100
Robert Watts
Rembrandt, from Old and New Masters
- Estimate
- $5,000 - 7,000
$6,250
Lot Details
Neon sign in yellow, with six tubing elements, mounted to a white acrylic box (as issued).
1973
10 5/8 x 40 1/4 x 8 in. (27 x 102.2 x 20.3 cm)
A unique variant from a c.1964-1980s series that included at least one other variant of “Rembrandt” with unique tubing elements as well as other variants that depicted the signatures of other artists, fabricated by Electric Gallery, Toronto.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
The wry “Old and New Master” series faced off against an increasingly commoditized art market. By fabricating the signatures of other notable artists such as Picasso and Matisse, as well as his own, Watts made an irony out of originality. Depictions of the same artist’s name may have featured different versions of the signature as well as other unique variations of fabrication, color or support. Based upon all evidence available to the Robert Watts Studio Archive, this work hung at the Art Basel art fair of 1973.