FRANCIS BACON. (1909 – 1992). Irish Painter known for his graphic portraiture and dark themes. Signed postcard. “Francis Bacon”). 1 page. Postcard. (4 1/8 × 5 7/8 inches). N.p., N.d. [after 1967]. A dark signature in the lower blank margin of a printed color reproduction of his 1967 painting Portrait of Isabel Rawsthorne Standing in a Street in Soho.
Bacon came to prominence in the mid-20th century when his bold, austere, graphic, and emotionally raw abstract portraits attracted the attention of the London art world. His subject matter included grotesque heads, as well as popes and other religious subjects. Despite the existentialist outlook on life expressed through his paintings, Bacon always appeared to be a bon vivant, spending much of his middle and later life drinking and ambling in London’s Soho with, among others, Lucian Freud. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously identified him as “that man who paints those dreadful pictures”, a description that has done nothing to diminish his place in the Western canon. A major retrospective of Bacon’s work opened on 11 September 2008 at Tate Britain, London. It was billed as the largest retrospective of his work ever mounted, containing around sixty pieces. In January 2009, it travelled on to the Prado Gallery in Madrid, Spain, where it was exhibited until April 2009. Then it travelled on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
In fine condition.
Filename: Bacon
Categories/Keywords: Art
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WILLEM DE KOONING. (1904 – 1997). Dutch American abstract expressionist painter and sculptor. Signed postcard. (“de Kooning”). 1 page. Postcard. (6 x 4.25 inches). N.p., N.d. [after 1984]. A dark signature in the upper right corner of a printed color image of the artist standing with his back to the camera, arms akimbo, dressed in his trademark overalls and looking at one of his large, colorful paintings.
Along with Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and other painters, de Kooning was a part of the post-war New York School, which also encompassed poetry, namely by the Beat Poets, and music, specifically jazz. De Kooning’s works are also called “Action Paintings” for the manner in which paint was applied through splatters and smears rather than careful brushwork. Our postcard, printed in 1984, depicts one of de Kooning’s later works. In 1950, de Kooning was one of 17 prominent Abstract Expressionists and avant-garde artists to sign an open letter to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art accusing it of hostility towards “advanced art”. In September 2011, de Kooning’s work was honored with a large-scale retrospective exhibition, de Kooning: A Retrospective 18 September 2011 – 9 January 2012 at MoMA in New York City.
In fine condition.
Filename: De Kooning
Categories/Keywords: Art
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GEORGIA O’KEEFFE. (1887-1986). American artist known for her Southwest-inspired paintings. Typed letter signed. (“Georgia O’Keeffe”). 1 page. 4to. (11 × 8 1/2 inches). Abiquiu, New Mexico, 23 February 1983. To art collector George Perutz of Dallas, Texas.
One of my assistants called you this week, and I wanted to write to you to confirm what you were told. Right now I am trying to organize my early files, and the people working with me have not been able to locate some of the material we need, including some material about people who bought my paintings. I would very much appreciate it if you could try to locate any letters, sales records, or anything else which may have passed between you and me or any person who was working for me, or acting as my agent, and make copies and send them to me in Abiquiu as soon as conveniently possible. I, of course, would be glad to pay any cost involved. I realize this goes back quite a way and locating the papers may be inconvenient for you, but it is important to me to try to get my files in order, and I would be grateful for whatever you can do to help. Sincerely yours, Georgia O’Keeffe
After making a name for herself on the male-dominated New York art scene in the early decades of the 20th century, O’Keeffe shifted her focus to the Southwest. Beginning in 1929, she spent a portion of each year in New Mexico, drawing inspiration from the stark desert landscape. She continued to work in New York on such high profile commissions as a mural for Radio City Music Hall. The strain of that project in particular led to a nervous breakdown and hospitalization after which she traveled to Bermuda to recover from 1933 to 1934.
In 1949, she moved to Abiquiu and lived the rest of her long life in New Mexico, producing her iconic paintings of oversized flowers, sun-bleached bones and desert landscapes. In the early 1970s, O’Keeffe’s eyesight declined significantly, leaving her unable to paint. She did, however, continue to draw and work in clay at the urging of a young potter Juan Hamilton. During the 1980s, O’Keeffe revised her will in favor of Hamilton. After her death, the changes to the will were contested by her family, setting an important precedent in estate law. Subsequently, much of her estate including paintings, photographs, her Abiquiu home, and archival materials (likely the papers which are the subject of our letter) was allocated to the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation (later the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum).
Perutz has typed a reply to the letter in the lower blank margin stating that most of what she is requesting has been thrown away. Folded with some light creasing. A late letter with an unsteady signature indicative of her failing eyesight. In very good condition. Contained within an elegant green cloth clamshell box with a gilt title embossed on green leather on the spine.
Filename: O’Keeffe2-23-83
Categories/Keywords: Art
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