Press Release New York For Immediate Release
New York | Lauren Gioia | +1 212 606 7176 | [email protected] Dan Abernethy | [email protected]
Special Exhibition Opens at Sotheby’s in New York
Featuring artists including Pieter Brueghel, Auguste Rodin, Salvador Dali, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Maurizio Cattelan
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THROUGH 19 OCTOBER 2010
30 September 2010 – Today at Sotheby’s, Divine Comedy, an exhibition that investigates the comedic side of art from ancient times to today through the lens of Dante’s epic poem, opens to the public. Drawing on Sotheby’s expertise across many different collecting categories and time periods, the exhibition of approximately 80 works places Contemporary art in dialogue with Antiquities, African Art, Old Master paintings, 19th Century European art, Modern and Surrealist works, Latin American paintings and 20th Century Design. Following the journey Dante takes in the Divine Comedy, visitors to Sotheby’s exhibition will travel through Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, exploring how for centuries artists have harnessed the power of humor in their work. An undercurrent of wit and satire, often tinged with irreverence, will be the hallmark of the art that is presented. The Inferno will highlight the darker, more horrific side of humor. The exhibition includes works both on loan and for sale, which have been drawn from a community of private collectors, foundations, artists, and dealers and will be open to the public through 19 October.
Beginning in the windows of Sotheby’s York Avenue headquarters, there is a site-specific public art installation by artist Rob Pruitt, drawn from his “Holy Crap” series of photographs of American church signs (pictured below). The works is presented in collaboration with the Art Production Fund.
Upon entering the lobby, visitors are greeted by Daddy Daddy, Maurizio Cattelan’s playful yet disturbing vision of the puppet Pinocchio floating face down in a fountain. Proceeding up to Sotheby’s spectacular 10th floor galleries, designed by renowned architect Richard Gluckman, visitors first encounter Purgatory, heralded by Martin Kippenberger’s comically grotesque Zuerst die Füsse (Feet First). Also included in this gallery is Frans Francken the Younger’s monumental masterpiece, Mankind’s Eternal Dilemma-The Choice Between Vice and Virtue from 1635. The work’s protagonist is a winged Satan with goat- like features and insects dangling from his ears, who embodies mankind’s choice between good and evil and reminds us of the inevitability of human mortality and the vanity of earthly pleasures. From Purgatory, visitors can choose to enter Inferno by passing Auguste Rodin’s monumental bronze from the Gates of Hell, The Three Shades. A Roman Imperial marble sculpture from the 1st Century A.D., terrorizes its victims with a gesture both humorous and menacing, while Francis Bacon’s Study for a Portrait (Screaming Man) looks on. Inferno is stunningly exemplified by other contemporary pieces, including Maurizio Cattelan’s absurdist and unnerving depiction of one of the most reviled figures in history: Adolf Hitler. Finally, Paradise features heavenly joy - a place of virtue, faith, hope, love and beauty, replete with Cherubs by both William Bouguereau and Jeff Koons. With the depths of the blazing Inferno behind him, purged of all sins, Dante sees the divine light–here personified by George Condo’s cross-eyed God sporting a shoulder bag and Will Cotton’s decadent Beatrice, commissioned specially for the exhibition (pictured on page 3). 2 Divine Comedy, which was inspired in part by Caroline Hirsch and The New York Comedy Festival features works by artists including: Francis Bacon, William Bouguereau, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Leonora Carrington, Maurizio Cattelan, Salvador Dali, Frans Francken, Damien Hirst, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, Man Ray, Auguste Rodin and Andy Warhol. Of the works available for purchase, prices range from $30,000 to more than $10 million.
A fully-illustrated, limited-edition exhibition catalogue will be available for purchase at Sotheby’s galleries, featuring best-selling author James Frey’s reinterpretation of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” entitled Il Divino Bambino.
Sotheby’s is pleased to present this special exhibition as a lead in to The New York Comedy Festival which runs from 3-7 November 2010 (www.nycomedyfestival.com).
For further information, please visit sothebys.com/divinecomedy
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