Richard Lindner (1901-1978)
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 2… 显示更多 THE COLLECTION OF MAX PALEVSKY Like the protagonists of many "great American success" stories of the 20th century, Max Palevsky grew from humble beginnings into one of the foremost visionaries of his generation. Born in 1924 to Jewish parents who had recently emigrated from Eastern Europe, Palevsky was raised the youngest of three children in a gritty working-class neighborhood of Chicago. After graduating from public high school with a strong interest in science and mathematics, he enlisted as an electronics officer and meteorologist in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, which afforded him both the opportunity to travel the world and finish his education. While in the Army, Palevsky visited the Museum of Modern Art during a stop in New York, where he saw an influential exhibition "What is Modern Architecture?", that would broaden his understanding of the relationship between art, architecture, design and science. Palevsky was profoundly moved by this exhibition. In 1948, after the war, the GI Bill enabled him to earn degrees in mathematics and philosophy from the University of Chicago, later described by Palevsky as "the crucial experience of my life"1 and one that "gave me a notion of, and enthusiasm for, all that was out there in the world [and] of the limitless horizons of discovery."2 Armed with a graduate education and a strong understanding of symbolic logic, Palevsky accepted a teaching position at UCLA. In an event Palevsky described as a "happenstance," he attended a lecture at the California Institute of Technology about the future possibility of "self-correcting" computers by the prescient mathematician John von Neumann.3 Palevsky was so inspired that he promptly looked up "Computers" in a local telephone directory, quit his teaching job and joined what would become Bendix Corporation as one of the world's first computer designers. Later, Palevsky and a group of associates founded Scientific Data Systems (SDS), which introduced a variety of computers, among them a groundbreaking machine capable of processing data for both business and science. SDS was eventually sold to Xerox; the media at the time described Palevsky as a "founding genius." He retired as a director of Xerox in May 1972. In the following years, Palevsky turned his attention to his other passions: venture capitalism, politics, philanthropy and the arts. In 1970, he became a director and board chairman of Rolling Stone magazine, which he rescued from financial ruin. Palevsky also supported a number of political candidates and became a strong supporter of campaign finance reform. Palevsky spent much of his time and energy creating three remarkable houses in California: a "stark yet grand" Palm Springs retreat designed by Craig Ellwood in 1968; a Spanish-Mediterranean villa on the bluffs of Malibu, configured by architect Joe Wieser in 1972 and renovated by renowned Italian designer Ettore Sotsass in 1984; and the 1985 remodel by architectural designer Coy Howard of a 1928 Spanish-Italian style residence in Beverly Hills.4 For Palevsky, whose first art purchase in 1960 was a sexually-charged gouache entitled Junger Knabe by German artist George Grosz (sold, Christie's, New York, 4 November 2010, lot 213, $254,500), collecting was largely autodidactic and approached with equal measures of intellect and discipline. Eventually, Palevsky amassed one of the world's foremost collections of the Arts and Crafts movement, solidifying relationships over the years with museum curators, most notably Leslie Greene Bowman, former curator of decorative arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and now president and chief executive of Monticello, Charlottesville, VA; Wendy Kaplan, the current head of the decorative arts department at LACMA, and Robert Singer, the museum's curator of Japanese art. Between 1990-1993, Palevsky gave 74 Arts and Crafts pieces to LACMA. He supplied about a third of the 300 objects displayed in a 2004-05 LACMA exhibit, The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America: 1880-1920. In 2009, the museum presented The Arts and Crafts Movement: Masterworks From the Max Palevsky and Jodie Evans Collection. "I always will treasure him as one of the rare breed of collectors whose passions were equally divided between aesthetics and ideas, and he always was committed to sharing both with the widest possible audience." -Wendy Kaplan, Department Head and Curator Decorative Arts and Design Los Angeles County Museum of Art Palevsky often likened the difficult relationship between Arts and Crafts and modernisation to his feelings about what computers have come to symbolise in the 21st century, "Computers were originally intended to expedite work and solve serious problems, from space travel to record keeping... Unfortunately, they have also become passive entertainment devices--substitutes for interactions with the real world. Just as the Arts and Crafts movement took issue with the alienation of people from 'pleasure in labour' and the resulting loss of human creativity, I, too, oppose the depersonalisation that comes from the hypnotic quality of computer games, the substitution of a Google search for genuine inquiry, the instant messaging that has replaced social discourse."5 Palevsky's regard for fine and decorative arts that share a clean, organised and geometric style have led him to acquire a variety of Modern and contemporary art and Japanese prints. Works by French Modernist Fernand Léger and American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein hung in each of his houses, and he describes himself as one of the most prolific collectors of paintings by Richard Lindner, a German artist who idolised Léger and who was known for "boldly mechanistic, highly sexual images of women." In addition, Palevsky installed two monumental stabiles by Alexander Calder in Malibu and Palm Springs. Overall, Palevsky exercised great restraint in his collecting, preferring to use or see what he owned, and sell or donate works that did not have a proper place in one of his homes or offices. He explained, "When you buy art, as opposed to looking at it, there's a discipline. You have to really look... [at] a bunch of things to decide, 'Is this worth that much money to me?' People who collect seriously look seriously."6 When asked in recent years how he would like to be remembered, Palevsky simply answered: "Just as somebody who contributed to the community. We all have a responsibility."7 "Max's greatest gift to me was his authenticity and generosity. He suffered no artifice...lives unabashedly, and gave deeply and generously to help his friends and causes. He cared about inconsequential people even as he dined with celebrities and statesmen. I work for Thomas Jefferson now; they would have been great friends." -Leslie Greene Bowman President and Chief Curator Monticello, Charlottesville, VA NOTES: 1. Jennifer Leovy, "Pledge of $20 million from Max Palevsky to enhance residential life," The University of Chicago Chronicle, 13 July 2000. 2. "Palevskys donate another $5 million to University," The University of Chicago Chronicle, 14 March 1996. 3. Suzanne Muchnic, "Max Palevsky meticulously assembles a design trove to be given to LACMA," The Los Angeles Times, 14 December 2008. 4. Aaron Betsky, Three California Houses: The Homes of Max Palevsky, p. 6. 5. S. Muchnic, op. cit. 6. Susan Freudenheim, "Former computer tycoon Max Palevsky brings a steely eye to his diverse collection," The Los Angeles Times, 28 June 2001. 7. Suzanne Muchnic op. cit. PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MAX PALEVSKY
Richard Lindner (1901-1978)

