- 553
Eric Fischl
Estimate
350,000 - 450,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Eric Fischl
- April in the Shower
- signed, titled and dated '92 on the reverse
- oil on canvas
- 98 1/4 by 74 in. 249.5 by 188 cm.
Provenance
Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco
Acquired by the present owner from the above in January 1994
Condition
This work is in very good condition. There are no apparent condition issues with this work. Unframed in a foldable stretcher. Not examined under UV 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.
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.
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.
Catalogue Note
Eric Fischl's paintings act as narratives where the stories develop and unfold instantly before the viewer. He is a master storyteller whose subject matter, powerful in content, frequently deals with the existential apprehension of suburban life. Central in the artist's vocabulary is the theme of physical and psychological nakedness. Typically, Fischl's characters act out their sociological explorations in such public arenas as the beaches, back yards, bedrooms and bathrooms of America.
Infused with emotional interplay and strong sexual implications, April in the Shower, exemplifies Fischl's varied interests in the human form. The bathroom becomes the stage where Fischl experiments with the idea of the public becoming private and vice versa. The viewer becomes simultaneously both a voyeur and a participant. The physical proximity and straight forward stance of the subject, his wife and artist, April Gornick invites the viewer to contemplate the scene with its under-currents of love and sexuality, passivity and aggression and the threat of the unknown.
"Fishl seems to be showing all, but what counts in his work is what is not stated, and can never be adequately stated. Fischl's pictures seem to promise us clarity and complex issues, but in fact suggest depth of a complexity that can never be fully deciphered. It is this that makes his pictures peculiarly opaque dreams, abysses of meaning we can never quite climb out of once we have accepted their terms." (Donald Kuspit, Fischl, New York, 1987, p. 7)
Infused with emotional interplay and strong sexual implications, April in the Shower, exemplifies Fischl's varied interests in the human form. The bathroom becomes the stage where Fischl experiments with the idea of the public becoming private and vice versa. The viewer becomes simultaneously both a voyeur and a participant. The physical proximity and straight forward stance of the subject, his wife and artist, April Gornick invites the viewer to contemplate the scene with its under-currents of love and sexuality, passivity and aggression and the threat of the unknown.
"Fishl seems to be showing all, but what counts in his work is what is not stated, and can never be adequately stated. Fischl's pictures seem to promise us clarity and complex issues, but in fact suggest depth of a complexity that can never be fully deciphered. It is this that makes his pictures peculiarly opaque dreams, abysses of meaning we can never quite climb out of once we have accepted their terms." (Donald Kuspit, Fischl, New York, 1987, p. 7)