Beschreibung:

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye First 2003 oil on canvas 214.5 x 162.5 cm. (84 1/2 x 63 7/8 in.) Signed, titled and dated 'Lynette Yiadom-Boakye 2003 "First"' on the reverse.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Exhibited Liverpool, The Coach Shed, Bloomberg New Contemporaries,18 September – 23 October 2004 London, Barbican Art Gallery, Bloomberg New Contemporaries, 17 November – 15 January 2005 Literature exh. cat., Bloomberg New Contemporaries, London, 2004 (illustrated) This work will be featured in the forthcoming book, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye with contributions from Naomi Beckwith, Donatien Grau, Jennifer Higgie and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Prestel, London, p.100 (figure illustration) Naomi Beckwith et al, exh. cat., Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Any Number of Preoccupations, The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1st edition, 2010, p.22 (illustrated) Catalogue Essay A half dressed figure, draped in a red night gown, leers directly out from the murky depths of the canvas. Legs apart and with his left hand on hip, toying with the belt which falls from his waist, he is both an assertive and somewhat suggestive presence. Constructing her work from memory, imagination and real-life, Yiadom-Boakye’s figures are neither clear portraits, nor caricatures. The works draw heavily from the scale and composition of the western figurative tradition, with the artist purposefully maintaining core elements from the works she is interested in. The present lot, which is based on John Singer Sargent’s Dr Pozzi at Home (1881), is no exception. The work maintains the noble pose and voluminous gown of Sargent’s muse; however, the figure has been interchanged or a black model whose powerful gaze locks in the viewer. This challenging exploration into historical western portraiture, and its fusion with the artist’s contemporary outlook, is a core theme to Yiadom-Boakye’s work. Read More