Marilyn Was Here

细节
Richard Lindner (1901-1978)
Marilyn Was Here
signed and dated 'R. Lindner 1967' (lower left)
oil on canvas
71 7/8 x 59¾in. (182.5 x 152cm.)
Painted in 1967
来源
Cordier & Ekstrom, Inc., New York.
Acquired from the above by the late owner, 1968.
出版
P. Billard, "Marilyn Monroe repose en pieces", in L'Express, December 1967 (illustrated, p. 57).
"Ausstellungen. Marilyn Monroe: Öffentliche Lippen", in Der Spiegel, 22, no. 1, January 1968, p. 75.
R. Melville, "Gallery. Obsessive Image 1960-68" in The Architectural Review, 143, no. 856, June 1968, fig. 9 (illustrated, pp. 456-466).
Richard Lindner, exh. cat., Leverkusen, Städtische Museum, 1968 (illustrated in colour, unpaged).
Richard Lindner, exh. cat., Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, 1968 (illustrated in colour, p. 82).
Lindner, exh. cat., Berkeley, University of California, 1968, p. 12.
D. Swanson, "Richard Lindner, A Painter of figures, unique, brilliantly erotic", in Vogue, 154, no. 3, August 1969, p. 142.
D. Ashton, Richard Lindner, New York 1970, no. 183 (illustrated in color).
H. Ansbacher, "Adler, Individual Psychology and Marilyn Monroe", in Psychology Today, 3, no. 9, January 1970 (illustrated, p. 43).
R. Dienst, Lindner. Kunst heute, Stuttgart 1970, p. 56.
B. Chmaj, (ed.), Image, Myth and Beyond: American Women and American Studies, Pittsburgh 1972, p. 365.
H. Kramer, "Lindner's Ladies", in Playboy, March 1973 (illustrated in colour, p. 100).
W. Spies, "Die Maschinerie des Unbehagens. Richard Lindners Suche nach Marcel Proust: Zu zwei Porträts de Malers", in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 1973, p. 24.
Richard Lindner, exh. cat., Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, 1974, pp. 24, 26 and 33.
L. Alloway, Topics in American Art since 1945, New York 1975, p. 144.
M. Staber, "Symbolfiguren and Land de Malerei gezogen: Aum Werk von Richard Lindner", in Kunstnachrichten, 11, no. 2, January 1975 (illustrated in colour, p. 43).
W. Schmied, "Zum Tode des Malers Richard Lindner (1908-1978): Grostadtvogel mit bösem Auge." in Die Zeit, 28 April 1978, p. 49.
W. Spies, Lindner, Paris 1980 (illustrated, pp. 28-31, 41-42 and 75).
P. Gorsen, Sexualästhetik: Grenzformen der Sinnlichkeit im 20. Jahrhundert, Hamburg 1987, p. 268.
G. Néret, Trente ans d'art moderne: peintres et sculpteurs, Fribourg 1988 (illustrated in colour, p. 171).
G. Néret, L'Érotisme en peinture, Paris 1990 (illustrated in colour, pp. 160 and 163).
J. Zilczer, "Richard Lindner's Symbolic Universe", in American Art Review, vol. 9, no. 1, 1997 (illustrated in colour, p. 108).
W. Spies, (ed.), Richard Lindner: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings, Munich 1999, no. 91 (illustrated in colour, pp. 32 and 87).
展览
New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Homage to Marilyn Monroe, 1967, no. 27 (illustrated).
London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Obsessive Image 1960-63, 1968, no. 53 (illustrated in colour, p. 45).
Saint-Paul de Vence, Fondation Maeght, Richard Lindner, 1979, no. 25 (illustrated in colour, p. 75). This exhibition later travelled to Liège, Musée Saint-Georges.
Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Richard Lindner: Paintings and Watercolors 1948-1977, 1996-97, no. 48 (illustrated in colour, p. 109). This exhibition later travelled to Munich, Haus der Kunst.
Madrid, Fundaciòn Juan March, Richard Lindner, 1998-99, no. 22 (illustrated in colour, p. 59). This exhibition later travelled to Valencia, IVAM Centre Julio González.
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Dean Swanson: 'You say that the theme of many of the dramas in your pictures is loneliness. This is apparent is such a painting as "Marilyn Was Here", where the figure is isolated, with no other people in the painting.

