Edward Hopper’s artwork is known for its realistic scenes that touch themes of isolation and self-being rather than a narrative context. He often described his art as a “transcription [of his] most intimate impressions of nature” meaning he related the process of painting to that of memory. This idea could further be described in another way as when, for example, you draw something from a personal memory, certain details can be remembered but everything outside the primary focus is blank background. Chop Suey captures this concept of memory, making the viewer focus on particular elements of sensory iconography whilst depicting a theme of isolation due to self being.
According to art scholar David Anfam, one "striking detail of Chop Suey is that its female subject faces her doppelgänger." Others have pointed out it would not be so unusual for two women to be wearing similar hats, and that it is presumptuous to claim doppelgängers when one subject's face is not visible to the viewer. The painting has an interior subject matter, being inside of a cafe, and does not focus on any one given figure. As with many of Hopper's works, the painting features close attention to the effects of light on his subjects.
A 1982 portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat by Andy Warhol will be featured in Christie’s upcoming 21st century art evening sale in New York this November. The magazine publisher and ARTnews Top 200 collector Peter Brant is selling the work. It is expected to fetch a price in excess of $20 million.
Warhol made the portrait of the young artist when his subject was just 22 years old in 1982, the year that Basquiat was launched to art-world acclaim. In the painting, an image of Basquiat’s face is silkscreened in black ink against a metallic orange surface that is pocked with silver blots. Measuring at 40 inches square, this is one of several works Warhol made through oxidation, a process that he began experimenting with in the late 1970s, in which he urinated on copper-painted canvases to produce a staining effect.
“From Brooklyn to China, Basquiat symbolizes a new generation, and Warhol recognized this earlier than anyone,” Alex Rotter, Christie’s chairman of 20th and 21st Century art, said in a statement. “His unmatched ability to capture celebrity, fame, glory, and tragedy culminates in this portrait.”
The sale will mark the painting’s first appearance on the auction block. Brant purchased the work some two decades ago from Tony Shafrazi gallery in New York, and loaned it to the Whitney Museum’s 2018–19 Warhol retrospective. Prior to that, the painting traveled internationally, showing at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie and Tate Modern in London, as well as museums in Tokyo, Milan, Helsinki and elsewhere.
Brant has collected both Basquiat and Warhol in depth. In 2018, he organized a show dedicated to works by Basquiat at his namesake foundation in the East Village in collaboration with the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
A nearly identical work to the one coming up for auction resides in the permanent collection of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
The news follows Christie’s announcement last week that it will offer Peter Doig’s Swamped (1990) during its upcoming New York 21st century art evening sale on November 11. That painting is expected to fetch $35 million, paving the way for a new record for the artist.
Warhol’s portrait of Basquiat will go on view to the public at Christie’s Hong Kong exhibition space from October 7–10. After that, it will travel to next to the auction house’s Los Angeles outpost at the end of the month before its sale in New York this November.
In 1957 one photo came to life that became an international sensation. It might be the most famous case of celebrity shade-throwing ever: Sophia Loren casting a sideways glance at Mansfield’s huge cleavage. It became wildly famous for multiple reasons. As you can see, Loren’s expression in the picture alone says a lot.
The story goes that Italian actress Sophia Loren was being welcomed to Hollywood by Paramount Pictures at a dinner party at Romanoff’s restaurant in Beverly Hills. Loren had achieved considerable success in Europe as an actress. She had been the most photographed actor at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
During that same year, 20th Century-Fox had begun to market American actress Jayne Mansfield as the studio’s “blonde-bombshell” successor to Marilyn Monroe after the success of the 1956 film The Girl Can’t Help It. Mansfield, herself a successful actress with film and Broadway credits as well as having appeared in Playboy Magazine as the Playmate of the Month, was widely known for staging publicity stunts which garnered nationwide attention, such as when her top fell off in a pool while surrounded by journalists.
According to Loren, Mansfield was the last person to arrive at the dinner and walked directly to her table, where she was seated between Loren and her dinner companion Clifton Webb.
Mansfield, wearing a backless satin dress in her signature pink color with a deep, plunging neckline, was photographed at the table during the dinner as Loren looks on at her revealing dress. Mansfield’s dress, which was worn without a bra, appears to expose one of her nipples in some photos.
Overall, Loren was captured in several images staring at Mansfield’s exposed breasts. More than one photographer captured the moment; both Delmar Watson and Joe Shere caught Loren casting a glance from the corners of her eyes at Mansfield’s bust. Shere’s image received world-wide attention, appearing in newspapers and magazines with the word censored hiding the actress’s exposed bosom.
