Claudio Bravo (1936 - 2011)

Staempfli Gallery, New York
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, Latin American Art, May 2, 1990, lot 64, illustrated in color
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, Latin American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, May 17, 1994, lot 44, illustrated in color

New York, Staempfli Gallery, Claudio Bravo, 1970, no. 21

This work by Bravo is from a slightly earlier period than one often sees. Bravo paints in a more complex fashion in this period. The successive layers of pigment in the highlighted portions of both helmets have developed a few cracks in drying, but these are not indications of instability. There are a few spots of dirt in the sky in the upper right and a couple of isolated cracks in the upper right. The work should be lightly cleaned. (This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.)
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.

Claudio Bravo’s Conversation between Clark and Ring, is a subtle allegorical narrative of our intense desire for glory and our insistent pursuit for immorality. A painting overcast with a soft and sumptuous glowing light, Bravo masterfully creates an intimate meeting between the legendary racers Jim Clark and Ernie Ring by simply placing their two helmets side-by-side. Bravo manifests their lust for perfection with gleaming helmets, an unusual subject matter for a still life only achievable by the artist’s sensibility and hyper-realist technique. Their smooth surfaces subtly ruptured by the cracks of endless races.

Ernie Ring, the Australian motorcycle racer for the British A.J.S. team, developed the great Matchless 500cc twin-cylinder Clubman G9 to racing trim standards. A pioneer racer, Ring not only pushed the capacity of motorcycle performance capabilities but he was also known for his fearlessness and infinite ease on the track. Ring was part of the Continental Circus, Australian motorcycle riders who competed in the European road race and Grand Prix circuit throughout the 1950s. Although labeled as a bohemian lifestyle due to its constantly rotating locations, the Circus was in fact exceedingly competitive with each rider vying for speed, money and glory. For any moto-racer, the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps stood as one of the most dangerous and unpredictable tracks: the ultimate test for man and machine. In 1953 Ernie Ring raced this circuit on his Porcupine 500cc A. J. S.. On his third lap at the Cote de Burnrnville, Ring lost control; it was an ill-fated end.

Years later, Jim Clark met a similar fate as Ring. The Scottish-born Formula One driver won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 in the Lotus-Ford Type 38. Clark became the first foreign driver to win the American race since 1916 and the first driver to finish at an average speed of 150 mph, easily leading the pack of drivers for 190 of the 200 laps. Jim Clark radicalized the face of race car driving both in Europe and in America entrancing the public with his natural instincts on the racing track and the graceful handling of his Lotus cars—he became, and still is considered as, one of the most elite drivers in the world. Three years later, in the 1968 Formula Two Deutschland Trophäe held at the Hockenheimring, Clark encountered a perilously wet track: his car slid off course at 170 mph, violently crashing into the surrounding trees.

Racing was all or nothing for Clark and Ring; they thrived on the rush of danger. Their two helmets sitting here in this painting, so mildly suggestive of a human element yet so full of the essence of these two men, is Bravo’s homage to an “aggressiveness, [a] speed and force”  that can only be embodied by a daredevil who “succeeds at everything he does.” [1] Gambling with the risks of the racing track, Clark and Ring defied the capabilities of man-made machines in order to achieve greatness and stardom.

[1.] Edward J. Sullivan, Claudio Bravo, New York, 1985, pp. 59-63