A work by Cy Twombly is being offered for auction at Christie’s by Nicola Del Roscio – the artist’s former assistant and the president of of the Cy Twombly foundation – according to Antiques & Fine Art Magazine. The artist’s former assistant reportedly acquired the work directly from the artist. But Christie’s would neither confirm nor deny that Del Roscio had consigned the work of art.
The Twombly “blackboard” is being offered for auction in November; going up for sale at Christie’s and may well set a new record for the artist at auction. The work was created in 1970, the piece of art is, Untitled, and was made of white wax crayon lines against a grey background, executed in four rows of by Twombly in an energetically scribbled fashion, the work is expected to bring between £21 to £34 million.
A particular lyricism developed in the artist’s ‘Blackboard paintings’. Between 1967 and 1971. Twombly produced a number of works – the ‘grey paintings’. This series features colourless scrawls, these works were reminiscent of chalk on a blackboard. The artist made the work using an unusual technique; by sitting on the shoulders of a friend, who moved back and forth along the length of the canvas – this allowed the artist to create the fluidity of line.
particularly in the summer and early autumn of 1969; Twombly made an oeuvre of fourteen paintings while he stayed at Bolsena, a lake to the north of Rome.
Twombly painted “Nini’s Paintings” In 1971, after Nini Pirandello, the wife of Twombly’s Roman gallerist Plinio De Martiis, died suddenly. The artist created the work as a tribute.
Twombly’s work titled ‘Leaving Paphos Ringed with Waves’, has been at the centre of a battle between art dealer Larry Gagosian and billionaire collector Ron Perelman. Perelman claimed he was quoted a price of £4.9 million for the Twombly work of art, but when he expressed his desire to purchase, he was told that the work had already been sold to another buyer,yet only months later the work came back on the market for an increased £6.5 million.
Photo courtesy Christie’s