Prince Albrecht at Home at the Castle on School Break

細節

Karen Kilimnik (b. 1955)
Prince Albrecht at Home at the Castle on School Break
signed, titled and dated three times 'Prince Albrecht Feb 2 '98 Feb 3 '98 February 13 '98 Karen Kilimnik' (on the reverse)
water soluble oil on canvas
19 7/8 x 16in. (50.5 x 40.5cm.)
Painted in 1998

來源

H&R Project, Brussels.
Anon. sale, Christie's New York, 16 November 2001, lot 405.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

出版

K. Kilimnik, Karen Kilimnik: Paintings, New York 2001 (illustrated in colour, p. 269).

注意事項

On occasion, Christie’s has a direct financial interest in lots consigned for sale, which may include guaranteeing a minimum price or making an advance to the consignor that is secured solely by consigned property. Christie’s may choose to assume this financial risk on its own or may contract with a third party for such third party to assume all or part of this financial risk. When a third party agrees to finance all or part of Christie’s interest in a lot, it takes on all or part of the risk of the lot not being sold, and will be remunerated in exchange for accepting this risk out of Christie’s revenues from the sale, whether or not the third party is a successful bidder. The third party may bid for the lot and may or may not have knowledge of the reserves. Where it does so, and is the successful bidder, the remuneration may be netted against the final purchase price. If the lot is not sold, the third party may incur a loss. Christie’s guarantee of a minimum price for this lot has been fully financed through third parties

拍品專文

Karen Kilimnik's Prince Albrecht at Home at the Castle on School Break is one of a series of works the artist completed in the late 1990s in which she combined two of her greatest loves; pop culture and historical characters from the past. Her intimately painted portrait of a young Leonardo DiCaprio may initially seem at odds with the image conjured up by the works title but it is all part of Kilimnik's distinctive welding together of seemingly unconnected worlds. DiCaprio sits in a darkened room with only the gleaming golden crowns of a heraldic shield interrupting the monotony of the dark background. His tousled hair painted in varying tones of golden brown frames the innocence of his face, as yet unsullied by the machinations of Hollywood.

Like her iconic breakthrough work, the scatter-piece installation The Hellfire Club episode of the Avengers (1989) in which she envisaged the cult TV programme The Avengers as seen through the eyes of the members of the infamous 18th century Hellfire Club, Prince Albrecht at Home at the Castle on School Break combines historical figures with pop culture. Kilimnik claims the starting point for this journey can be found in her own youth and the appropriation of historical figures by the music industry, recalling 'In the '60s, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and everyone dressed up as the 1700s fashion icon Beau Brummell' (K. Kilimnik, interviewed by K. & L. Mulleavy, 'Karen Kilimnik', in Interview, accessed via https://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/karen-kilimnik/). This mash-up of contemporary culture and Old Master paintings is her contribution to the ongoing debate about the nature of modern painting, and a contribution that proclaims the art of painting is not dead and continues to have value in this ever increasingly technological and celebrity obsessed world.