Live Auction 2315Post-War and Contemporary Art Morning Session Including Works from the Collection of Michael Crichton
Christie’s roundel
Lot 216

Robert Arneson (1930-1992)

E.R.

Closed12 May 2010

Price Realised

USD 43,750

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Robert Arneson (1930-1992)
E.R.
incised with signature 'ARNESON' (lower center)
glazed ceramic
30 x 15 x 9 in. (76.2 x 38.1 x 22.8 cm.)
Executed circa 1960s.

Allan Stone Collection, New York, acquired from the artist
His sale; Christie's, New York, 12 November 2007, lot 615
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Specialist note

By general consent, the sculptor Robert Arneson (1930-1992) was one of the deans of the Bay Area "Funk" movement of the 1960s. If Robert Rauschenberg declared his intention to work in the "gap" between art and life, Arneson worked in life itself, in particular, the life of American mass culture. In choosing the subject of his sculptures, Arneson tended towards the lowbrow: beer bottles, trophies, and toilets, objects that the artist once described as "neglected images" (T. Albright, Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980, Berkeley, 1985, p. 121).