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John Baldessari (1931-2020); Child with Kitten/Man with Cigar (from 'Above and Below'); image 1
John Baldessari (1931-2020); Child with Kitten/Man with Cigar (from 'Above and Below'); image 2
Lot 9

John Baldessari
(1931-2020)
Child with Kitten/Man with Cigar (from 'Above and Below')

1 – 10 October 2025, 12:00 EDT
Online, New York

Sold for US$10,880 inc. premium

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John Baldessari (1931-2020)

Child with Kitten/Man with Cigar (from 'Above and Below'), 1991/2003
Unique photomontage comprised of two black-and-white photographs; hand-colored with oil tint and crayon, flush-mounted to board, framed; this work is version 2 from an edition of 10.
overall 48 x 28 in. (121.9 x 71.1 cm.)

Footnotes

Provenance
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2005

Literature
Sharon Coplan Hurowitz, John Baldessari: A Catalogue Raisonné of Prints and Multiples, 1971-2007 (New York, 2009), no. 61, pp. 182-187

Exhibited
Palm Springs Art Museum, John Baldessari, 26 February - 26 June 2011

Note
The image of the cat seen in the upper portion of this work is a detail from a photograph taken by Beth Koch on 16 May 1969. The full image, which shows a little boy with his hands wrapped around the cat's throat, was reproduced in the special 50th anniversary edition of LIFE magazine in Fall 1986 (p. 406). The caption reads: "As his lives flashed before him, Sidney the cat, of Balboa, Calif., grew cross. But the choke was on him. David Beek was not up to anything catastrophic. He was simply helping Sidney hold ver-r-ry still for the camera."

John Baldessari: A Catalogue Raisonné of Prints and Multiples, 1971-2007 (nos. 60-61, pp. 182-187) notes that the edition size of Child with Kitten/Man with Cigar is comprised of '10 Unique Variants', each one individually hand-colored in different hues to render that particular edition number unique. When it was published in 2009, the Catalogue Raisonné noted that only 2 of the 10 works had been completed. At the time of this writing, it is believed that no additional works from this edition were executed during Baldessari's lifetime.

Please note that the Catalogue Raisonné entry for the present work (no. 61) incorrectly states that it is signed and titled in white crayon along the lower edge of the image. After examining the work out of its frame, it has been confirmed that there is not a signature or title written anywhere on the work itself or on its frame.

A copy of the original invoice from Margo Leavin Gallery, dated 27 April 2005, will be provided upon request.

Additional information

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