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"It is important that painting always be new for me."
—Robert Ryman, 2004In 2004, Robert Ryman shockingly declared that he had painted his first “white paintings.” This came as a surprise to most, as the artist had been known to paint in almost exclusively white pigments for the prior five decades. Upon further explanation, Ryman clarified that his previous paintings were executed in the most neutral palette he could envision, which just so happened to be white. His paintings from 2004, as the present example, marked his deliberate choice of white as his very subject matter.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, 1871. Musée d'Orsay, ParisSeries #25 (White) belongs to a discreet body of 33 square “white paintings” executed between 2003-2005, marked by their distinctive titling Series # (White). The series is further differentiated from the artist’s earlier work by the dark primed surface, to which white paint was systematically applied in four different “shades” of the color. In the present work, Ryman applied a thinner, atmospheric wash of white paint to the left of the composition, inviting the darker ground to seductively peek through the surface. At center, a mass of explosive brushwork ranging from opaque to slightly translucent extends across the canvas, engendering an amorphous form that bursts from the canvas. Here, the artist works the paint deeply into the ground, revealing the push and pull of his brush that at once suggests spatial recession and chromatic illumination. The sharp contrast between dark and light causes a sensorial reverberation across the canvas that pulsates with energy before the viewer’s eyes.
Yayoi Kusama, No. F., 1959. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Image: © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY, Artwork: © 2021 Yayoi KusamaWith the “white paintings,” Ryman situates himself amongst a lineage of artists who have pushed the boundaries of painterly limits in black-and-white. Ryman’s Series #25 (White) particularly recalls Franz Kline’s Painting No. 7, 1952 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, which fuses gestural velocity with structural elegance to energize the most elementary of chromatic parings. His “white paintings” further echo Yayoi Kusama’s famed Infinity Nets series, which too reveal an obsession with color, repetition, and form.
Franz Kline, Painting No. 7, 1952. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Artwork: © 2021 The Franz Kline Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkBy declaring the color white as the subject of his painting, Ryman invites viewers to contemplate whether Series #25 (White) is abstract or figurative. The white form which hovers above the dark ground is both purely illusionistic and perhaps allegoric of things seen in reality. Occupying the liminal space between the abstract and referential, Ryman’s Series #25 (White) embodies the new era in the artist’s oeuvre that drew from his past and simultaneously launched him on a novel path.
Provenance
PaceWildenstein, New York
Private Collection (acquired from the above in 2004)
Pace Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present ownerExhibited
New York, PaceWildenstein, Robert Ryman, November 19, 2004 – January 8, 2005, p. 53 (illustrated, pp. 18, 19)
New York, Richard L. Feigen & Co., Sublime Convergence: Gothic to the Abstract, May - June 15, 2007, n.p. (illustrated)
Property of a Scandinavian Collector
Ο◆30
Series #25 (White)
signed, titled and dated "Ryman 04 "SERIES #25" (WHITE)" on the overlap
oil and gesso on canvas
18 x 18 in. (45.7 x 45.7 cm)
Executed in 2004.
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being organized by David Gray under number 2004.025.
Estimate
$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,421,500
Amanda Lo Iacono
New York Head of Department & Head of Auctions
+1 212 940 1278
aloiacono@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
New York Auction 17 November 2021
1
Shara Hughes
Inside Outside
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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2
Jadé Fadojutimi
My Umbrella Has A Nourishing Disguise
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
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3
Ewa Juszkiewicz
Girl in Blue
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
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4
Kwesi Botchway
Green Sofa
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5
Titus Kaphar
Fade With Time
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
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6
David Hammons
Puzzling Times
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
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7
Raymond Pettibon
No Title (Let him come...)
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $3,418,000
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8
Joan Mitchell
Untitled
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $11,870,000
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9
Georgia O'Keeffe
Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $7,748,000
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10
Alexander Calder
White Moon
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,628,000
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11
Cecily Brown
Untitled
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $6,140,500
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12
Willem de Kooning
Composition
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
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13
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,692,000
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14
This lot is no longer available.
15
Amy Sherald
Welfare Queen
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $3,902,000
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16
Francis Bacon
'Pope with Owls'
Estimate $35,000,000 - 45,000,000
Sold for $33,000,000
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17
Luc Tuymans
Wallpaper
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,250,000
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18
Pierre Bonnard
Panier de fruit
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $4,991,000
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19
Honor Titus
Linden Blvd Jazz Radio
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $163,800
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20
Matthew Wong
Time After Time
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
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21
Avery Singer
European Ego Ideal
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,500,000
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22
Mark Tansey
Garden
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $2,934,000
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23
KAWS
THE WAY HE KNOWS
Estimate $850,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $1,542,500
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24
Wassily Kandinsky
Fliessend
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25
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (from Famous Negro Athlete Series)
Estimate $750,000 - 1,100,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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26
Peter Saul
Ice Box #3
Estimate $350,000 - 450,000
Sold for $441,000
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27
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (The Door)
Estimate $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for $8,549,500
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28
Emily Mae Smith
Feast and Famine
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $1,361,000
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29
Gerhard Richter
Weiß (White)
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $5,717,000
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30
Robert Ryman
Series #25 (White)
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,421,500
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31
Frank Stella
Double Concentric Square
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,500,000
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32
Carmen Herrera
Amarillo y Negro
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $630,000
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33
Andy Warhol
The Last Supper/Be a Somebody with a Body
Estimate $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for $6,806,000
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34
Christopher Wool
Blue Fool
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,179,500
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35
This lot is no longer available.
36
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Six PM, Malaga
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
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37
Mickalene Thomas
Portrait of Qusuquzah #5
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $504,000
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38
Mike Kelley
Memory Ware Flat #3
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,179,500
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39
George Condo
Collision Course
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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40
Bruce Nauman
Untitled (from Fifteen Pairs of Hands)
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $983,000
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41
David Hammons
Untitled
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $3,660,000
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42
Nicolas Party
Houses
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $1,724,000
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43
Hurvin Anderson
Country Club—Mixed Doubles
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $604,800
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44
Max Ernst
Ohne Titel (les hommes ne le sauront jamais)
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $504,000
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45
Max Ernst
Kachina, le chien de Peggy Guggenheim
Estimate $280,000 - 350,000
Sold for $277,200
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46
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $786,250
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47
Reggie Burrows Hodges
On the Verge: Green
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $567,000
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48
Max Ernst
Portrait de Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $176,400
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