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Property from the Trust of Theodore W. Kheel
Most who knew Theodore W. Kheel , knew him as one of the most influential arbitrators and mediators in New York City of his time. Publicly involved in the resolution of an impressive tens of thousands of labor disputes throughout his career, few knew of his passion for the arts. Through his legal career he was afforded the opportunity to form relationships with artists - one such artist was Robert Rauschenberg.
The first lot in this collection, Untitled , 1970 is a work created in Rauschenberg's unique transfer drawing technique. Rauschenberg began making drawings through a transfer process in 1958. Created by pouring lighter fluid onto a printed magazine image and placing the wet printed positives on a sheet of white paper, he would then use the pressure of rubbing the pencil to 'transfer' the image onto the main sheet, creating a pictorial time capsule. This technique, which provided little room for error, captured images that documented both the historical and banal moments in mid-century American culture. Part collage, part drawing and part painting, they were a two-dimensional graphic echoing of his larger-scale experiments 'combining' the fields of painting and sculpture and as such they often mirrored and even anticipated the aesthetic development of the three-dimensional Combines.
Three of the following works are the product of collaboration between the technical expertise of Donald Saff and the artistic genius of artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein. Together, these partnerships created works which stretched the boundaries of conception and medium, yet remained true to the artist's intent. "Saff was more than a host and a fabricator-he was a catalystthe element of discovery was intrinsic to both partners in bringing the projects Saff initiated to fruition" (M. Kushner, Donald Saff: Art in Colaboration, Munich, 2010, p. 11).
In 1992, work began on the Eco-Echo series, when Saff suggested the concept of a windmill to his friend and collaborative partner Robert Rauschenberg. Having just returned from the United Nations Earth Summit on environment and development in Rio de Janeiro, environmental causes were paramount to Rauschenberg --The only way he would go ahead with the project, was if there was a way to make it environmentally friendly. With a base of raw materials such as industrial aluminum, and recycled lead weights on the central element, Saff suggested further enhancing the ecological relevance of the work by installing sonars on the base. These sonars enable the sculpture to only be actively rotating when viewers are in its vicinity. With collage-like elements reproduced on each blade in Rauschenberg's iconic style, Eco-Echo VI is not only a feat of engineering, but a tribute to the artist's ecological sensibilities.
Roy Lichtenstein's Still life with Brushstroke and Mobile are tremendous examples of the artist's interest in the slippery boundaries between original and copy. In these works Lichtenstein provides silkscreened images of brushstrokes side by side with hand painted brushstrokes as well as a caricatured rendering of a hanging mobile, likely inspired by Calder, hovering in the air. The illusion is heightened through the printing of this mobile image as a thick relief on translucent scrim attached to a concave backing board that intentionally warps the shadow of the mobile image producing a seductive and lasting visual experience. These works created in collaboration with Don Saff defy the traditional boundaries of painting and sculpture and allow Lichtenstein to reach further into his creative well than could have been accomplished with canvas alone.
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)
Untitled
Details
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)
Untitled
signed and dated 'RAUSCHENBERG 70' (lower left)
solvent transfer, watercolor, gouache, tape and newspaper collage on paper
25½ x 28 in. (64.7 x 71.1 cm.)
Executed in 1970.
Untitled
signed and dated 'RAUSCHENBERG 70' (lower left)
solvent transfer, watercolor, gouache, tape and newspaper collage on paper
25½ x 28 in. (64.7 x 71.1 cm.)
Executed in 1970.
Provenance
Acquired from the artist
Literature
Advertising Supplement for the American Foundation on Automation and Employment, New York Times, February, 1, 1970 (illustrated in color on the cover).