Provenance
Anthony D'Offay Gallery, London
Marguerite and Robert Hoffman, Dallas
James Cohan Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
London, Anthony d’Offay Gallery, Ron Mueck, September 5 – December 9, 2000
Dusseldorf, K21 Kunstsammlung im Standehaus, Startkapital, April 20 – September 8, 2002 (artist’s proof exhibited)
Dusseldorf, K21 Kunstsammlung im Standehaus, Sammlung Kunst der Gegenwart, July 2 – September 18, 2005, p. 168 (artist’s proof exhibited and illustrated, p. 167)
Houston, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Ron Mueck, June 24 – October 21, 2007
Southbank, National Gallery of Victoria; Brisbane, Queensland Art Gallery; Christchurch, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Ron Mueck, January 22, 2010 – January 23, 2011, p. 147
Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Ron Mueck, February 26 – August 13, 2017
Literature
Craig Raine, “Ron Mueck”, Aréte, no. 4, winter, 2000, pp. 119-120
Plateau of Humankind, exh. cat., XXXXIX Biennale , Venice, 2001, p. 106
Julian Heynan ed., Sammlung Ackermans: K21Kunstsammlung Nordrheim-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, 2002 (artist's proof detail illustrated, p. 31; artist's proof illustrated, p. 119)
Continuity/Transgression, exh. cat., National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2002, p. 72
Ron Mueck, exh. cat., National Gallery, London, 2003, pp. 41, 56-57 (illustrated, p. 57)
Alison Roberts, “Plastic Fantastic," The Guardian, April 20, 2003 (online)
Heiner Bastian ed., Ron Mueck, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2005, no. 16, pp. 46-47, 76 (illustrated)
Sue Spaid, “Ron Mueck”, ArtUS, no. 20, winter, 2007, p. 59
Ron Mueck, exh. cat., 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2008, p. 19 (illustrated)
Ron Mueck, exh. cat. Fondation Cartier, Paris, 2013, pp. 184-85, 222 (illustrated)
Craig Raine, More Dynamite: Essays 1990-2012, London, 2013, p. 455
Susie Tommaney, “MFAH Brings Hauntingly Realistic Figures to Houston in ‘Ron Mueck,'" Houston Press, February 13, 2017 (illustrated online)
Stephanie Eckhardt, “Ron Mueck’s Giant Sculptures of People are Mesmerizing, Very Unsettling," W Magazine, February 21, 2017 (illustrated online)
Molly Glentzer, “Two Exhibits Take Vastly Different Approaches to Exploring our Existence," Houston Chronicle, March 3, 2017 (illustrated online)
Catalogue Essay
Achieving unparalleled verisimilitude and commanding an arresting position between the natural and the surreal, Ron Mueck’s Man in Blankets, 2000, provides a captivating thesis on the human condition. As one of the most intimate works in the artist’s oeuvre, here Mueck has created a miniaturized likeness of a sleeping man, swaddled in womb-like folds of felt. Disquieting in its hyper-reality, this presentation of an elderly subject as a child deftly probes notions of human care and the cycle of mortality. Providing an all-too-real allegory of truth and lies, it was sculptures similar to the present one that first captivated influential collector Charles Saatchi, who subsequently acquired many of Mueck’s works and included the artist in the groundbreaking Sensation exhibition of 1997 that launched the YBA movement. Created in 2000, when Mueck began his two year tenure as Associate Artist at the National Gallery in London, this important work stems from a crucial point in the artist’s career and stands as testament to his enduring institutional recognition across the globe, evidenced most recently in his solo exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 2017 and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in 2018.

It is Mueck’s unparalleled virtuosity and ability to capture an uncanny essence off humanity that has sustained his widespread appreciation. Mueck builds works such as Man in Blankets through a multilayered process that begins with drawing and transitions through clay maquettes that are then cast in fiber glass. These casts are painted with meticulous detail and applied with human hair. From the corporal translucency of the skin, to the varied depth of wrinkles, enlarged pores and facial stubble, it is the virtuosic micro-detailing of Man in Blankets that imbues the figure with a captivating realism that we are instantly drawn to recognize elements of ourselves within. Mueck’s perpetual play with scale soon shatters this illusion however, and we experience a profound sense of distance as we realize that the humanity we view is merely a projection, a facade. The artist has neatly summarized this deep sense of intrigue: “I never made life-size figures because it never seemed to be interesting. We meet life-size people every day” (Ron Mueck, quoted in Sarah Tanguy, “The Progress Big Man A Conversation with Ron Mueck”, Sculpture, vol. 26, no. 6, July-August 2003, online).

