PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF ARNOLD KOPELSON
Lot 22W
Eric Fischl(American, born 1948)The Bed, The Chair, Dancing, Watching, 2000
13 November 2019, 17:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$225,075 inc. premium
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Eric Fischl (American, born 1948)
The Bed, The Chair, Dancing, Watching, 2000
signed, titled and dated 'Eric fischl 2000 THE BED, THE CHAIR, DANCING WATCHING' (on the reverse)
oil on linen
69 x 78 in.
175.3 x 198.1 cm.
signed, titled and dated 'Eric fischl 2000 THE BED, THE CHAIR, DANCING WATCHING' (on the reverse)
oil on linen
69 x 78 in.
175.3 x 198.1 cm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
London, Gagosian Gallery, Eric Fischl: The Bed, The Chair...New Paintings, 13 June-28 July 2000, n.p., no. 3, illustrated in color
Wolfsburg, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Eric Fischl, Paintings and Drawings 1979-2001, 13 September 2003-4 January 2004, p. 69, illustrated in color, p. 97, detail illustrated in black and white
Literature
Kay Heymer, Ed., Eric Fischl: The Bed, The Chair...Paintings and Works on Paper, Essen 2002, n.p., illustrated in color
With his unique and complex expression, Eric Fischl has become one of the most important post-modern American painters. He burst onto the New York art scene in the early 1980s with paintings like Sleepwalker (1979) and Bad Boy (1981), which brought him renown in and beyond the art world.
Many of Fischl's subjects are seemingly ordinary people from everyday America, but he places them in scenes so visually cinematic that the tableaux take on the nuance and thoughtfulness of narrative theater. There is an undercurrent of tension and expectancy humming in his best works, often resulting from his ever-evolving exploration of intimacy while testing the boundaries of behavior and relationships. A formal hallmark of the artist's painting is the physical manifestation of this tension in the contrast of brightness in passages of sheets, skin, marble, water or sunlight, with darkness looming in his shapely and deep shadows. Another unifying force in Fischl's body of work is the consistent swell of emotion and warmth of atmosphere that make his paintings so appealing, even as they tackle challenging scenarios.
The Bed, The Chair, Dancing, Watching (2000) is a signature painting of the artist's oeuvre and shows the artist at the height of his skills, both as a formal painter and as a formidable storyteller. Part of a group of 15 paintings repeating the titular Bed and Chair, the present work masterfully involves the viewer in the narrative. The male figure appears to be engaging the viewer, drawing us in with a frank address, until we realize that his gaze is actually intent on a female subject outside of the picture. His companion can only be seen by her seductively moving shadow. Instead of actors in the drama, we find ourselves as voyeurs in an intimate scene. Although he is fully depicted, the male figure is the more passive object. The woman, though unseen, is the subject and main actor. She is standing, seducing, disrobing, dancing. Her powerful presence holds the attention of the man and the viewer and activates the composition. The Bed, The Chair, Dancing, Watching (2000) is a masterpiece of dichotomy, including light and dark, public and private, male and female, seen and unseen.
For all of their heroic scale and expressive contrasts, Fischl's paintings are not distant or removed. They are imbued with a deep authenticity and sympathy for the human condition, making them all the more compelling.
