RICHARD PRINCE (B. 1949)

Painted in 2008, Study is one of the four canvas works Richard Prince created in parallel with his legendary sold-out collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2008 ‘Louis Vuitton After Dark’ collection. This far-famed collaboration inspired by Prince’s Nurse Painting series, not only marked 10 years of Marc Jacob as the mastermind of the French luxury brand, but also predated numerous artistic partnerships with critically acclaimed artists like Yayoi Kusama and Jeff Koons. Prince was able to continually ‘making art in ways that subversively assertive of the power of gesture.’ (V. Viscardi (ed), Louis Vuitton: Art,Fashion and Architecture, New York 2017, p. 423) Formerly residing in Yves Carcelle's collection, Study encapsulates the ethos of Pop Art, or Warhol-isms which Prince holds high esteem of and sees himself among the first to shatter the old rules. Glen O’Brien once said, ‘he (Prince) came from the taboo world of commerce and even when he made it to the top of the fine art pyramid he could not abandon where he came from. Pop art, he said, “is about liking things,” and Andy liked money and commerce and fashion and pop music and all the things that made our post-vulgarian culture snap and crackle. Richard Prince’s generation always had that knowledge and knew they could draw the line anywhere they wanted, if they had the goods.’ (ibid.)