- 439
Elizabeth Peyton
Estimate
600,000 - 800,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Elizabeth Peyton
- For Craig
- dedicated to Craig on the reverse of sheet one; various sheets are inscribed
- colored pencil and graphite on paper, in 37 parts; each sheet is double-sided, comprising a total of 70 unique drawings
- Each Sheet: 11 5/8 by 8 1/8 in. 29.6 by 21 cm
- Executed in 1998.
Provenance
Private Collection (a gift from the artist)
Private Collection, Germany (acquired from the above)
Acquired by the present owner from the above
Catalogue Note
The present work is comprised of an extraordinary group of drawings of Peyton’s long time muse, Craig, juxtaposed with portraits of the British royal family. Independently, each work exhibits Peyton’s virtuoso draftsmanship marked by soft colors and fine lines. Collectively, this set forms a unique and comprehensive expression of Peyton’s core artistic philosophy, perhaps only fully appreciable on this broad scale. The combination of candid portraits of Craig with snapshots of the monarchy compels us to remember a time when, perhaps, we desired to be kings and queens, princes and princesses. This mingling of fantasy and reality so delicately intimate and ebulliently fresh is the hallmark of Peyton’s work.
As Zdenek Felix has noted, "Peyton's principal subject is portrait. In her generally small-format oil paintings, drawings and watercolors, people appear who appeal to her or have impressed her as historical figures. On her list of models one finds, on the one hand, friends and acquaintances like the artist Craig Wadlin, Tony Just or Piotr Uklanski, and on the other, celebrities, both old and new, who spark the imagination of many: Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie Antoinette and Ludwig II of Bavaria. Members of the British royalty, such as Lady Di and her sons, made legendary through the media. Essential in choosing a subject for portrayal is the possibility of identifying with the given person's charisma, his or her influence and destiny, as well as with the person's ability to create his or her own world. "I think about how influential some people are in others' lives. So it doesn't matter who they are or how famous they are but rather how beautiful is the way they live their lives and how inspiring they are for others. And I find this in people I see frequently as much as in people I never met”, as the artist stated in 1996 in an interview with Francesco Bonami. Public, widely circulated images taken from books, magazines, record covers, or music still serve Elizabeth Peyton as source material as well as private photographs taken by herself. Characteristically, there is no difference in Peyton's world between the two realms. What links the pictures is a tangible intimacy reflected also in the titles of the works, which usually only reveal the first names of the models. We are witnesses of an individual quest for fragile beauty and eternal youth, features atmospherically reminiscent of fine-de-siecle art after 1890. At the same time, the pictures are eminently of today since they articulate our yearning for beauty and humanity without being frivolous or nostalgic." (Exh.cat. Hamburg, Deichtorhallen, Elizabeth Peyton, 2001-2002, pp. 6 - 8)
As Zdenek Felix has noted, "Peyton's principal subject is portrait. In her generally small-format oil paintings, drawings and watercolors, people appear who appeal to her or have impressed her as historical figures. On her list of models one finds, on the one hand, friends and acquaintances like the artist Craig Wadlin, Tony Just or Piotr Uklanski, and on the other, celebrities, both old and new, who spark the imagination of many: Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie Antoinette and Ludwig II of Bavaria. Members of the British royalty, such as Lady Di and her sons, made legendary through the media. Essential in choosing a subject for portrayal is the possibility of identifying with the given person's charisma, his or her influence and destiny, as well as with the person's ability to create his or her own world. "I think about how influential some people are in others' lives. So it doesn't matter who they are or how famous they are but rather how beautiful is the way they live their lives and how inspiring they are for others. And I find this in people I see frequently as much as in people I never met”, as the artist stated in 1996 in an interview with Francesco Bonami. Public, widely circulated images taken from books, magazines, record covers, or music still serve Elizabeth Peyton as source material as well as private photographs taken by herself. Characteristically, there is no difference in Peyton's world between the two realms. What links the pictures is a tangible intimacy reflected also in the titles of the works, which usually only reveal the first names of the models. We are witnesses of an individual quest for fragile beauty and eternal youth, features atmospherically reminiscent of fine-de-siecle art after 1890. At the same time, the pictures are eminently of today since they articulate our yearning for beauty and humanity without being frivolous or nostalgic." (Exh.cat. Hamburg, Deichtorhallen, Elizabeth Peyton, 2001-2002, pp. 6 - 8)