Richard Lindner: Yes, I think Marilyn Monroe was a victim of the misunderstanding of publicity in Hollywood which tried to create a star of the 1930s-no longer possible in the 1950s.

Dean Swanson: This is a very good example of a picture where the composition seems to reiterate the psychological theme of the painting, the shadow-half of the figure.'


(D. Swanson, "Richard Lindner, A Painter of figures, unique, brilliantly erotic," Vogue, 154, no. 3, August 1969, p. 142).


Richard Lindner's striking canvas Marilyn Was Here provides a unique blend of two of the most important traditions of twentieth century art history, European Modernism and American Pop. This commanding work combines the figurative traditions of Lindner's Germanic roots with the vibrant pop culture of his adopted home to produce a compulsive mix of form and color. The mysterious and shadowy figure of Marilyn Monroe is the central character in Lindner's world of sexual excess. But rather than being an object of desire, the kaleidoscope of bright, vibrant colours that envelope her mask a deeper, more introspective investigation into the nature of fame and identity in the twentieth century. Lindner confirmed the importance of this subject in an interview about the painting which was published in Vogue in August 1969. Interviewed by the curator Dean Swanson, Lindner explains he thought this particular canvas went to the very heart of what his work was trying to achieve.

This notion of identity is a cornerstone of Lindner's work. Like many of the artist's best paintings Marilyn Was Here acts a springboard into an investigation of self and the nature of identity. In Marilyn Monroe, Lindner picked the perfect subject; the dark figure of the Hollywood star, part in shadow and part mechanical creation, symbolizes the multi-faceted embodiment of the actress's persona. Are we looking at the Marilyn Monroe created by the Hollywood studio machine or the more elusive figure of Norma Jean Baker, the true woman hiding behind Marilyn's façade?

Marilyn Was Here comes from the respected collection of the computer pioneer Max Palevsky. Inspired by the mechanical nature of much of Lindner's work, Palevsky became an important collector of the artist's work and owned a number of important canvases, exhibiting them widely throughout both Europe and the United States. Despite the limited number of paintings Lindner completed during his lifetime (he only painted just over one hundred canvases), Palevsky built up one of the most important collections of the artist's work. Marilyn Was Here was one of his favourite Lindner paintings, demonstrated by the fact that he displayed the picture with pride in a prime position in the entrance hallway of his Malibu home, just a few steps from Palevsky's other prized painting, Fernand Leger's 1921 modernist masterpiece La Tasse de thé.