Lot 104
  • 104

Lucas Samaras

Estimate
70,000 - 90,000 USD
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Description

  • Lucas Samaras
  • Box #49
  • wooden box construction with yarn, glass beads, Plexiglas and plastic
  • open: 12 1/2 by 12 by 11 in. 31.7 by 30.5 by 28 cm.
  • closed: 5 1/8 by 12 by 9 in. 13 by 30.5 by 22.8 cm.
  • Executed in 1966.

Provenance

The Pace Gallery, New York
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. George Waterman III, New York
Collection of Charles Saatchi, London
Sotheby's, New York, 26 February 1992, Lot 161
Private Collection, Athens
Galerie Xippas, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Exhibited

New York, The Pace Gallery, Samaras: Selected Works 1960-1966, October - November 1966
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lucas Samaras: Boxes, October - December 1971
Kassel, Documenta 5, June - October 1972, p. 33 
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Lucas Samaras, November - January 1973, cat. no. 230
Philadelphia, Makler Gallery, Lucas Samaras, May 1975
Los Angeles, Margo Leavin Gallery, Lucas Samaras: Himself and Other Objects, November - December 1976
London, Mayor Gallery, Lucas Samaras, March - April 1978
Athens, Jean Bernier Gallery, Lucas Samaras, May - June 1978
Chicago, Richard Gray Gallery, Lucas Samaras: Reconstructions, Boxes and Photo-Transformations, May - June 1979
Athens, National Gallery of Greece, The Alexander Soutzos Museum, Lucas Samaras: A Retrospective, April - July 2005, p. 92, illustrated

Literature

Bowden Broadwater, "Piercing Ideas Dominate Samaras' Wooly Wooks," Newsday, 24 October 1966, p. 2A
Gerald Marzorati, "Found Objects," Soho Weekly News, 12 April 1979, illustrated
Jean-Christophe Ammann, et. al., Art of Our Time: Vol. 2, London 1984, pl. 35, p. 70, illustrated in color

Condition

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. The yarn on the exterior is stable with some isolated fraying fibers. The glued beads on the interior of the top and sides of the box are all intact and the loose beads are also intact. The removable beaded element may exhibit a pinpoint loss at the extreme top. Please note the auction begins at 9:30 am on November 17th.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

“Lucas Samaras’s sculpture has always centered on a notion of transformation that is simultaneously magical and disturbing, seductive and irritating, and almost always visually irresistible. Samaras’s best objects are like magnets. Our eyes latch onto them, pore over them, have difficulty letting go; our minds are equally snared by their mesmerizing surfaces and startling juxtapositions of image, form and material.”

Roberta Smith, “Repeated Exposures: Lucas Samaras in Three Dimensions,” in Exh. Cat., Denver Art Museum, Lucas Samaras: Objects and Sculptures 1969-1986, 1988, p. 53