Under the Hammer

Our February 2022 Prints & Multiples: Abstractions auction celebrated artists who explore non-representational subjects, from New York Abstract Expressionists Willem de Kooning and Lee Krasner to the kinetic and optical abstractions by South American artists Jesús Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez.

Here, Matthew Stavro, Specialist of Prints & Multiples in New York, shares some of the most captivating works coming under the hammer.

Lot 46
Yaacov Agam, Festival (Tapestry)

In the 1970s, Israeli artist Yaacov Agam was asked to create artworks that would celebrate the peacemaking efforts of Palestinian leader Anwar el-Sadat and Israel’s Prime minister Menachem Begin. This 1982 tapestry, entitled Festival, was inspired by those efforts. In the center of the thick wool pile is a dizzying optically charged pattern, reminiscent of the artist’s celebrated lenticular works that change images as the viewer walks by. As a symbol of harmony during these polarizing political times, Festival is a visual reminder of the inclusivity that can be achieved by representing radically different viewpoints at the same time. This spectacular large textile is hand-signed in blue ink with a unique drawing by the artist on the label on the reverse.

Lot 108
Takesada Matsutani, The Proper Place P

Born in 1928, Takesada Matsutani's art practice is based on Gutai, an artistic movement that started as a response to the militarist government in Japan during the World War II. Conceptual and experimental in nature and different for each practitioner, Gutai for Matsutani meant rejection of representation art, creating organic-looking paintings with sculptural elements made from molded vinyl. After Gutai disbanded in the 1970s, Matsutani began to make brightly colored prints with rectangular and curved elements reminiscent of his paintings from that period. His screenprint A Proper Place P is an excellent example with its sharp angles and organic form creating a dynamic composition. Now at 94 years old, Matsutani has been rediscovered by a larger audience, and in 2019 had a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Lot 38
Sonia Delaunay, Untitled (Composition with Semi-Circles)

Like fellow artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Sonia Delaunay was a celebrated member of the Parisian avant-garde before World War II. Both she and Tauber-Arp were skilled in the applied arts, as accomplished weavers and designers, as well as painters. Both women were also overshadowed by their more well-known husbands, Jean Arp and Robert Delaunay despite their collaborative efforts. Sonia Delaunay’s interest in quilt-making inspired this 1970's color etching Untitled (Composition with Semi-Circles), created at the end of her life. With its juxtaposed angles and semicircles, it is an homage to the patchwork blankets that Delaunay had seen as a child in Russia that later inspired her textile designs.

Lot 65
Chryssa, Plate 9, from Chinatown Portfolio II

The Greek-American artist Chryssa Vardea-Mavromichali (known as Chryssa) became an artworld sensation in the 1960s for pioneering the use of neon light and other commercially available materials such as acrylic, to create large installations. In 1982 she created Mott Street, a sculpture for the Athens subway, inspired by Mott Street in Chinatown, New York. Chryssa’s interest in Chinatown is apparent in this 1978 print from the Chinatown II portfolio, with its brilliant red tones prominently seen during Chinese New Year, symbolizing good luck. For Chryssa, who often used text in her neon sculptures, the characters mimicking calligraphy are repurposed as visual language devoid of specific meaning except in the context of the artwork itself. 

Register to bid for Prints & Multiples: Abstractions before 23 Feb or contact Matthew Stavro for more information.