- 36
Cy Twombly
Description
- Cy Twombly
- Untitled
- signed and dated 1959
- oil, wax crayon and pencil on canvas
- 37 3/4 x 54 1/2 in. 95.9 x 138.4 cm.
Provenance
Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Scull, New York
The Mayor Gallery, London
Sonnabend Gallery, New York
Private Collection, New York
Marisa del Re Gallery, New York
Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio
Sotheby's, New York, May 15, 2002, Lot 20 (consigned by the above)
L&M Arts, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above circa 2007
Exhibited
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Selected Works from the Agnes Gund Saalfield Collections, June - August 1982
Literature
Heiner Bastian, Cy Twombly: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume I, 1948-1960, Munich, 1992, cat. no. 126, p. 202, illustrated
Condition
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
Untitled is a vibrant response to Rome’s exuberance, and the rapture of the Mediterranean land and seascape. Compared to some of his earlier works executed during the first half of the 1950s, the present painting is lighter; the marks are more dispersed, allowing for a better appreciation of each individual element. Untitled also demonstrates an advanced level of lyricism, while presenting a more aggressive release of explicitly defiling disorder. To decipher Twombly’s idiosyncratic forms through a framework of conventional aesthetic values, however, is to ignore the intentionality behind their decisive ambiguity. Despite a residual yearning to decipher these written marks, Twombly’s visual language has neither syntax nor logic. In the words of Pierre Restany, it is comprised of “furtive gestures, an écriture automatique,” (Pierre Restany, The Revolution of the Sign, 1961) and function as acompulsory sensual and intellectualcatharsis that is both universal and particular to the individual.