Wolfgang Tillmans - 20th Century to Now London Friday, June 30, 2023 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
    Private Collection
    Phillips De Pury & Company, New York, 20 September 2012, lot 106
    Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

  • Artist Biography

    Wolfgang Tillmans

    German • 1968

    Since the early 1990s, Wolfgang Tillmans has pushed the boundaries of the photographic medium. Challenging the indexical nature traditionally associated with photography, his abstract and representational photographic bodies of work each in their own way put forward the notion of the photograph as object—rather than as a record of reality. While achieving his breakthrough with portraits and lifestyle photographs, documenting celebrity culture as well as LGBTQ communities and club culture, since the turn of the millennium the German photographer has notably created abstract work such as the Freischwimmer series, which is made in the darkroom without a camera.

    Seamlessly integrating genres, subject matters, techniques and exhibition strategies, Tillmans is known for photographs that pair playfulness and intimacy with a persistent questioning of dominant value and hierarchy structures of our image-saturated world. In 2000, Tillmans was the first photographer to receive the prestigious Turner Prize.

    View More Works

61

Ten Works: (i) Blautopf, landscape; (ii) Fire Island; (iii) Fische; (iv) Freischwimmer 13; (v) Lightning I; (vi) Mental Picture#105; (vii) paper drop (white) c; (viii) Pfingstrosen; (ix) Venus Drop; (x) Venus Transit, Clouds

(i) signed, signed with the artist's initials, titled, numbered and dated 'Blautopf, landscape ph 07 01 pr WT 01 Wolfgang Tillmans 1/10 + 1' on the reverse
(ii) signed, signed with the artist’s intials, titled, numbered and dated ‘Fire Island ph 9 95 pr WT 8 99 8/10 +1 Wolfgang Tillmans’ on the reverse
(iii) signed, signed with the artist’s initials, titled, numbered and dated ‘Fische ph 12-01 pr WT 04-02 4/10 + 1 Wolfgang Tillmans’ on the reverse
(iv) signed, titled, inscribed and dated ‘Freischwimmer 13 2003 unique Wolfgang Tillmans’ on the reverse
(v) signed, signed with the artist’s initials, titled, inscribed, numbered and dated ‘Lightning I ph 2002 pr WT 08/2002 1/3 + 1 Wolfgang Tillmans’ on the reverse
(vi) signed, titled, inscribed, numbered and dated ‘Mental Picture #105 2001 unique Wolfgang Tillmans’ on the reverse
(vii) signed, signed with the artist’s initials, titled, numbered and dated ‘paper drop (white) c ph 2004 pr WT 04/2004 2/10 + 1 Wolfgang Tillmans’ on the reverse
(viii) signed, signed with the artist’s initials, titled, numbered and dated ‘Pfingstrosen ph 2004 pr WT 05/2005 8/10 + 1 Wolfgang Tillmans’ on the reverse
(ix) signed, signed with the artist’s initials, titled, numbered and dated ‘Venus, Drop ph 06/2004 pr WT 09/2005 5/10 + 1 Wolfgang Tillmans’ on the reverse
(x) signed, signed with the artist’s initials, titled, numbered and dated ‘Venus Transit, Clouds ph 2004 pr WT 09/2004 6/10 + 1 Wolfgang Tillmans’ on the reverse

(i-x) c-print
sheets (i) 30.5 x 40.6 cm (12 x 16 in. ); (ii), (iii), (iv), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x) 40.6 x 30.5 cm (16 x 12 in.); (v), (vi) 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
framed (i) 33.8 x 44 cm (13 1/4 x 17 3/8 in.); (ii), (iii), (iv), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x) 44.1 x 33.8 cm (17 3/8 x 13 1/4 in.); (v), (vi) 53.8 x 44 cm (21 1/8 x 17 3/8 in.)

(i) Executed and printed in 2001, this work is number 1 from an edition of 10 plus 1 artist’s proof.
(ii) Executed in 1995 and printed in 1999, this work is number 8 from an edition of 10 plus 1 artist’s proof.
(iii) Executed in 2001 and printed in 2002, this work is number 4 from an edition of 10 plus 1 artist’s proof.
(iv) Executed in 2003, this work is unique.
(v) Executed in 2002, this work is number 1 from an edition of 3 plus one artist’s proof.
(vi) Executed in 2001, this work is unique.
(vii) Executed in 2004, this work is number 2 from an edition of 10 plus 1 artist’s proof.
(viii) Executed in 2004 and printed in 2005, this work is number 8 from an edition of 10 plus 1 artist’s proof.
(ix) Executed in 2004 and printed in 2005, this work is number 5 from an edition of 10 plus 1 artist’s proof.
(x) Executed in 2004, this work is number 6 from an edition of 10 plus 1 artist’s proof.

Estimate
£75,000 - 95,000 ‡♠

Sold for £95,250

Contact Specialist

Leonor de Osma
Head of Sale, 20th Century to Now
T +44 20 7901 7912
M +44 7584 086 052
ldeosma@phillips.com

20th Century to Now

London Auction 30 June 2023