Provenance
Luhring Augustine, New York
Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Inc., Moscow
Private Collection, Russia (acquired from the above)
Phillips, London, 9 February 2016, lot 43
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
Moscow, Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Inc., George Condo: Artificial Realism, 15 May - 14 August 2008, p. 20 (illustrated, pp. 21-23)
Catalogue Essay
Bridging the grotesque and the beautiful in Woman & Man, George Condo masterfully deconstructs the complex workings of the mind and human perception. Uniting elements of Old Master painting with those of late Modernists, Condo forms a labyrinthine amalgamation of style that is both expressive and replete with rich art historical references. Just as Condo manipulates his painterly subjects, he manipulates the emotions of his viewers who are left in an uncomfortable state of turmoil, reflective of the painting’s oscillation between contradictory emotional states.

It is not just time whose boundaries are warped and obliterated in Condo’s paintings. Terming his style ‘psychological cubism’, Condo erases preconceived notions of visual perception. Presenting the viewer with psychological images representative of what the mind, not the eye, sees, his images sway into caricature as the inner states of their subjects are pulled forward and refracted across the composition. The viewer is pulled into the portrait’s visceral intensity. Teeth, visible in many of Condo’s portraits, especially those of his signature recurring fictional character Rodrigo, are reminiscent of the haunting teeth evident in the canvases of Francis Bacon. Each artist externalises the internal. Drawing on myriad influences, Condo builds new layers into his already multi-faceted psychological cubism, three different sets of teeth are presented in conflicting styles and viewpoints.

Condo’s experimentation with line and form, in accordance with the bold use of colour, attributes the canvas its own discordant lyricism as the viewer’s eye is softly led up the gentle curve of the woman’s hair before reaching its violent crescendo in the man’s agonised expression. The strong jaw and classically rounded breasts of the woman resemble the conventional figures of Pablo Picasso’s Three Women at the Spring, 1921, and yet the abstraction inevitably draws comparisons with Picasso’s cubist portraits. The enmeshed male and female figures in Woman and Man also echo Picasso’s abstracted lovers whilst bordering on the disconcerting. Fluctuating between tenderness, intimacy and an aggressive invasion of each other’s beings, their psychological states bleed into one another and filter into the crimson backdrop. This application of a single block red colour, in addition to the cubist presentation of picture planes, flattens the canvas and acts as a psychosomatic springboard upon which the viewer’s emotions are guided. The unnervingly sweet smile of the woman is rendered particularly disturbing through her counterpart’s abject horror. A single eye situated centrally and closed off in its own yellow triangle alludes to the all-seeing eye of God, or providence, and penetrates the viewer in its attempt to free us from traditional ways of viewing art.

Initially working for Andy Warhol at the Factory in New York in the 1980s, Condo left to pursue his own artistic technique. Diverging from the styles employed by fellow artists, Condo was heavily influenced by Francisco Goya, Frans Hals, Willem de Kooning and Picasso: ‘There was a new wave of figurative art going on in New York then, with Basquiat, and Schnabel, and Keith Haring and a few others, but I didn’t want to be part of that. I felt I had to come back to New York with a statement that would stand up against Andy Warhol’s soup cans. And the irony was that it turned out to be Old Master painting’ (George Condo, quoted in Calvin Tomkins, ‘Portraits of Imaginary People’, The New Yorker, 17 January 2011, online). Fascinated by the emotional expressionism prevalent in Old Master painting, Condo portrays his interest in surface pattern and the play of light. Sliding between conflicting picture planes in Woman & Man, we are also dragged between the overtly sensitive and intense portraits of Goya, who had allowed fantastical creatures to pervade his compositions, introducing, like Condo, a nightmare world.

The coexistence of abstraction and figuration within Woman & Man creates an interrelationship of painterly language that attempts to liberate the medium from the art historical canon. Condo’s playfully grotesque images offer a Freudian view of the uncanny, creating imaginative portraits that demonstrate a unique vision and a keen artistic awareness for preceding artistic traditions. Subverting the genre of portraiture, a genre traditionally designed to promote the subject, naturalistic portraiture rings hollow before the truth that is brought forward by Condo’s paintbrush. It is through this massacre of forms that the viewer best experiences the inner turmoil and psychological drama Condo is attempting to represent.

Illuminated by a single light source, suggestive of traditional methods of portraiture, Woman & Man sheds new light on a genre of painting that attempts to convey the multifaceted nature of humanity through its dismissal of the chronological progression of art history. Condo’s works become a collation of all the images that have inspired him. The resulting imaginary realities, fantastic beings that invade the mind, become a new form of truth in which the human psyche is revealed in its true complexity. Meandering between high art and popular culture, Condo explores and infiltrates every aspect of our consciousness forcing us to question aestheticism. Exemplary of the artist’s ability to forge new realms of imagination and appreciation, Woman & Man masterfully allows the viewer to step beyond aesthetic comfort zones and embrace the honest liberality of this new style of portraiture.
Artist Biography
George Condo
American • 1957
Picasso once said, "Good artists borrow, great artists steal." Indeed, American artist George Condo frequently cites Picasso as an explicit source in his contemporary cubist compositions and joyous use of paint. Condo is known for neo-Modernist compositions staked in wit and the grotesque, which draw the eye into a highly imaginary world.
Condo came up in the New York art world at a time when art favored brazen innuendo and shock. Student to Warhol, best friend to Basquiat and collaborator with William S. Burroughs, Condo tracked a different path. He was drawn to the endless inquiries posed by the aesthetics and formal considerations of Caravaggio, Rembrandt and the Old Masters.
View More Works

