Untitled (TO)
- Artist
- Franz West, Austrian, 1947–2012
- Date
- 1992
- Classification
- Collages & montages
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- irregular: 9 3/8 x 15 5/8 in. (23.8 x 39.7 cm)
- Credit Line
- Partial and promised gift of Betsy Millard, the Earl and Betsy Millard Collection
- Rights
- © Franz West
- Object Number
- 114:2003
NOTES
At the center of this collage is a magazine cutout of a dashing, youthful man set against a background of two vibrant red and yellow squares. With a bouquet of flowers in his right hand, the man gestures toward a scantily clad woman across the room. Standing on a pedestal to the right is the head of a lemur, a figure that appears often as sculpture in the artist's work. "What I show here is an exchange between the surface and the contemplative," said West. "Those large red and yellow squares in the background are an allusion to Mark Rothko and that meditative, quiet phase in art. The scene below - the woman, the dirty asphalt ground, the bouquet - characterizes today's random, distracted world."
Provenance
1993 -
Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany, acquired from the artist [1]
- 1997
Nolan/Eckman Gallery, New York, NY, USA [2]
1997 -
Earl Millard (d.1996) and Betsy Millard, St. Louis, MO, purchased from Nolan/Eckman Gallery [3]
2003 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, partial and promised gift of Betsy Millard [4]
Notes:
The primary source of provenance is Betsy Millard [information for appraisals form, SLAM document files]. Other supporting documents are noted.
[1] A letter dated February 2, 1993 from Gisela Capitain to Betsy and Earl Millard states that the work was in her possession at this time and was exhibited at a Franz West show at her gallery in January 1993 [SLAM document files].
[2] Invoice dated March 21, 1997 from Nolan/Eckman Gallery to Betsy Millard [SLAM document files].
[3] See note [2].
[4] The terms of this partial and promised gift are detailed in the contract between Betsy Millard and the Saint Louis Art Museum [Gift and Loan Agreement between Betsy Millard and SLAM, signed (no day or month) 2003, SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, June 3, 2003.
Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany, acquired from the artist [1]
- 1997
Nolan/Eckman Gallery, New York, NY, USA [2]
1997 -
Earl Millard (d.1996) and Betsy Millard, St. Louis, MO, purchased from Nolan/Eckman Gallery [3]
2003 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, partial and promised gift of Betsy Millard [4]
Notes:
The primary source of provenance is Betsy Millard [information for appraisals form, SLAM document files]. Other supporting documents are noted.
[1] A letter dated February 2, 1993 from Gisela Capitain to Betsy and Earl Millard states that the work was in her possession at this time and was exhibited at a Franz West show at her gallery in January 1993 [SLAM document files].
[2] Invoice dated March 21, 1997 from Nolan/Eckman Gallery to Betsy Millard [SLAM document files].
[3] See note [2].
[4] The terms of this partial and promised gift are detailed in the contract between Betsy Millard and the Saint Louis Art Museum [Gift and Loan Agreement between Betsy Millard and SLAM, signed (no day or month) 2003, SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, June 3, 2003.