"In mythology, Venus emerges fully formed in the froth of the waves and is carried in a shell to land. I was immediately drawn to the idea of her body being made of water."
—Flora YukhnovichFlora Yukhnovich’s contemporary interpretation of the Rococo painting style has gripped the attention of art critics and collectors alike. In her work, the London-based artist reimagines the energy of works by eighteenth-century masters, including François Boucher, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Nicolas Lancret and Jean-Antoine Watteau. Using a minimal palette of local blues, beiges, and pinks and large, gestural brushstrokes, Yukhnovich oscillates between the abstract and the figurative.
François Boucher, The Triumph of Venus, 1740, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Image: Cecilia Heissesr / Nationalmuseum, Stockholm In Stiff Peaks, inspired by works such as François Boucher’s Triumph of Venus, 1740, in which Venus reclines in a seashell accompanied by sea creatures and various emblems of love, the artist eschews discernable figures with coarse brushwork that recalls the fluidity of water. Noting the story of the birth of Venus, Yukhnovich describes: “I was immediately drawn to the idea of her body being made of the water… There is a tendency for water and the sea to be spoken about as female — fluid and soft but also capricious and destructive.”i Like the stories and myths she alludes to, Yuknovich invites myriad readings of Stiff Peaks, consciously encouraging viewers to imagine the details within her sumptuous work.
i Flora Yukhnovich, quoted in “Flora Yukhnovich – Venus Paintings,” Victoria Miro: Vortic XR, March 2–7, 2021, online
Provenance
Victoria Miro, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner
321
Stiff Peaks
signed and dated "Flora Yukhnovich 2021" on the overlap
oil on linen
31 1/2 x 27 1/2 in. (80 x 69.9 cm)
Painted in 2021.
Estimate
$70,000 - 100,000
Sold for $630,000
Patrizia Koenig
Specialist, Head of Day Sale, Afternoon Session
+1 212 940 1279
pkoenig@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session
New York Auction 19 May 2022
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