Richard Hamilton, ‘B is for Bee.’ Estimate: £12,000-15,000. Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image.
“These early works by Riley represent the start of dramatic developments in the artist’s oeuvre. To see them presented alongside some of her later color injected works is a retrospective joy of visually stimulating geometry,” said Alexander Hayter, head of Modern and Contemporary Art at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions.
Produced in 1962, the same year as her first solo exhibition at Musgraves Gallery One in London, Untitled (Circular Movement) (k.2) is the second black and white optical abstraction Riley produced. The rare signed and dated screenprint is typical of her black and white style, exploring the nexus between art and illusion. Numbered 17/35, the work is estimated at £30,000-50,000 ($51,000-85,000) [Lot 300].
Bridget Riley: “the eye can travel over the surface in a way parallel to the way it moves over nature. It should feel caressed and soothed, experience frictions and ruptures, glide and drift. Vision can be arrested, tripped up or pulled back in order to float free again … one moment there will be nothing to look at and the next second the canvas suddenly seems to refill, to be crowded with visual events.”
Other works by Riley include La Lune En Rodage (k.6), 1965, estimated at £5,000-7,000 ($8,500-11,900) [Lot 301], Untitled (Not in Schubert), ca. 1960, estimated at £3,000-5,000 ($5,100-8,500) [Lot 302] and Green Dominance (s.22), 1977, estimated at £2,500-3,500 ($4,250-5,950) [Lot 303].
British and American Pop Art
From Op Art to Pop Art, the Modern & Contemporary Print sale features a previously unseen and unique work by Richard Hamilton. B is for Bee was produced at the request of the artist Ian Breakwell for a special double issue of Exit Magazine, however Breakwell ran out of money before the issue could be published.
The present work was acquired from Breakwell in the early 1970s by the current owner, and has since remained in their private collection. Appearing at auction for the first time, it is estimated at £12,000-15,000 ($20,400-25,500) [Lot 186].
Representing the American Pop art movement are prints by Roy Lichtenstein, including Moonscape, 1965, estimated at £18,000-22,000 ($30,600-37,400) [Lot 251], Self-Portrait, 1966, by Andy Warhol, estimated at £10,000-15,000 ($17,000-25,500) [Lot 335] and a group of unique mixed media collages by Robert Rauschenberg [Lot 289, 290 and 291]. Topping the Modern Pop Art works is The Pink Bow from Jeff Koons’ Celebration Series. Signed in pencil the work, dated 2013, is estimated at £10,000-15,000 ($17,000-25,500) [Lot 244].
European Conceptual Movement
A collection of works by Marcel Broodthaers represents almost half of the Belgian artist’s graphic work. Following in the footsteps of Rene Magritte and preceding Joseph Kosuth, Broodthaers’ work is pivotal in the development of conceptual word-based art.
Museum – Museum, 1972, is exemplary of Broodthaer’s integral theme of repetition. The image of the ingots systematically covers the paper in a grid, with each ingot named a different name or noun, covering everything from Ingres to butter. The work is estimated at £12,000-15,000 [Lot 154]. Regarded as one of the leading artists of the European conceptual movement, Marcel Broodthaers’ reputation continues to grow.
The sale will be held on Thursday, July 3, at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions’ saleroom in London’s Mayfair.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Richard Hamilton, ‘B is for Bee.’ Estimate: £12,000-15,000. Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image. Bridget Riley, ‘Untitled (Circular Movement) (k.2),’ signed and dated screenprint. Estimate: £30,000-50,000 ($51,000-85,000). Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image. Marcel Broodthaers, ‘Museum – Museum,’ 1972. Estimate: £12,000-15,000. Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image.
