Self-Portrait

Details

Thomas Ruff (b. 1958)
Self-Portrait
signed, numbered and dated '3/4 1987 Thomas Ruff' (on the reverse)
chromogenic print face-mounted on Plexiglas in wooden frame
80¾ x 65in. (205 x 165cm.)
Executed in 1987, this work is number three from an edition of four

Provenance

Zwirner & Wirth, New York.
303 Gallery, New York.

Literature

M. Winzen, (ed.), Thomas Ruff 1979 to the Present, Cologne 2001 (another from the edition illustrated, p. 255).

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

"Every photo makes a claim. In order to prove this visual claim is right, I have to set up a whole series of similar shots - like a scientist carrying out a series of experiments. Apart from that, I am convinced that it is not enough to make a portrait of just one person if you want to get an idea of the human being. In order to have as comprehensive a picture as possible, you have to make portraits of as many people as possible. The same applies to houses, heavenly bodies, newspaper photos, night shots and so on, right down to sexual fantasies. A single picture is too little, that is why I work in series."
(T. Ruff in interview with F. Wappler, reproduced in Thomas Ruff, Künstler. Kritisches Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst, issue 53, part 8, 2001, p. 15.)

Self-Portrait

Lot Essay

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