Richard Prince

Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

New York, Skarstedt Fine Art, Richard Prince Early Photographs 1977-1979, February - April 2001, pp. 42-43, illustrated in color (another example exhibited)
Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Richard Prince: Retrospective, December 2001 - July 2002, pp. 38-39, illustrated in color (another example exhibited)
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Minneapolis, Walker Art Center; London, Serpentine Gallery, Richard Prince: Spiritual America,  September 2007 - September 2008, pp. 72-73, illustrated in color (larger format)

Exh. Cat., Los Angeles, Regen Projects, Richard Prince: Women, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2004, cat. no. 104, illustrated in color (smaller format)

These works are in very good condition. There is a spot accretion located 6 in. from the top and 3 ¼ in. from the right edge in the third photograph in the sequence of 4 as they appear in the catalogue illustration. There is an unobtrusive spot accretion 6 3/4 in. from the bottom and 3 1/2 in. from the right edge of the fourth photograph in the sequence. Otherwise, there are no condition problems with these works. Each framed under Plexiglas.
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.

Paradigmatic of his early work, Untitled (Four Women with Hats), reflects Richard Prince's penchant for transforming ready-made source material into objects of high art.

Working in the tear sheet department of Time-Life magazine, Prince was inspired by the seductive appeal of commercial imagery and began to systematically cull and re-photograph the advertisements that caught his eye. By selecting images with shared elements, in this case, similar poses and modes of dress, Princes concatenates these disparate fragments into a unified whole, exploiting formal affinities that, in their original context, would go unnoticed. Organized into a filmstrip-like sequence, the strong visual resonance amongst the fragments creates a sense of repetition that is unmistakably Warholian. Bearing a strong likeness to images of Jackie Kennedy in mourning, images that we have come to know through Warhol's endless iterations, the second figure from the left reinforces this allusion.
Gleaned from the pages of popular magazines, the source images used in Untitled (Four Women with Hats), depict women who, although anonymous, register as uncannily familiar. Glamorous and beautiful, they are not everyday women, but rarefied ideals who populate the fictive world constructed by media and advertising. According to Rosetta Brooks, "a constant in Prince's early experiments in rephotography is showing others the quality of the images he finds so tantalizing. Prince chooses to represent these images because he himself is seduced by them." (Rosetta Brooks, "A Prince of Light or Darkness?" in Richard Prince, London and New York, 2003, p. 28) Resurrecting these ubiquitous and disposal images and liberating them from their utilitarian function, Prince injects them with life and status anew. In doing so, he raises questions about originality, authorship, and the role of the artist -  questions at the core of post-modern discourse.