RICHARD HAMBLETON | Battle Scene Painting

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

New York, Piezo Electric Gallery, Richard Hambleton, September 1983

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the whites are lighter and brighter in the original. Condition: This work is very good condition. All collaged elements are stable. A fine layer of dust has adhered to the crevices of the work. Very close inspection reveals some faint rub marks and tiny specks of loss in intermittent places along all four extreme edges and corner tips. Further very close inspection reveals a few tiny specks of loss to the impasto peaks and to the tips of some of the figurines. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra violet light.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

“[Richard] Hambleton can handle paint”, New York Times art critic Michael Brenson wrote. “When he throws white or black on the canvas, his waves break, his rodeo rider bucks, a man shot seems blown apart” (Michael Benson cited in: Michael Small, ‘Headed for the Galleries, Richard Hambleton Casts His Painted Shadows on New York’s Nightlife’, People Magazine, June 1984, online). Deft brushstrokes emerge from clouds of dark paint splatters, forming effortless figures captured in a moment of action. Painted on canvas rather than on the side of a building or under a bridge like the majority of the street artist’s early works, Battle Scene Painting is no less dramatic. Indeed, more than 1,000 people trudged through a Manhattan snowstorm in March of 1984, a year after the execution of Battle Scene Painting, to view Hambleton’s larger-than-life canvases, works on linen, and mirrored Plexiglas work at the Salvatore Ala Gallery. Unlike his contemporaries Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Hambleton was not interested in the cult of celebrity, even going so far as to deny Andy Warhol’s invitation to sit for a portrait on more than one occasion. As a result, Hambleton remained largely out of the spotlight until the premiere of the award-winning documentary Shadowman directed by Oren Jacoby which premiered on December 2017, two months after the death of the artist. The title for the film originates from Hambleton’s affectionate sobriquet of the same name which itself comes from his 1960s series of over 600 paintings featuring dark and looming silhouetted figures for which he became known. Combined with a series of faux-crime scenes executed in his signature graffiti-like style, these unsettling shadows haunted the streets of New York, disturbing the emotional stability of each passer-by.

Hambleton moved beyond New York in the 1980s when his works were exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1984 and 1988. The artist subsequently painted ‘Shadowmen’ across the streets of Venice, later moving on to Rome, Paris, and London and even going so far as to paint two life-sized ‘Shadowmen’ on either side of the Berlin wall. Hambleton’s splattered works have been permanently imprinted on our collective consciousness, becoming an instantly recognisable symbol that encapsulates a turbulent moment in history.