Ο◆24

George Condo

Woman & Man

signed and dated 'Condo '08' on the reverse
oil on canvas, in artist's frame
221.5 x 195.8 cm (87 1/4 x 77 1/8 in.)
Painted in 2008.

Estimate
£600,000 - 800,000 ‡

Sold for £1,329,000

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

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London Auction 8 March 2018

1
Jack Whitten
Bright Moments: For R.R. Kirk
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £333,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
2
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Politics
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ♠
Sold for £273,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
3
Wolfgang Tillmans
Greifbar 27
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ♠
Sold for £465,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
4
Gilbert & George
The Man
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £321,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
5
Allen Jones
T-riffic
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £705,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
6
Henry Moore
Family Group
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £393,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
7
Marino Marini
Piccolo Cavaliere
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £422,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
8
Henry Moore
Two Three-Quarter Figures on Base
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £729,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
9
Henri Matisse
Nu allongé I (Aurore)
Estimate £5,000,000 - 7,000,000 ♠
Sold for £14,859,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
10
Pablo Picasso
La Dormeuse
Estimate £12,000,000 - 18,000,000 ‡♠
Sold for £41,859,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
11
Lucian Freud
Small Naked Portrait
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £789,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
12
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £609,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
13
Marlene Dumas
The Pilgrim
Estimate £1,500,000 - 2,000,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,674,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
14
Mark Bradford
Helter Skelter I
Estimate £6,000,000 - 8,000,000 ‡
Sold for £8,671,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
15
Luc Tuymans
Singing in the Rain
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £729,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
16
Albert Oehlen
Untitled
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £345,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
17
Georg Baselitz
P.D. Idol
Estimate £1,500,000 - 2,000,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,830,300
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
18
Anselm Kiefer
Die Meistersinger
Estimate £1,500,000 - 2,000,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,809,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
19
Sigmar Polke
Untitled
Estimate £800,000 - 1,200,000 ‡♠
Sold for £969,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
20
Albert Oehlen
Omegasachen-35
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £465,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
21
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £4,000,000 - 6,000,000 ‡♠
Sold for £5,746,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
22
Yves Klein
Monochrome rose sans titre (MP 27)
Estimate £800,000 - 1,200,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,029,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
23
David Hockney
Bridlington Violets
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £609,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
24
George Condo
Woman & Man
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,329,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
25
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #220
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡
Sold for £175,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
26
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
Estimate £1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for £1,089,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
27
Jean Dubuffet
Profil Genre Aztèque
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ♠†
Sold for £1,449,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
28
Max Ernst
Colombe blanche
Estimate £350,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £393,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
29
Max Ernst
Le Surréalisme et la peinture
Estimate £350,000 - 450,000 ‡♠
Sold for £429,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
30
This lot is no longer available.
31
Marcel Duchamp
Feuille de vigne femelle
Estimate £300,000 - 400,000 ♠
Sold for £501,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
32
Andy Warhol
Diamond Dust Shoes (Pink)
Estimate £1,400,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
33
This lot is no longer available.
34
Damien Hirst
Beautiful, Half a Red Headless Centipede (Painting)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £273,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
35
Sean Scully
Grey Red
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,149,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
36
Pierre Soulages
Peinture 130 x 162 cm, 12 mai 1965
Estimate £800,000 - 1,200,000 ♠
Sold for £933,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
37
Manolo Millares
Cuadro 128
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡♠
Sold for £206,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
38
Raymond Hains
Tôle
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡♠
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
39
Roman Opałka
OPALKA 1965/1 – ∞ DETAIL 5210331 - 5226270
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
40
Enrico Castellani
Superficie bianca
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £267,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
41
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, Attese
Estimate £650,000 - 850,000 ‡♠
Sold for £669,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
42
Jesús Rafael Soto
Métal sur le Losange
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000
Sold for £321,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
43
Günther Uecker
Reihung
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £249,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
44
Jan Schoonhoven
R72-73-M-14
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £441,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
45
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
46
Josef Albers
Homage to the Square
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000
Sold for £381,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
47
Adrian Ghenie
Found
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £249,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
48
Damien Hirst
Without You
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ♠
Sold for £585,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
49
Damien Hirst
Apparition
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £609,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
50
Cecily Brown
Skulldiver II
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £513,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London Auction 8 March 2018

Create your first list.

Provenance

Exhibited

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

George Condo

Ο◆24

George Condo

Woman & Man

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.