Provenance
Sprüth Magers Lee, London
McCabe Fine Art
Exhibited
London, Ridinghouse Editions, Peter Doig- Small Paintings, 11 December 1996 - 25 January 1997
Catalogue Essay
"Everything in Canada is on the edge of a wilderness" (Doig quoted by Richard Shift, ‘Incidents,’ in the exhibition catalogue Peter Doig, ed. Judith Nesbitt, London, Tate Publishing, 2008, p. 26; originally in Paul Bonaventura, "A Hunter in the Snow," Artefactum 9, 1994, p. 12).

One element that is perhaps most engrained in the art of Peter Doig is that of wanderlust. An itinerant lifestyle defined Doig’s formative years as he moved between Scotland, Trinidad, Canada and England – taking memories from each with him to the next. A sense of nostalgia therefore, permeates many of his paintings as distant landscapes are conjured up in what appears to become a cathartic process of revisiting his past. Bird House (1996) contributes to a series of canvases begun in the early 1990s that Doig worked on in London which depict scenes from Canada and exemplify the artist’s mastery at capturing the enticing atmosphere of landscapes from his memory.

These snow-filled scenes embody Doig’s fascination with portraying areas on the periphery of civilization where an unbridled nature comes to the fore but equally where the presence of Man leaves a small but noticeable imprint. In the present lot, the inclusion of a small birdhouse signals this notion, though it is engulfed by the network of tree branches that organically spreads out of the canvas. The spindly lines that dominate the top half of the canvas create an oppressing sense of dominance as the viewer is denied access to the ambiguous, dark background beyond. The shallow picture surface as a result, emphasises the almost abstract effect in this painting as the myriad of lines nod to an Abstract Expressionist lineage.

One is reminded of Claude Monet’s snowscapes through Doig’s paintings - an influence the artist himself has noted as important. As with the works by the Impressionists, tones of pinks, yellow and blues permeate Doig’s representations of snow. However, what defines all of his paintings is a hallucinatory quality akin to dreamscapes that retain recognisable features from the everyday but which morph into something surreal or mesmerising. Doig’s works achieve this through his selection of hues. Including a more heightened or saturated combination of colours, Doig creates a lyrical sense of harmony only emphasised by his fluid brush strokes that dispel rigid forms. Instead, all of Doig’s structures curve in a manner not dissimilar to the style of Edvard Munch. The juxtaposition of the light tones with the inky blue background only emphasises the surreal qualities of this painting.
Artist Biography
Peter Doig
Scottish • 1959
Peter Doig is widely considered one of the most renowned contemporary figurative painters. Born in Scotland and raised in Trinidad and Canada, Doig achieved his breakthrough in 1991 upon being awarded the prestigious Whitechapel Artist Prize and receiving a solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London.
Doig draws on personal memories and source imagery in his pursuit of exploring the slippage between reality, imagination and memory through painting. The material properties of paint and expressive possibilities of color thereby serve to approximate the foggy, inarticulate sensation of remembering. His practice maintains a thin and balanced line between landscape and figure, superimposing photographic imagery and memories, both real and imagined.
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Property from the Estate of Dr. Fredric S. Brandt, Miami

Ο◆3

Peter Doig

Bird House

1996
oil on panel
48 x 35 cm (18 7/8 x 13 3/4 in.)
Signed, titled and dated 'Peter Doig "BIRD HOUSE" 96' on the reverse.

Estimate
£200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠

Sold for £242,500

Contact Specialist
Peter Sumner
Head of Contemporary Art, London
psumner@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4063

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London 14 October 2015 7pm

1
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Blue Eyes Brown Hanging Perforated Mark M3.d)
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £116,500
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2
Rosemarie Trockel
Study for Old Friend
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £200,500
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3
Peter Doig
Bird House
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
Sold for £242,500
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4
Richard Prince
Untitled (Cowboy)
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £602,500
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5
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Three-Tiered Perspective)
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡
Sold for £842,500
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6
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate £1,500,000 - 2,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,266,500
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7
Christopher Wool
Untitled (Jazz death)
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,314,500
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8
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,930,500
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9
Yoshitomo Nara
Missing in Action
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡
Sold for £1,986,500
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10
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £458,500
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11
Keith Haring
Untitled
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £218,500
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12
Keith Haring
Untitled (Head Stand)
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £482,500
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13
John Baldessari
Two Dogs and Two Aliens
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £266,500
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14
Ed Ruscha
Pneumatic Muscles Hydraulic Smiles
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡
Sold for £386,500
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15
George Condo
Stranger on a Plane
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £194,500
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16
Albert Oehlen
Omegasachen-35
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £302,500
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17
Damien Hirst
Aminobenzoyl Hydrazide
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £362,500
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18
Alighiero Boetti
Alternandosi e Dividendosi
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £302,500
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19
Lucio Fontana
Concetto Spaziale, Attese
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ♠
Sold for £1,314,500
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20
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate £8,000,000 - 12,000,000 ‡
Sold for £7,922,500
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21
Mark Bradford
Constitution IV
Estimate £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 ‡
Sold for £3,778,500
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22
Tauba Auerbach
Untitled (Fold)
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,426,500
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23
Danh Vo
VJ Star
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
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24
Richard Prince
Untitled (Couples)
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £152,500
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25
Urs Fischer
Horse Fraud
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
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26
Cory Arcangel
Photoshop CS: 110 by 72 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient "Russell's Rainbow" (turn transparency off), mousedown y=25300 x=17600, mouse up y=4300 x=17600
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000
Sold for £158,500
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27
Yayoi Kusama
Infinity-Nets (OPARHJ)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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28
Sterling Ruby
SP60
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
Sold for £482,500
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29
Josef Albers
Homage to the Square: Wide Sight (study)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £338,500
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30
Neo Rauch
Die Lage
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £866,500
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31
Anselm Kiefer
The Secret Life of Plants
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
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32
Anselm Kiefer
Paete non Dolet
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
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33
Antony Gormley
Domain XV
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £218,500
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34
This lot is no longer available.
35
Jonas Wood
D.J.
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £62,500
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36
Richard Prince
Untitled (portrait)
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £98,500
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37
KAWS
Snoopy: Red Baron
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £128,500
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London 14 October 2015 7pm

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Provenance

Exhibited

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Peter Doig

Ο◆3

Peter Doig

Bird House

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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