Oil on board

63.1 × 37.7 cm. 24 7/8 x 14 7/8 in.

Signed in English and dated on upper right
EXHIBITED
Apr 1986, George Condo Recent Paintings, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York

PROVENANCE
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
Previous Collection of Arthur Hiller and Gwen Hiller couple
16 Nov 2016, Christie’s New York Autumn Auction, Lot 518
Important Private Collection, Asia

Psychological Portrait Reveals True Mindset
Condo’s Sarcastic Claim
As a student of Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s friend and a collaborator with the avant-garde writer William S. Burroughs, who has great influence on pop culture, Condo never restricted himself from any kind of illustration. He absorbs from traditional classicism artists like Caravaggio, Rembrandt, etc. He also merges some of Picasso’s techniques, making semi-abstract, facial simplicity and surrealism ambience his well-known signatures. Categorized under New Modernism, and being recognized as an “artist’s artist” worldwide, Condo is right under the spotlight.
Treasuring each other: Favorite of Well-Known Directors Mr.& Mrs. Hiller
Lady with the Pearl in the upcoming auction was made in 1984, and was displayed in a solo exhibition in Barbara Gladstone Gallery of New York right after it was finished, and became one of the collections of Arthur Hiller and Gwen Hiller. As the director of the Oscar-winning movie “Love Story”, Hiller was a leader of the American culture spirit from the 80s to 90s, who had discovered an echo of how he feels towards the society of America and artistic correspondence at that time in Condo’s works. So he had hung this masterpiece Lady with the Pearl in his house ever since he bought it in the 80s until he passed away in his house in 2016. We can say this is Mr. Hiller’s life’s treasure.
Sarcastic Rebellion: Prototype of the Classic Composition
In the work Lady with the Pearl, sarcastic feature of the character and pyramid-styled composition have become Condo’s characteristics. The crown on the head of the woman stands firmly in the picture, which represents how normal royal females would act. But the gigantic pearl necklace, exaggerated body ratio and sarcastic facial expression depicts the rebellion against tradition. Condo had once interpreted this work as a “Portrait of the American Farmer” which is a total opposite of the picture itself. It shows how the elite class controls the right to speak in that age of material life. As a feature of being a noble, pearls have been used frequently in artists’ works such as Rubens and Raphael in Renaissance, and have been seen as an aesthetic criteria of some modern capitalists. In this Lady with the Pearl, the female in the picture wearing a pearl necklace draws attention from that black background and the long skirt. It appears how materialism robs an individual of his/her spirit ruthlessly.
That female is wearing strange clothes and shows a very surrealistically deformed body such as rounded ears, misplaced facial expression and long, thin neck. All of them are revealing the signs of Condo’s later works like Lady in a Blue Dress in 2007. Both of them are showing a huge contrast to their theme, making the whole image having no harmony in emotion and voice. It’s an emphasis of how modernism affects humans’ primitive desire. Condo breaks the figure in his works into pieces, making the cracks between real reflections of life, and overthrows the society’s impression and remodels the soul of the age with his one-of-a-kind psychological aesthetics.

Price estimate:
HKD: 550,000 - 850,000
USD: 70,500 - 109,000

Auction Result:
HKD: 649,000