Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist
Exhibited
Milan, Galleria Allesandra Castelli, Robert Morris, 1974
Catalogue Essay
Robert Morris. as a founding member of the Minimal art movement centred on the Green Gallery, has been a pivotal figure on the New York art scene since the mid-sixties. During the summer of 1967, Morris was invited by collector John Powers to attend the Aspen Institute’s Artists and Scholars in Residence Program. It was while in Aspen that the artist turned his attention to industrial felt and realized his first works in this medium. The first piece he made consisted of felt strips cut by children whom he had invited to work with him. Explaining the choice of felt as a medium, Morris said, “Felt has anatomical associations, it relates to the body – it is skin-like. The way it takes form, with gravity, stress, balance, and the kinesthetic sense, I like all that.”
Felt, from 1974, is one of Robert Morris’s exemplary felts, radical and beautiful in its simplicity. A panel of felt is nailed on to the wall, both ends at the same height, letting the material do the rest. The given form derives from the way in which the nails hold the material together, achieving an almost baroque movement of drapery – an indication of the radical nature of Morris’ language. The material plays a key role, its inherent colour and the thickness of the felt allow only the minimal involvement of the artist’s hand. The work takes on a new life andshape each time it is installed, answering to the gravity and the light of the space it occupies.
In his famous essay ‘Anti Form’, from 1968, Morris has written about this involvement of the accidental: “Random piling, loose stacking, hanging, give passing form to material … Chance is accepted and indeterminacy is implied since replacing will result in another figuration.” Highly conceptual in its approach, this groundbreaking minimal sculpture is a very much a “specific object” to use the artist Donald Judd’s sculptural term. While a work of great beauty, Felt makes a clear statement in its simplicity and elegance. Often in an understated way, Morris and minimalist art in general opened up the artwork to take in the whole realm of visual culture in the spheres of design, fashion, media and architecture to the extent that they changed the way we now see.

6

Robert Morris

Felt

1974
Felt.
260 × 112 x 80 cm (102 2/5 × 44 1/5 x 31 1/2 in).
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

Estimate
£200,000 - 300,000

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

Catalogue Essay

6

Robert Morris

Felt

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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17 Feb 2011
London