Jun 05 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2707 -

Sale 2707 - Lot 16

Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
CHRISTOPHER WILMARTH (1943 - 1987)
Holiday Card.

Pastel on vellum, 1969-70. 304x302 mm; 12x11⅞ inches. Signed, dated and inscribed "Happy New Year" in pencil, lower edge.

Provenance
Private collection, New York.
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Additional Details

Christopher Wilmarth is best known for his sculptures of glass and steel, in which he explores the mystical and physical properties of light. He described his practice as creating "physical representations of states of mind, reverie, interiors, spirits" creating vessels to present the immateriality of light. In this holiday card, Wilmarth treats the vellum as a pane of glass, allowing its translucency to peek through the wall of delicate pastel.

Wilmarth studied sculpture at Cooper Union, and immediately after graduation worked as a studio assistant for Tony Smith. By 1968 he had his first solo exhibition in New York and showed regularly for the rest of his career. His work was acquired by major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum and the Walker Art Center all before the age of 30. After his death in 1987, his archive was donated to the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, and a retrospective of Wilmarth's sculptures and drawings was held at the Museum of Modern Art in 1989.

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