Mary Heilmann - Contemporary Art Evening Sale London Wednesday, February 16, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    303 Gallery, New York

  • Exhibited

    New York, 303 Gallery, Mary Heilmann, 26 February - 9 April, 2005

  • Catalogue Essay

    Since the early seventies, American painter Mary Heilmann has been  a pioneer of Abstract painting. Constantly pushing the boundaries of the movement, Heilmann has paved a unique path in what is essentially an all male cast of artists by incorporating elements of arts and crafts, traditions most often associated with the feminine. Her pared down aesthetic, fine and deliberate lines which cut through uniform monochromatic blocks of colour, is influenced by geometric abstraction, color field painting and minimalism. With its sheer scale and brilliant and vibrant colour palette the present lot is reminiscent of the vastness of Heilmann’s Californian upbringing, its title however, Rude Boy, references the street and slang culture she encounters in New York city, her home and place of work since 1968.    
    ‘For the past thirty years Mary Heilmann has been championed as the consummate artist’s artist. Her un-fussy approach is as notable for the unremitting intimacy it admits as the quixotic sociability it invites… “casual” is one of the most common words describing Heilmann’s paintings, which so gracefully traverse craft traditions popular culture and the fine arts. Owing in part to her works’ messy assurance, by turns glib and erudite, Heilmann also confounds irony and sincerity. With their visceral convolutions of color, runny streaks of paint and riotous compositions, her recent paintings wear their pleasures on their sleeve.’ (S. Hudson, Whitney Museum of American Art: 2008 Whitney Biennial Exhibition, New York, p. 153)

PROPERTY FROM THE VALENCIA CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION

2

Rude Boy

1998
Oil on canvas.
190.5 x 152.5 cm (75 x 60 in).
Signed, titled and dated 'Mary Heilmann 1998 Rude Boy' on the reverse.

Estimate
£70,000 - 90,000 

Sold for £103,250

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011
London