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JAMES LEE BYARS | The Figure of the First Question
Estimate
150,000 - 200,000 GBP
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Description
- James Lee Byars
- The Figure of the First Question
- gold leaf on marble
- 161.5 by 27 by 27 cm. 63 1/2 by 10 5/8 by 10 5/8 in.
- Executed in 1987, this work is unique.
Provenance
Michael Werner Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, James Lee Byars: The Golden Room, July - November 1995
New York, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, Michael Werner Gallery and Mary Boone Gallery, James Lee Byars: The Rest is Silence, April - June 2006, p. 56, illustrated in colour
Nice, Mamac Museum Nice, The Sickness of Hunting: Part 1, 2008, p. 71, illustrated in colour
Nice, Mamac Museum Nice; and Aarhus, AroS Kunstmuseum, Klein/Byars/Kapoor, June 2012 - May 2013, p. 28, illustrated in colour
New York, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, Michael Werner Gallery and Mary Boone Gallery, James Lee Byars: The Rest is Silence, April - June 2006, p. 56, illustrated in colour
Nice, Mamac Museum Nice, The Sickness of Hunting: Part 1, 2008, p. 71, illustrated in colour
Nice, Mamac Museum Nice; and Aarhus, AroS Kunstmuseum, Klein/Byars/Kapoor, June 2012 - May 2013, p. 28, illustrated in colour
Condition
Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is slightly cooler with less red undertones. Condition: The marble is in very good condition with no losses or cracks to the columnar structure. At this moment in time, the gilded surface is in very good condition with a few minor abrasions in isolated places, most notably two linear abrasions to the top right side edge. Inconsistencies to the surface and the pattern of the gilding are in-keeping with the artist's intentions and inherent to the gilding process. Owing to the delicate nature of the surface and its susceptibility to handling marks particularly during the shipping and installation process, the golden surface can be re-gilded as required upon installation; this again is in-keeping with the artist's intentions. Please refer to the department for correct handling and installation instructions for this piece. No restoration is apparent when examined 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."
"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
“[Byars’s work] gives shape to a symbol of ascension, taking metaphorical aim towards the sacred mountain - a gilded machine to honor the gods. The splendor of gold hints at the symbol of inner illumination, of intellectual knowledge and spiritual experience. A concept of divinity. That’s the deeper motivation in James Lee Byars’s use of gold… it is the ultimate symbol of greatness and infinite.” Alberto Salvadori cited in: ‘James Lee Byars: The Golden Tower’, Studio Reduzzi, 2017, online
In James Lee Byars’s The Figure of the First Question (1987), the lustrous, gilt marble column invokes the presence of a sacred site or a ritualistic totem, lavishly adorned and gilded in the guise of ancient statuary. Standing at a comparable height to a person, the sculpture’s singularity and geometry implements a formal simplicity that evokes the work of the Minimalist artists of the 1960s, including Carl Andre, Donald Judd and Robert Morris. Much like his German counterpart Joseph Beuys, Byars was often dubbed the quintessential ‘artist-as-shaman’, and indeed the present work is imbued with a transcendent quality that is prevalent throughout the artist’s practice. Employing the language of the mystic and the aura of the clairvoyant to upend his aesthetic values, Byars asserts the spiritual and philosophical query as the highest attainable objective of art. The incandescent gold monolith in The Figure of the First Question is a recurrent and iconic motif within Byars’s practice. It developed out of the artist’s seminal performance piece from 1969, World Question Center, which saw Byars telephone several of the world’s most renowned scientists, philosophers and artists, whilst broadcast live on Belgian television, to determine what questions they thought to be the most vital, essential and pressing to humankind. Byars was fascinated by the aesthetic potential of life’s most indeterminate, unanswered, fluid and existential questions. In works such as the present, the artist potently elicits such open-ended signifiers, through his deeply enigmatic, elusive and ethereal aesthetic.
Born in 1932 in Detroit, Michigan in the USA, Byars was a renegade artist for whom philosophy and art were inseparable facets of one lifelong project. Fascinated by the idea of perfection, the artist produced an extraordinary body of work that pursued what he himself referred to as “the first totally interrogative philosophy” (James Lee Byars cited in: ‘James Lee Byars’, The Museum of Modern Art, 2014, online). Much like his contemporary Beuys, Byars was a consummate materialist: he imbued his sculptures and performances with a philosophical significance that was articulated through the symbolic materials he used to produce them. After studying art and philosophy, Byars moved to Kyoto, Japan, in 1958, where he was exposed to Japanese Noh theatre and Shinto rituals. His practice, which draws upon artistic styles and philosophies from around the world, employs theatricality as a contemplative impetus: “posing his art confoundingly between apparent contradictions – the monumental and the minuscule, the universal and the personal, the luxurious and the minimal, the relic and the event… [Byars] suggests that perfection may occur not simply at the most evanescent edges of form, but also in the attenuated moments of attention spent trying to discern it” (MoMA PS1, Press Release, ‘James Lee Byars: 1/2 an Autobiography’, The Museum of Modern Art, 2014, online).
