Michael Goldberg

Estate of Eleanor Hempstead, New York
J.J. Smith, Windsor, Connecticut
Private Collection, New York
Bonham's, New York, November 10, 2009, lot 8036
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale

 

Enschede, Netherlands, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Abstract USA 1958 - 1968: In the Galleries, September 2010 - February 2011, cat. no. 8, p. 45, illustrated in color

This work is in very good condition overall. There are scattered surface accretions. Some of the white impastoed areas have hardened and are golden brown in color. These areas also exhibit fine and stable craquelure. Under ultraviolet light inspection there is no evidence of restoration. Framed.
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.

Color Field painting is one of the crowning achievements of American art in the 20th century. Otherwise known as Post-Painterly Abstraction, it emerged in the 1950s in the wake of Abstract Expressionism, moving away from Jackson Pollock's action painting towards the essence of painting as a medium: color. Helen Frankenthaler's work is often considered a bridge between the two movements. Her technique of pouring thinned paint onto unprimed canvas provided a new foundation for the work of artists such as Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis and Gene Davis as they experimented with juxtapositions of color in the 1950s. Frankenthaler's technique effectively merged paint and canvas, the thinned paint soaking through the raw fabric of the canvas in the manner of a watercolor. The Color Field painters reveled in the interplay of striking Fauve-like hues on a flat picture plane, rejecting spatial depth and any hint of pictorial representation in order to focus on purity of color and the relationships that formed between colors juxtaposed in various combinations. Sometimes glimpses of the unpainted raw canvas were left bare in what Stella referred to as "breathing space". The washes of pure color soon evolved into geometric shapes such as stripes, targets, diamonds, chevrons and polygons, occasionally applied to irregularly shaped canvases which lend a sculptural quality to the work.

The No Hero Foundation was established in 1995 with the aim to collect Post War American art. The Color Field painters have always been of central importance to its collection, a focus that the founder links to an inspirational boyhood visit to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The Color Field paintings were unlike anything he had ever seen in the Netherlands and sparked a lifelong passion for the works of Kenneth Noland, Frank Stella and their contemporaries. The No Hero Foundation strives to bring the work of these seminal American artists to the public in Enschede, working with the local Rijksmuseum. The No Hero Foundation provided its entire collection on long-term loan to the Rijksmuseum Twenthe: Enschede in 2009 and the following works were exhibited as part of a curated exhibition of the Foundation's holdings entitled Abstract USA 1958-1968: In the Galleries which ran from September 2010 through February 2011. As the foundation moves towards an increasing concentration on emerging artists, Sotheby's is honored to offer these important works from some of the most influential Color Field painters of the 1960s.