Koller View 2/20

5 1 Detail: John Chamberlain (1927‒2011). Grass Skirt Opus. 2002. Painted and chromed steel. H 41 cm. Estimate: CHF 100 000/150 000 2 Mark Tobey (1890‒1976). Untitled. 1960. Tempera on wove paper. 48.5 × 38 cm. Estimate: CHF 60 000/80 000 3 Andy Warhol (1928‒1987). Lola Jacobson. 1985. Synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas. 101.5 × 101.5 cm. Estimate: CHF 180 000/240 000 Preview of the PostWar & Contemporary Art auction on 4 July 2020 From the abstract to the figurative Several large US cities became epicentres for contem- porary art in the early 1940s, even before the end of the 2 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION POSTWAR & CONTEMPORARY Silke Stahlschmidt stahlschmidt@kollerauctions.com ONLINE CATALOGUES www.kollerauctions.com © 2020, ProLitteris, Zurich SecondWorldWar. Within just a few years, NewYork be- came an equal to Paris, the hitherto unchallenged cap- ital of modernism. A key figure in this development was Peggy Guggenheim, whose gallery "Art of this Centu- ry" provided a prominent stage for post-war Abstract Expressionism. Artists like Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell and Sam Francis influenced the gestural current of this style. Barnett Newman and Mark Roth- ko represented the Colour Field painters, while Jackson Pollock created a sensation with his Action Paintings. Just as Abstract Expressionism in the United States and Art Informel in Europe must be understood as re- actions to previous Constructivist and Realist tenden- cies, they themselves provoked the next important artistic reaction in the 1950s: in America, Pop Art was born. While Abstract Expressionism was primarily in- tellectually and individually connoted and worked with subconscious and surreal automatisms, Pop Art con- sciously turned away from abstraction and towards the figurative. The focus was on the often trivial symbols of mass consumption. Mark Tobey reveals himself in his meditative-contem- plative temperas (ill. 2) in the 4 July auction as a pro- tagonist of Abstract Expressionism. In contrast, Andy Warhol's portraits of Lola Jacobson (ill. 3) and other prominent figures such as Joseph Beuys from the early 1980s exemplify Pop Art, which elevated what was considered suitable for the masses to the status of art. Warhol's series of subjects representing various mass-produced items have become icons of post-war art. Powerful three-dimensional statements such as John Chamberlain’s scrap-metal sculpture (ill. 1) which celebrates the expressive plasticity of industrial materi- als, mark the tension-filled interactions that shaped the history of 20 th -century art. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / 2020, ProLitteris, Zurich 3