Lot 105
  • 105

PETER DOIG | Untitled

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
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Description

  • Peter Doig
  • Untitled
  • signed and dated Vienna Sept. '99 on the reverse
  • watercolour on paper
  • 29.5 by 20.7 cm. 11 5/8 by 8 1/8 in.

Provenance

Private Collection, Austria (a gift from the artist)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Condition

Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is slightly deeper and richer in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. The sheet is hinged verso to the backing board in the two upper corners and undulates slightly. There are artist's pin-holes to all four coner tips. Extremely close inspection reveals some minute nicks and associated light creases to the extreme upper edge. No restoration is apparent under ultra violet light.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

"I often paint scenes with snow because snow somehow has this effect of drawing you inwards and is frequently used to suggest retrospection and nostalgia and make-believe" (Peter Doig cited in: Paul Bonaventura, 'A Hunter in the Snow', Artefactum, No. 9, 1994, p. 12).  

Peter Doig’s paintings are variously described as uneasy, enigmatic and dreamlike. At once nostalgic and contemporary, they speak of memory and the endurance of images. Atmospheric and melancholic, Doig’s paintings capture seemingly inconsequential moments that are somehow highly charged.

In the early 1990s Doig began creating works that engaged with skiing and snow motifs, characterising both a sense of fantasy and sentimentality through a painting style which is resolutely figurative. Expressing the effect snow had on the mood and atmosphere of his paintings, Doig stated: “I often paint scenes with snow because snow somehow has this effect of drawing you inwards and is frequently used to suggest retrospection and nostalgia and make-believe” (Peter Doig cited in: Paul Bonaventura, ‘A Hunter in the Snow’, Artefactum, No. 9, 1994, p. 12).  This tendency towards the visceral and the fantastic has come to characterise Doig’s most notable and beloved paintings; the present work being a seminal example of the atmospheric mastery he employs.

Testament to Doig’s reputation as an avid student of art history, Untitled takes as its point of departure the painterly aesthetics of modern masters such as Edvard Munch, Paul Gaugin and Pieter Bruegel the Elder among others. In particular, the snowy foreground of Untitled combines soft impressions of blue and white, recalling the diaphanous, almost bled-out brush-work apparent in Claude Monet’s winter landscapes. Yet standing in direct contrast, the branches emanating from the central tree appear like webbed tendrils which recall the expressive splashes of Jackson Pollock’s action paintings. The cornerstone of Doig’s talent is epitomised in the alchemy with which he combines these influences into a vocabulary which is unmistakably his.

Painted in 1999, Untitled sits at the apex of Doig’s career, at the very moment that his art was thrust onto the international stage. In 1991 Doig received the Whitechapel Artist Award resulting in solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery of his paintings; in 1993 he won the John Moore’s prize at the Walker Art Gallery with his extraordinary work Blotter; in 1994 he was nominated for the Turner Prize and in 1995 became a Trustee of the Tate Gallery. Painted at the pinnacle of Doig’s critical acclaim, Untitled is an exceptional combination of the complex artistic devices and breath-taking atmosphere which have come to characterise the best of Doig.