A monument to philosophical thought, The Figure of the First Question is laden with contradiction: it is at once physical and spiritual, tactile and ephemeral, minimal and baroque, ancient and modern. One of the most archetypal characteristic of Byars’s practice, this sense of paradox speaks to the artist’s quest for an enlightened state of understanding through interrogative contemplation. The present work has been showcased in a number of notable international exhibitions in recent years, including in New York at the Michael Werner Gallery in 2006, and in Nice at the Mamac Museum Nice in 2008 and 2012-13. It follows the example set by the artist’s most seminal work, The Golden Tower of 1976, which has been shown in various iterations since its inception, most recently at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. Opening the door to myriad speculations and open-ended hermeneutics, The Figure of the First Question comes to represent, through its gold, shimmering luminosity, a notion of divinity that steadfastly stands as an overwhelming symbol of artistic aspiration. The gold leaf covering the marble plinth denotes an all-encompassing power and ability to ‘communicate’, augmenting the ritualistic tenor of the work. Culminating in a majestic example of Byars’s elegant and esoteric practice, the present sculpture illustrates the artist’s self-imposed Sisyphean pursuit of beauty and truth.
In James Lee Byars’s The Figure of the First Question (1987), the lustrous, gilt marble column invokes the presence of a sacred site or a ritualistic totem, lavishly adorned and gilded in the guise of ancient statuary. Standing at a comparable height to a person, the sculpture’s singularity and geometry implements a formal simplicity that evokes the work of the Minimalist artists of the 1960s, including Carl Andre, Donald Judd and Robert Morris. Much like his German counterpart Joseph Beuys, Byars was often dubbed the quintessential ‘artist-as-shaman’, and indeed the present work is imbued with a transcendent quality that is prevalent throughout the artist’s practice. Employing the language of the mystic and the aura of the clairvoyant to upend his aesthetic values, Byars asserts the spiritual and philosophical query as the highest attainable objective of art. The incandescent gold monolith in The Figure of the First Question is a recurrent and iconic motif within Byars’s practice. It developed out of the artist’s seminal performance piece from 1969, World Question Center, which saw Byars telephone several of the world’s most renowned scientists, philosophers and artists, whilst broadcast live on Belgian television, to determine what questions they thought to be the most vital, essential and pressing to humankind. Byars was fascinated by the aesthetic potential of life’s most indeterminate, unanswered, fluid and existential questions. In works such as the present, the artist potently elicits such open-ended signifiers, through his deeply enigmatic, elusive and ethereal aesthetic.
Born in 1932 in Detroit, Michigan in the USA, Byars was a renegade artist for whom philosophy and art were inseparable facets of one lifelong project. Fascinated by the idea of perfection, the artist produced an extraordinary body of work that pursued what he himself referred to as “the first totally interrogative philosophy” (James Lee Byars cited in: ‘James Lee Byars’, The Museum of Modern Art, 2014, online). Much like his contemporary Beuys, Byars was a consummate materialist: he imbued his sculptures and performances with a philosophical significance that was articulated through the symbolic materials he used to produce them. After studying art and philosophy, Byars moved to Kyoto, Japan, in 1958, where he was exposed to Japanese Noh theatre and Shinto rituals. His practice, which draws upon artistic styles and philosophies from around the world, employs theatricality as a contemplative impetus: “posing his art confoundingly between apparent contradictions – the monumental and the minuscule, the universal and the personal, the luxurious and the minimal, the relic and the event… [Byars] suggests that perfection may occur not simply at the most evanescent edges of form, but also in the attenuated moments of attention spent trying to discern it” (MoMA PS1, Press Release, ‘James Lee Byars: 1/2 an Autobiography’, The Museum of Modern Art, 2014, online).
A monument to philosophical thought, The Figure of the First Question is laden with contradiction: it is at once physical and spiritual, tactile and ephemeral, minimal and baroque, ancient and modern. One of the most archetypal characteristic of Byars’s practice, this sense of paradox speaks to the artist’s quest for an enlightened state of understanding through interrogative contemplation. The present work has been showcased in a number of notable international exhibitions in recent years, including in New York at the Michael Werner Gallery in 2006, and in Nice at the Mamac Museum Nice in 2008 and 2012-13. It follows the example set by the artist’s most seminal work, The Golden Tower of 1976, which has been shown in various iterations since its inception, most recently at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. Opening the door to myriad speculations and open-ended hermeneutics, The Figure of the First Question comes to represent, through its gold, shimmering luminosity, a notion of divinity that steadfastly stands as an overwhelming symbol of artistic aspiration. The gold leaf covering the marble plinth denotes an all-encompassing power and ability to ‘communicate’, augmenting the ritualistic tenor of the work. Culminating in a majestic example of Byars’s elegant and esoteric practice, the present sculpture illustrates the artist’s self-imposed Sisyphean pursuit of beauty and truth.