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Lot 12
Manolo Valdés(Spanish, born 1942)A Menage à Picasso, 2011
15 May 2019, 17:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$125,075 inc. premium
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Manolo Valdés (Spanish, born 1942)
A Menage à Picasso, 2011
signed, dated and inscribed 'MVALDES 2011' (on the reverse)
mixed media on burlap
68 5/8 x 47 1/8 in.
174.3 x 119.7 cm.
signed, dated and inscribed 'MVALDES 2011' (on the reverse)
mixed media on burlap
68 5/8 x 47 1/8 in.
174.3 x 119.7 cm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Galería Freites, Caracas
Private Collection, London
Sale: Phillips, London, 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, 6 October 2016, Lot 176
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Manolo Valdés is influenced by the masters of art history, yet rather than replicate, the artist takes known compositions and refracts them through his own vision, making the subject his own. Valdés' multi-disciplinary practice, and his dexterity with materials, is a tip of his hat to Robert Rauschenberg, an artist who greatly influenced his studio practice. These influences, which have molded Valdés, are most evident in A Menage à Picasso, 2011. The playful use of materials, and the elegant yet bold woman in profile, perfectly demonstrate the conversation between art historical movements that are captured in his practice and rendered in a post-Pop fashion.
The artist first earned notoriety in 1964 with Equipo Cronica, a collaboration with Rafael Solbes and Joan Toledo. The group, working with a Pop Art visual vocabulary, frequently commented on the history of art, as well as delivering searing critiques of the dictator Francisco Franco. Equipo Cronica dissolved in 1981, and Valdés began to experiment further with other media, including collage, for which he is best known.
Valdés relocated to New York City in 1990, and his artistic output since is marked by his continued re-appropriations of museum paintings. A commentary on artistic expression as a whole, Valdés only comments on and reformulates paintings and works that he loves. We can conclude that the artist's interests lie frequently with figurative work, including portraiture. With portraits in profile, there is a particular nod to quattrocento masters like Fra Filippo Lippi as well as Diego Velázquez, a fellow Spaniard, and, more recently, Pablo Picasso. Unlike his continental forebears, Valdés does not illustrate the drapery of his sitter's headpiece through two-dimensional light and shadow, but rather uses the physical materials to achieve depth.
With a prolific and celebrated career spanning a half-century, Valdés' work can be found in numerous public and private collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.
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