Provenance
Frith Street Gallery, London; Private Collection, Germany
Catalogue Essay
Although primarily known as a sculptor, Thomas Schütte's diverse practice ranges from drawing to model making to installation. These varying approaches allow him to constantly bring fresh perspectives to his ongoing exploration of the human condition and the complexities and contradictions of mankind's behaviour. Doppelkopf (Double Head), a contemporary interpretation of the two-faced Roman deity Janus, powerfully suggests the schizophrenic nature of human psychology. With their rusty, blood-ochre skin and deeply frowned brows, the eerie faces' exaggerated physiognomies exude the same sombre mood which permeates all of Schütte's figurative sculptures.
Sculptural portraiture and the human figure have been a recurring theme for Schütte since the early 1980s. Whether executed in wax, clay, steel, bronze, or aluminium, freestanding, under glass domes or on plinths, such works both undermine and extend the long artistic tradition of figurative sculpture. Schütte's takes on the genre are recognizably influenced by his artistic precursors, yet uniquely his own. In Doppelkopf, while the weight and scale of each face immediately suggests the Modernist masters Maillol, Picasso and Moore, the heads' stylized, gargoyle-like features reveal an underlying, deeply unflattering, violent portrayal of man. Like Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti, Schütte has contorted the face to create an existential portrait full of torment, angst and gravity.
Invoking themes such as history and memory, utopia and power, mortality and failure, Doppelkopf functions as a memorial, a relic of fallen public statues and monuments. Acutely aware of the artist's role in a modern Germany still coming to terms with the Holocaust and the legacy of Hitler, Schütte's work is constantly grappling with that darkest hour of history – most overtly in his recent Dirty Dictators, four monumental ceramic busts inspired by Socialist Realist and Fascist propaganda, which are an obvious evolution of the themes he first explored in the present lot. The opposing faces in Doppelkopf, like those of the god Janus, are trapped between a destructive past and an uncertain future, caught in the awkward space of an ambiguous present. As a former student of Gerhard Richter, Schütte is adept at using his practice to comment on the nature of art and the artist in history, a concept his teacher adroitly and satirically explored in his 1971 masterpiece Two Sculptures for a Room by Palermo.
Revitalizing the ancient craft of earthenware, Schütte's Doppelkopf, like all the sculptures in his eclectic and copious oeuvre, is work of technical bravura. Pushing this most traditional of materials to its ultimate limits, the ceramic glazing process allows the artist to achieve a brilliant two-toned ochre patina and a vivid, visceral surface full of accidental markings and drips. While Schütte's physically painstaking working method is reminiscent of the macho sculptural attitude of Willem de Kooning, there exists in Doppelkopf – which is exhibited on a raw, unpainted plywood box – a clear sense of irony and ambivalence towards the notion of icons, art-making and beauty. In fact, the contrast between the technically masterful glazed ceramic double bust and its plain and simple wooden plinth perfectly encapsulates the duality in meaning pervading all of Thomas Schütte's work. The art historian Jan Thorn-Prikker has aptly described the artist's oeuvre as a "unique mélange of great earnestness, bitter irony and sarcastic scoffing".

8

Thomas Schütte

Doppelkopf (Double Head)

1994
Glazed ceramic and plywood pedestal.
Overall: 171 × 58.5 × 100 cm (67 1/3 × 23 × 39 1/2 in).

Estimate
£400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠

Sold for £481,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

29 June 2010
London

1
Johannes Kahrs
Hand
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £61,250
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2
Urs Fischer
Untitled (Nurnberg)
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
Sold for £133,250
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3
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡♠
Sold for £99,650
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4
Ugo Rondinone
air/ gets/ into/ everything/ even/ nothing
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
Sold for £361,250
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5
Andy Warhol
Disaster (Retrospective Series)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Sold for £157,250
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6
Matthew Day Jackson
Gimme Shelter #2
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000
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7
Roni Horn
When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes, no. 1259
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
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8
Thomas Schütte
Doppelkopf (Double Head)
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £481,250
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9
Hermann Nitsch
Schüttbild (Splatter Painting)
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ♠
Sold for £54,050
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10
Andy Warhol
Hamburger Michel
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
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11
Olafur Eliasson
Snow crystal roof
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡♠
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12
Anselm Kiefer
Untitled (Constellation Book)
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £193,250
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13
Joseph Kosuth
Meaning (Art as idea as idea)
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
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14
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Ghost
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
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15
Andy Warhol
Portrait of Joseph Beuys
Estimate £180,000 - 220,000 ‡
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16
Josef Albers
Homage to the Square
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000
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17
Gerhard Richter
Graues Bild I
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £91,250
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18
Roy Lichtenstein
Prop for a Film
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
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19
Donald Judd
Untitled (92-4 Ballantine)
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
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20
Bridget Riley
Out There
Estimate £400,000 - 500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £445,250
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21
Gilbert & George
Damned Buddleia
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £169,250
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22
Tony Cragg
Conical Flask
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
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23
Salvatore Scarpitta
Trapped Canvas
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
Sold for £409,250
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24
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Sfera con sfera (Sphere within sphere)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £265,250
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25
Emilio Vedova
Ciclo
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
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26
Antoni Tàpies
Grey between Brackets
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡♠
Sold for £79,250
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27
Juan Muñoz
Untitled
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
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28
Wangechi Mutu
Untitled
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ‡
Sold for £82,850
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29
Georg Baselitz
Scarecrow (Eagle)
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
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30
Li Songsong
Gift (diptych)
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 †
Sold for £169,250
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31
Zheng Guogu
Waterfall
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 †
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32
Liu Wei
Swimmers
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ‡
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33
Yang Shaobin
Fun
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000
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34
Wang Guangyi
Prada
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £109,250
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35
Tom Wesselmann
Study for Pat nude
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡
Sold for £159,650
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36
Keith Haring
Untitled
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
Sold for £157,250
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37
Damien Hirst
Bipyridinium Dibromind-N, N-Tetremethylene
Estimate £90,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
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38
Thomas Ruff
Substrat 13 I
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ♠
Sold for £61,250
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39
Sarah Morris
William Morris (Los Angeles)
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ♠
Sold for £55,250
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40
Gilbert & George
MIX
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ♠
Sold for £73,250
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41
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ♠
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42
Iván Navarro
Record
Estimate £35,000 - 45,000 Ω♠
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43
Gavin Turk
Death of Che
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ♠†
Sold for £67,250
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44
Jim Lambie
The Doors
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ♠
Sold for £27,500
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45
Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Forever
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 Ω♠
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

29 June 2010 London

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

8

Thomas Schütte

Doppelkopf (Double Head)

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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29 June 2010
London