MALCOLM MORLEY (1931-2018) Flight of Icarus signed 'Malcolm Morley' (lower center of the canvas) encaustic on watercolor paper with paper, wood and steel assemblage; encaustic on canvas overall: 80 x 113 x 92 in (203.2 x 287 x 233.7 cm) Executed in 1995 Footnotes: Provenance Likely acquired directly from the artist by the present owner. Exhibited Madrid, Fundacíon Caixa, Malcom Morley, 1995. Washington D.C., Baumgartner Galleries, Malcom Morley, The Flight of Icarus, October 25 - November 28, 1997 (exh. cat., illustrated). Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight, 2003-2004 (exh. cat., illustrated). Water Mill, Parrish Art Museum, Malcolm Morley: Painting, Paper, Process, November 10, 2012 - January 13, 2013 (exh. cat., illustrated). Literature Adams, Brooks and Enrique Juncosa, Malcom Morley, 1965-1995, Madrid, 1995 (illustrated). Brea, José Luis, 'Madrid: Malcolm Morley,' Flash Art, Vol. XXIX, no. 186, January-February, 1996 (illustrated p. 113). Protzman, Ferdinand,'This Blessed Art, This England,' The Washington Post, November 6, 1997 (illustrated p. C7). Schloen, Anne, 'Malcom Morley,' Kunstler Kritisches Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst, Vol. 4, no. 29, 1998 (illustrated p. 13). Lebensztejn, Jean-Claude, 'Malcolm Morley: Itineraries,' 2001, p. 180. Adams, Brooks, Malcom Morley's Rules of Engagement, exh. cat., Sperone, Westwater Gallery, New York, 2011 (illustrated p. 3). Parks, Steve, 'LI Artists Open New Parrish', Newsday, 2012 (illustrated). Sheets, Hilarie M., 'Not Off the Grid, but Often in Flight,' The New York Times, November 21, 2012 (archival image illustrated). Genzlinger, Neil, 'Malcolm Morley, Genre-Crossing Artist, is Dead at 86,' The New York Times, June 7, 2018 (archival image illustrated). Malcolm Morley's lifelong fascination with airplanes became a defining subject of his artistic practice, reflecting both his personal interests and his broader engagement with the complex relationship between image, memory, and representation. From early paintings based on model airplanes and aircraft imagery to later works that explored aviation's technological spectacle and cultural mythology, Morley approached the subject with an analytical yet deeply imaginative eye. Airplanes offered him a way to investigate the tension between the real and the reproduced: an object associated with speed, travel, warfare, childhood fantasy, and modernity, transformed into something both recognizable and strange. His interest in aviation also aligned with his broader practice of drawing from mass-media imagery and popular visual culture, using familiar subjects as a point of departure for questioning how images are constructed, remembered, and understood. This is particularly evident in Flight of Icarus, one of the most monumental and significant works Morley created, in which the myth of Icarus serves as an allegory for Germany during the World War I while simultaneously foreshadowing the horrors of World War II. In the ancient myth, Icarus's desire to rise beyond human limitations embodies the dangers of unchecked ambition and ego. Despite his father's warning not to fly too close to the sun, Icarus is drawn ever higher until the sun's heat melts the wax binding his wings, sending him plummeting into the sea. In Morley's interpretation, Icarus becomes a metaphor for Germany, a nation propelled by militarism, imperial ambition, and an aggressive belief in its own superiority. Like Icarus, Germany's horrifying ascent and desire for limitless power ultimately brought about its own downfall. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: W W Lot is oversized or otherwise such that it must be collected from our designated warehouse. Please refer to the Offsite Sold Property Storage section of the Buyer's Guide for details. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing