Modern & Contemporary Prints & Multiples / Robert H. Colescott (1925-2009); Pontchartrain (quadriptych);
Lot 107
Robert H. Colescott
(1925-2009)
Pontchartrain (quadriptych)
12 May 2022, 10:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$40,695 inc. premium
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Olivia Grabowsky
Junior Cataloguer
Matthew Stavro
Junior Specialist
Deborah Ripley
Department Director
Robert H. Colescott (1925-2009)
Pontchartrain (quadriptych), 1997
Etching, sugar lift and spit bite aquatint with drypoint in colors, printed on 4 sheets of Arches Cream cover paper, adjacently, signed in pencil, dated, and numbered 8/20 on the right panel (there were also 10 artist's proofs), with the blindstamp, on right panel, of the publisher/printer Crown Point Press, San Francisco, each the full sheet. (quadriptych)
each image 41 1/2 x 29 3/8in (105.4 x 74.6cm)
each sheet 46 1/4 x 29 3/8in (117.4 x 74.6cm)
overall 46 1/4 x 117in (117.4 x 297.1cm)
Etching, sugar lift and spit bite aquatint with drypoint in colors, printed on 4 sheets of Arches Cream cover paper, adjacently, signed in pencil, dated, and numbered 8/20 on the right panel (there were also 10 artist's proofs), with the blindstamp, on right panel, of the publisher/printer Crown Point Press, San Francisco, each the full sheet. (quadriptych)
each image 41 1/2 x 29 3/8in (105.4 x 74.6cm)
each sheet 46 1/4 x 29 3/8in (117.4 x 74.6cm)
overall 46 1/4 x 117in (117.4 x 297.1cm)
Footnotes
Provenance
Crown Point Press, San Francisco
Private collection, New York and Louisiana
Other impressions are in the following selected collections:
Brooklyn Museum, New York
National Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Robert Colescott's tour-de-force Pontchartrain is the artist's most monumental graphic work and also the largest ever produced by the publisher, Crown Point Press, San Francisco. This is the first time it is being offered at auction.
"Colescott presents an enigmatic cast of characters along with iconic symbols: cans of paint and brushes, one can labeled 'sex,' another one labeled 'race,' hands with guns, genie lamps, women in colorful undergarments and caricature portraits - all swimming in a black lake ground. The symbol of paint pots might reference mixed-race encounters, alluding to members of his own family even, who chose to not identify as Black. Commenting on the print, Colescott explained: 'Sex and race, those are my raw materials. That's why they're in the paint pots...'" (Minneapolis Institute of Art, online catalogue)