Jim Dine

The Pace Gallery, New York
Collection of Douglas S. Cramer (acquired from the above in January 1980)

New York, The Pace Gallery, Jim Dine: Robes, January - February 1980, n.p., illustrated

This work is in very good condition. There is a small impression at the right edge in the upper right corner, approximately 1 in. in length. On the reverse, there is a piece of printed fabric affixed to the canvas and painted over. There is no visible related restoration apparent on the front of the work. Presumably, this was affixed by the artist. Framed in silver metal. The edges are taped.
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.
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As one of the youngest members of the Pop Art movement, Jim Dine adopted a unique sentimental consideration to the objects that would become iconic symbols in his body of work. This sentimentality was perhaps influenced by the deeply personal trajectory gleaned from his "Happenings" performances throughout the 1960's. The five seminal themes Dine primarily addressed in his body of work are Tools, Robes, Hearts, Trees and Gates.  These seemingly banal images are the aesthetic platform for Dine from which deviations all lead back to the primacy of the image. The objects are imbibed with a life not only from the mere palette of the artist, but their spirit evolves from the emotive mood of the artist and result in works that range from ethereal to triumphant and from pensive and solemn.

The present work, Miss Pussy's Green Picture, a smoldering display of verdant hues, is painted from a period of some of the most confident and brash treatments of the subject matter. Defining the robe is a bravura of dexterous strokes trained by the artists' rigorous drawings executed from 1975-1979. The robe is now a landscape of line and color, as Dine himself observed,  "I always have to find a theme, some tangible subject matter besides the paint itself. Otherwise I would have been an abstract artist. There are times when I would have loved to have been one, I mean a non-objective artist, so-called, but I always have to find something to hang the paint on. I have tried painting without objects, painting without subject matter except the paint. It comes to nothing because it is nothing. It doesn't interest me. I'm not a minimal person, hardly an abstract person. I need that hook...something to hang my landscape on....." (Graham W.J. Beal, Jim Dine: Five Themes, Minneapolis, 1984, p. 11).