Kerry James Marshall

Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner 

This work is in excellent condition overall. The sheet is window mounted and hinged verso to the backing board with photo corners in all four corners. There are pinpoint spots of errant pigment in the upper right quadrant, inherent to the artist's process and intention. Framed under Plexiglas.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

“The paintings that make up Marshall’s Stono Group commemorate the Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in the British mainland colonies prior to the American Revolution. They stand as a corrective to the woeful underestimation of the history of resistance to the slave trade and slavery in which black people have been engaged for centuries... a testament to man’s worthiness of portraiture.” Anna Katz in Exh. Cat, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, Kerry James Marshall: Mastry, April 2016 - July 2017, p. 204 Reflecting the eye of collectors who are deeply imbedded in the contemporary art world, this superb assemblage is a powerful and unusual combination of some of the most cutting edge works of art. With an impressive selection of predominately figurative works, the group creates a commanding dialogue about illustrating the body through a variety of media.  Often these depictions are bold and challenging, by artists who are not afraid to take risks. It is an expressive collection which highlights some of the most courageous artists working over the last decade.

Including works by established names alongside rising stars and hidden gems, this collection has educed an impressive narrative inherent to the human figure and the illustration of the body. The artists represented work in many disparate styles, techniques, and media, but all enrich the contemporary debate surrounding what it means to be human in a certain type of body. Their powerful representations are often brutal, tough, and raw, but in their bravery express a deeper beauty essential to the human form.

The depictions range from hyper-realistic to enigmatic, and approach their bodily subjects from varied angles. Some are overtly physical, with an explicit focus on anatomy, like David Altmejd’s masterpiece Figure, John Baldessari’s Hands and/or Feet (Part One): Shark / Chain, and Sherrie Levine’s superlative False God. Some reference the body more obliquely, like Urs Fischer’s 4:15pm & 4:15pm, two crutches which morph and collapse into themselves and each other through space, utter personifications of the state of bodily weakness they convey. Others present psychological portraits of their subjects, in which the documentation of the artist’s psychic state and physical presence in a particular moment become a different type of figuration, as in Yayoi Kusama’s quintessential Untitled. Still others emphasize the type of body depicted as a symbol of certain values, codes, or politics: Kerry James Marshall brings race to the foreground in Untitled (Stono Drawing), and Raymond Pettibon does the same with sexuality in Untitled (She would like to kiss).

Each work presents its own perspective in the artist’s unique visual language, but when brought together, the collection produces a critical and original conversation illuminating the roles and abilities of figuration in art today.