The exquisitely molded furrows of the figure's brow all gather towards an emotional intensity that elicits an empathetic reaction from the viewer. But the social dimension of this empathy is confused by Mueck’s challenge to scale and identity. The swaddled figure is far closer to the size of a newborn baby than an elderly male. Sleeping tensely in the fetal position, the figure presented in Man with Blankets, offers a compendium of the cycle of life – from birth to old age – with an emotive thread of vulnerability binding this holistic arc. Crucially the blanket sets up a theatrical viewing situation in which we peer into the orifice-like opening to enter the soft psychological realm of the infantilized sleeping adult. As such, it is reminiscent of Marcel Duchamp’s last major artwork, Étant donnés, 1946-66, which showed the tableau of a nude female visible only through two small peepholes. But unlike Duchamp, Mueck plays with a less sinister voyeurism by privileging the beauty of human vulnerability. Tensely sleeping in a dream state, between anguish and comfort, Man in Blankets provides a moving portrait of the fragility and temporality of human life.

15

Ron Mueck

Man in Blankets

mixed media
15 x 18 x 28 in. (38.1 x 45.7 x 71.1 cm)
Executed in 2000, this work is number 1 from an edition of 1 plus 1 artist's proof.

Estimate
$500,000 - 700,000

Sold for $447,000

Contact Specialist
Amanda Lo Iacono
Head of Evening Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1278
aloiacono@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 17 May 2018

1
Jenny Holzer
Truisms: UNEX sign
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $471,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
2
Cory Arcangel
Photoshop CS: 84 by 66 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient, "Blue, Red, Yellow" (turn reverse off), mousedown x=4000 y=5350, mouse up x=20000 y=1200
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $399,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
3
Pat Steir
Elective Affinity Waterfall
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $2,295,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
4
George Condo
Red Head
Estimate $900,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,815,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
5
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Flexible
Estimate On Request
Sold for $45,315,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
6
Willem de Kooning
Untitled 13
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $4,155,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
7
Joan Mitchell
Hours
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $2,775,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
8
Robert Motherwell
At Five in the Afternoon
Estimate $12,000,000 - 18,000,000
Sold for $12,690,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
9
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, Attese
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,015,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
10No Reserve
Anselm Kiefer
Laßt 1000 Blumen blühen (Let 1000 Flowers bloom)
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000 •
Sold for $1,215,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
11
Mark Bradford
Black Venus
Estimate $5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for $6,052,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
12
Gerhard Richter
Italienische Landschaft (Italian Landscape)
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $4,095,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
13
Gerhard Richter
Abstraktes Bild (811-2)
Estimate $12,000,000 - 18,000,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
14
Andy Warhol
Last Supper
Estimate $8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for $8,232,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
15
Ron Mueck
Man in Blankets
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $447,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
16
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Magic Worms)
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,139,750
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
17
Cy Twombly
Untitled (Ramifications)
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,455,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
18
Sigmar Polke
Stadtbild II (City Painting II)
Estimate $12,000,000 - 18,000,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
19
Arshile Gorky
Untitled (Study for Mural)
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $275,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
20
René Magritte
La grande table
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,295,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
21
Henry Moore
Working Model for Draped Reclining Mother and Baby
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $4,215,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
22
This lot is no longer available.
23
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate $5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for $5,940,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
24
Georg Baselitz
Schwarze Säule (Black Column)
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,327,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
25
This lot is no longer available.
26No Reserve
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Free Standing Large Garden Sculpture Mask M24.g)
Estimate $500,000 - 800,000 •
Sold for $519,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
27
Wayne Thiebaud
Valley Ranch
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,815,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
28
Kerry James Marshall
Untitled (Blanket Couple)
Estimate $3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for $4,335,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
29
This lot is no longer available.
30
Andy Warhol
16 Flowers
Estimate $5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for $5,377,500
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
31
Adrian Ghenie
Elvis
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $519,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
32
Andy Warhol
Two Marilyns
Estimate $3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for $3,200,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
33
Donald Judd
Untitled
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $2,655,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
34
Cady Noland
Tower of Terror
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,207,501
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
35
Luc Tuymans
Model
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.
36
Fernando Botero
Yellow Niña
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $555,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
37
Anish Kapoor
Untitled
Estimate $550,000 - 750,000
Sold for $735,000
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
38
Maurizio Cattelan
Museums League
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $27,500
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

New York Auction 17 May 2018

Create your first list.

Provenance

Exhibited

Literature

Catalogue Essay

15

Ron Mueck

Man in Blankets

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.