Cy Twombly

C & M Arts, New York
Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Zurich
Private Collection, Sweden
Acquired by the present owner from the above

This work is in very good condition overall. There is scattered craquelure located in the heavily impastoed areas of paint. There is a ¼ inch accretion located ¼ inch from the right edge and 6 ½ inches from the bottom edge. Additionally, there are a few scattered brown and black ¼ inch handling marks located along the bottom of the sheet. Hinged verso to the mat intermittently along the edges. 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.

Cy Twombly deftly defies artistic categorization. While generationally linked to Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, Twombly's work always remained more sensual by embracing raw emotion and the classical past. Twombly's Untitled, 1988 is a quintissential example of his ability to combine both the dense painterly quality of the abstract expressionists and the ability to blur the line between drawing and painting.

A resident of Italy since the age of 24, Twombly's surfaces are inherently infused with an appreciation of the cultural and rural aspects of his surroundings. "His art undergoes transmutation...and blossoms into fantastic blooms of heady, intense color delivered in a dervish-like whirl of brilliant oil stick, vortices turning in space, coming hard at the beholder," (Simon Schama, "Cy Twombly, Fifty Years of Works on Paper," in Exh. Cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, January 27- May 8, 2005, p. 20). Untitled, painted in September of 1988, embodies the rich colors of the fall season ever present in the sunbathed Italian landscape. The Italian influence combined with Twombly's painterly style enables the blossom-like shapes to explode with emotion.