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“I think the element of timelessness is really fascinating with painting because there's so much tradition attached to it.”
— Nicolas PartyNicolas Party’s Still Life is anything but still. Alive with rhythm and movement, vibrantly saturated fruit twist and sway under a brilliant pervading light that catches onto their contours, casting warm shadows over their rounded curves. Executed in 2017, the technicoloured canvas is a particularly captivating piece from Party’s oeuvre, seducing viewers in with a magnetic quality that is so abundantly rich you can all but taste his fantastical take on reality.
The Identifiable and The Illusional
“I want to grab the audience directly and ‘lock’ them in the work as long as possible. When the viewer is inside the painting, my hope is that its complexity can be revealed. You stay inside it because you feel that there is still something there that you don’t see.”
— Nicolas PartyParty was born in 1980 in Lausanne, a Swiss city situated on the banks of Lake Geneva overlooking the imposing Alps. This upbringing in such an idyllic environment clearly figures in Party’s acute fascination with the natural world as whilst the gemstone shapes in Still Life are recognisable as pears and gourds, in a layered formation their sloping poses also conjure a landscape of rolling hills foregrounding pointed mountain peaks. With a flair for the uncanny, Party pushes this effect into overdrive through anthropomorphising their organic forms like the dancing flowers of early Disney, intensifying the sense of mystery by ‘see[ing] all [his] motifs as independent characters… approach[ing] them by applying a personality to them.’i
The Dance of the Reed Flutes, from Walt Disney’s Fantasia, 1940
Working in the medium of pastel, Party intimately applies the soft chalk directly to the canvas with his fingertips using techniques popularised in the late 17th Century through the beginning of the 18th Century. In employing a material that requires you to work with great precision, the artist observes: ‘oils allow you to endlessly retouch. With pastels it’s kind of the exact opposite. You can layer and layer, but you can’t start over. The nature of the medium is much more direct. Nothing dries or is wet – it stays exactly how it is’. iiJuxtaposing this homage to art-making modes of the past, however, is the fact that Party also spent 10 years working as a 3D animator, and thus the graphic quality to his smoothly rendered subjects is perhaps also informed by his interest in digital art. This individual combination of skills and knowledge allows the artist to amplify the physical presence of his motifs as he presents their forms in unique and revelatory ways.
A Dialogue with Art History
Although Party’s work is unbeholden to time or place, it echoes many of the artists who came before him. Under the genre of still life, a dialogue certainly exists between the assemblage of crops in the present work and the compositional strategies of painters such as Paul Cezanne, Euan Uglow and René Magritte. At the same time, having cited early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico’s frescoes at the San Marco in Florence as a source of inspiration, one can also detect similarities between both artist’s treatment of light, shadow and hue, such as in the rippling robes in The Sermon on the Mount (1437) and the undulating gourds centring the present work.
Fra Angelico, The Sermon on the Mount, 1437
Collection of the Convent of San Marco, Florence
Paul Cezanne, Sugarbowl, Pears and Tablecloth, 1984
Collection of the Pola Museum of Art, Hakone
René Magritte, Le Chant d'Amour, 1967
Collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Belgium
© 2021 C. Herscovici, Brussels /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York-
Fra Angelico, The Sermon on the Mount, 1437
Collection of the Convent of San Marco, Florence -
Paul Cezanne, Sugarbowl, Pears and Tablecloth, 1984
Collection of the Pola Museum of Art, Hakone
Party’s colour palette further connects his canvas to Expressionism and the Fauvists, with the primary-coloured oeuvre of Franz Marc particularly coming to mind. And much as a more contemporary comparison can be made to the curvaceous fruits by Fernando Botero, Party’s preference for pastels as a painter aligns to the belief of Impressionist master Edgar Degas who too, favoured the medium for its spontaneity. But despite the fact that this substantial interweaving of art historical influences should amount to somewhat of a ‘Frankensteinian plurality’, ‘instead, these appropriative compositions cohere into something seamlessly Party’.iii
Edgar Degas, La sortie du bain, 1985
© Peter Schlesinger
Franz Marc, The Dream, 1912
Collection of Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Fernando Botero, Oranges, 1997
© Fernando Botero-
Edgar Degas, La sortie du bain, 1985
© Peter Schlesinger -
Franz Marc, The Dream, 1912
Collection of Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Whilst the composition showcases distinct references to the history of painting, Party reinvigorates traditional artistic subjects with his signature aesthetic that slips between the nostalgic and futuristic and is immediately recognisable. Building on this are his motifs that too, are universal in their visual language, such as the pear that symbolises immortality and prosperity in ancient Chinese culture, grace and nobility in Korea, abundance in Greek and Roman mythology, and Christ’s love in Renaissance religious paintings. Bathed in a warm, inviting luminosity that immerses the viewer, there is a timelessness to Still Life that encourages a closer look at the evolution of representation, perfectly exemplifying Party’s idiosyncratic vision.
