5 October 2018

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Provenance

Literature

Catalogue Essay

55

Ken Price

Edo

Shape & Space: A New Ceramic Presence

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