Sean Scully

M. Knoedler & Company, Inc., New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in April 2003

This work is in excellent condition overall. There is a star-shaped crack located 13 ½ - 14 1/8 in. from the right and 40 – 41 in. from the top. There is a linear diagonal crack with three 1/8 – ¼ in. attendant cracks, located 13 ¾ - 14 ¼ in. from the right and 29 ½ - 30 ¼ in. from the bottom. There is no apparent loss or lifting related to these areas. Under ultraviolet light, there are no apparent restorations. This painting is unframed.
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.

The genesis of Sean Scully's Wall of Light paintings was his trip to Mexico in the early 1980s, where he became fascinated by the stacked stones of ancient Mayan walls in the Yucatan peninsula, which, when animated by light, seemed to reflect the passage of time.  On his first trip Scully created watercolors in Mexico and 15 years later these studies served as the inspiration for the series of paintings.  Wall of Light Day from 2003 is remarkable for its boldness of hue, emotive power and its capacity to convey the quality of light.  Compositionally, the work evokes the architectural structure of its title, reminding the viewer of the tactile experience of touching a wall and the visual observation of changes in light across a wall over time.  Yet as the contradiction inherent in the series' title implies, these solid structures are dematerialized by Scully's use of color. Physical and metaphysical properties merge, so that there is density in light and weight in the intangibility of ethereal beauty.

The Wall of Light paintings transform Scully's familiar stripes and straps into `bricks' of color, placed in alternating horizontal and vertical rows that differ in size from painting to painting.  More than any other artist of his generation, Scully combines the formal traditions of European painting – the brooding tones of Velàzquez and Manet and the spectacular colors and brushwork of van Gogh and Matisse – with a distinctly American abstract tradition epitomized in particular by Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock.  In Rothko's paintings, light combines with darkness and a moody melancholic drama, and this is the cornerstone of Scully's appreciation for him.  Like Rothko, Scully constructs layered rectangles of expressive color that are at once united and in tension with each other in a post and lintel construction.  Scully tends to layer lighter colors over darker and the early layers peer through the brushstrokes and the feathery edges of the rectangular `bricks' like light seeping through the cracks in a wall.