Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

JOHN BALDESSARI (1931-2020); The Fallen Easel; (9) image 1
JOHN BALDESSARI (1931-2020); The Fallen Easel; (9) image 2
JOHN BALDESSARI (1931-2020); The Fallen Easel; (9) image 3
Lot 22

JOHN BALDESSARI
(1931-2020)
The Fallen Easel 9

12 – 23 September 2025, 12:00 PDT
Online, Los Angeles

Sold for US$10,240 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Prints & Multiples specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

JOHN BALDESSARI (1931-2020)

The Fallen Easel (Hurowitz 37, Cirrus p. 188), 1988
The complete set, comprising nine elements of lithograph and screenprint (2 in colors) on wove paper and five aluminum plates, signed in pencil on one sheet (Fish), dated and annotated 'AP 9' (one of 15 artist's proofs, aside from the edition of 35), co-published by Multiples Inc., New York, with the blindstamp of the co-publisher/printer, Cirrus Editions, Los Angeles, the full sheets, four paper elements framed. (9)
overall 74 x 95in (188 x 241cm)

Footnotes

A central theme in John Baldessari's work is the tension between parts and whole — a conceptual play with fragmentation and incompleteness. His multi-part prints, like Fallen Easel, invite the viewer to become an active participant, bridging the visual gaps and constructing meaning from what is left unsaid. In Fallen Easel, individually framed components are arranged in an irregular yet meticulously organized formation, disrupting the traditional rectangular frame and instead creating an architectural composition. Baldessari referred to this as "building architecturally," using print to "punch the idea of [the rectangle]" through unexpected shapes and combinations. The title itself suggests a collapse or the "fall" of easel painting's dominance, pointing instead to the expressive and exploratory potential of printmaking. Through this work, Baldessari not only challenges how images are constructed and perceived, but also expands the medium's possibilities, treating the wall as both a conceptual space and a site of dynamic, structural display.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Andy Warhol(1928-1987)Some Men Need Help