“I don’t have much interest in what could be labelled as ‘reality’. I’m more interested in the signs, symbols and codes we’ve created for reality.”
— Nicolas PartyCollector’s Digest
Party is considered as one of the most successful and critically acclaimed artists working today. He has been honoured with numerous solo exhibitions in the past decade in key international venues, including that of Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles (2020); The FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2019); The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2019, 2018, 2016, 2013); M WOODS, Beijing (2018); and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2017); amongst many others.
Switzerland’s MASI Lugano is currently presenting Party’s first extensive retrospective. Titled Nicolas Party – Rovine , the major exhibition opened on 27 June 2021, and will run until 9 January 2022. In Dijon, France, the Consortium Museum is also hosting a solo show of Party’s work, Nicolas Party. Boilly, which commenced on 7 July 2021 and will close on 9 January 2022. Additionally, a solo exhibition titled Nicolas Party | Stage Fright opened at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hannover on 12 September 2021 and will run until 9 January 2022.
Party’s work is represented in over 30 public collections worldwide, including K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Long Museum, Shanghai; Fondazione Fiera Milano, Milan; M WOODS, Beijing; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; and the Rubell Family Collection, Miami.
Nicolas Party: In the Studio, June 2019
Video Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth
i Nicolas Party, quoted in Olivier Zahm, ‘Nicolas Party’, Purple Magazine, 5 October 2020, online
ii (the artist cited in Ted Loos, “Artist Nicolas Party Revives the Language of Pastel”, Cultured Mag, 17 March 2019
iii Annie Godfrey Larmon, ‘Nicolas Party’, Artforum, 2 December 2017, online
Provenance
Kaufmann Repetto, Milan
Private Collection
Acquired from the above by the present ownerArtist Biography
Nicolas Party
Nicolas Party (b. 1980) is a Swiss visual artist living and working in New York City and Brussels.
He received his BFA from the Lausanne School of Art in 2004 and his MFA from the Glasgow
School of Art, in Glasgow, Scotland in 2009. Party’s works on paper and canvas are most often done
in colorful soft pastel, the most common subject matter being fantastical still life and portraits.Recent solo exhibitions include Karma, New York (2021–22, 2017); Le Consortium,
Dijon, France (2021); Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp, Cully, Switzerland (2021); MASI
Lugano, Switzerland (2021); Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles (2020); Xavier Hufkens,
Brussels (2019); Modern Institute, Glasgow (2019); M Woods Museum, Beijing
(2018); Magritte Museum, Brussels (2018); Kaufmann Repetto, Milan (2018);
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016); and Dallas Museum of Art (2016). Party’s
work is represented in the collections of the David Roberts Art Foundation, London;
Migros Museum, Zurich; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; and the Sifang Art
Museum, Nanjing, China.
Property from a European Collection
20
Still Life
signed and dated 'Nicolas Party 2017' on the reverse
soft pastel on linen
150 x 130 cm. (59 x 51 1/8 in.)
Executed in 2017.
Estimate
HK$6,200,000 - 9,400,000
€702,000-1,060,000
$795,000-1,210,000
Sold for HK$17,190,000
Charlotte Raybaud
Head of Evening Sale, 20th Century & Contemporary Art
+852 2318 2026
CharlotteRaybaud@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in Association with Poly Auction
Hong Kong Auction 30 November 2021
1
Cinga Samson
Ivory V
Estimate HK$250,000 - 350,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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2
Salman Toor
East Village Iqbal Bano
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$4,536,000
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3
Nina Chanel Abney
Untitled (IXI Black)
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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4
Jamian Juliano-Villani
Clear Cough from Your Schedule
Estimate HK$200,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$781,200
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5
Mr.
Yume—Breath of the Earth
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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6
Julie Curtiss
Escargot
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$1,449,000
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7
Javier Calleja
30 works: Untitled
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$12,108,000
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8
Javier Calleja
You Me
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for HK$7,026,000
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9
Aya Takano
In the Lab (the Birth of Jelly)
Estimate HK$200,000 - 300,000
Sold for HK$441,000
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10
Hernan Bas
Minimalism (cracking the code)
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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11
Joel Mesler
Untitled (Night Out)
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$1,512,000
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12
Shara Hughes
Magic Island
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$4,788,000
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13
Scott Kahn
Cadman Plaza
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$7,510,000
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14
Matthew Wong
Nature’s Church
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$9,204,000
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15
Matthew Wong
Far Away Eyes
Estimate HK$8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for HK$21,183,000
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16
Gerhard Richter
Kerzenschein (Candle-light)
Estimate HK$55,000,000 - 75,000,000
Sold for HK$101,970,000
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17
This lot is no longer available.
18
Yayoi Kusama
INFINITY-NETS (OPRT)
Estimate HK$15,000,000 - 25,000,000
Sold for HK$22,635,000
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19
Yayoi Kusama
Repetition
Estimate HK$15,000,000 - 20,000,000
Sold for HK$19,005,000
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20
Nicolas Party
Still Life
Estimate HK$6,200,000 - 9,400,000
Sold for HK$17,190,000
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21
David Hockney
Bridlington Violets
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$12,350,000
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22
Léonard-Tsuguharu Foujita
Self-Portrait with a Cat
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$5,292,000
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23
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24
Sanyu
Paysage Aux Hirondelles
Estimate HK$26,000,000 - 46,000,000
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25
Zao Wou-Ki
Sans titre ("Notre Dame")
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$10,051,000
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26
Zao Wou-Ki
Brume d’automne
Estimate HK$4,500,000 - 7,500,000
Sold for HK$4,788,000
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27
Auguste Rodin
Le Baiser, 1ère réduction dite aussi "réduction n°1"
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$11,745,000
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28
Zao Wou-Ki
20.3.64.
Estimate HK$20,000,000 - 30,000,000
Sold for HK$22,030,000
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29
This lot is no longer available.
30
Alexander Calder
Two Red Petals in the Air
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 20,000,000
Sold for HK$20,820,000
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31
Claude Monet
Pavots dans un vase de Chine
Estimate HK$9,500,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$13,560,000
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32
Georges Mathieu
Saxifrage
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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33
This lot is no longer available.
34
Huang Yuxing
Floating Bubbles
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$2,772,000
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35
Zhou Chunya
Smell the Flowers
Estimate HK$5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for HK$6,905,000
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36
This lot is no longer available.
37
Liu Ye
Flagship No. 2
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$5,922,000
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38
Wang Xingwei
Untitled (Heart-Shaped Dance)
Estimate HK$2,800,000 - 4,800,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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39
Liu Ye
Untitled
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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40
Liu Wei
You Like Smoking?
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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41
Izumi Kato
Untitled
Estimate HK$4,500,000 - 7,500,000
Sold for HK$11,745,000
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42
Yoshitomo Nara
Pandora's Box
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$13,560,000
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43
George Condo
The Dreamer
Estimate HK$4,600,000 - 6,200,000
Sold for HK$11,140,000
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44
George Condo
Entangled Figures
Estimate HK$6,200,000 - 9,200,000
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45
This lot is no longer available.
46
KAWS
NEW YORK
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$5,040,000
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47
KAWS
FINAL DAYS
Estimate HK$6,200,000 - 8,200,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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48
Raymond Pettibon
Untitled (Force makes nature...)
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$3,906,000
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49
Robert Nava
Angel Shark
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$4,410,000
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50
Susumu Kamijo
Marching To The Sun
Estimate HK$450,000 - 650,000
Sold for HK$2,142,000
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51
Jadé Fadojutimi
Fishing For Steps
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 2,200,000
Sold for HK$4,788,000
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52
Mickalene Thomas
Looking Up from the She Works Hard For the Money Pin-Up series
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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53
Billie Zangewa
Cirque d'hiver
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$567,000
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54
Godwin Champs Namuyimba
The Connector
Estimate HK$200,000 - 400,000
Sold for HK$1,323,000
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55
Tunji Adeniyi-Jones
Blue Ancestor
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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56
Tomoo Gokita
Final Confrontation
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 2,200,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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57
Ewa Juszkiewicz
Appropriation
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$1,890,000
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58
Lucas Arruda
Untitled from the series Deserto-Modelo
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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