Robert Cottingham

Letter P

2001

Rare collectors' item: Anish Kapoor Venice Biennale: XLIV Esposizione Internazionale D'arte Biennale Di Venezia (Hand signed and inscribed by Anish Kapoor), 1990 HISTORIC signed poster published on the occasion of Kapoor representing Great Britain at the Venice Biennale Offset lithograph poster (Hand signed, inscribed to Nadine and dated 2016) Boldly signed, inscribed and dated by Anish Kapoor on the lower right front 33 × 23 inches Unframed Boldly signed and inscribed by Anish Kapoor on the lower right front for the present owner, Nadine, so provenance is direct. Accompanied by gallery issued Certificate of Guarantee This offset lithograph poster was published on the occasion of Anish Kapoor's exhibition "XLIV Esposizione Internazionale D'Arte" at the Biennale Di Venezia from May 27 to September 30, 1990. Hand signed posters by Kapoor are quite elusive. The poster is two sided as it was published on the occasion of the artist's participation in the 1990 Venice Biennale (the verso has his lengthy biography), and it bears the original folds as issued. British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor was chosen to represent Britain at the first Biennale of the 1990s. He had been exhibiting since 1980 but it was this show that brought him widespread recognition on the international stage. Sixteen huge sandstone blocks dominated the Pavilion’s main room; they were so heavy that the floor had to be reinforced with supports. Kapoor had started working in stone in the late 1980s and each block in Void Field (1989) has a hole filled with another motif in his work, the powdered blue pigment used in Indian religious ceremonies. The same vibrant tones, which was also inspired also by Yves Klein’s statement bold blue colour, were used in his low-lying slate sculpture, A Wing at the Heart of Things (1990), in the back gallery of the Pavilion; this work is now part of Tate’s collection. “Venice is an interchange of East and West, reflecting the way Kapoor borrows from both cultures” said Henry Meyric Hughes, British Council. Kapoor’s exhibition also wove together references to spiritualism and eroticism, with the red slit in the Pavilion's wall, entitled The Healing of St. Thomas (1989), alluding to the saint that doubted Jesus’ resurrection...

This lithograph is part of my private collection of 20th Century artists. It is original, signed and numbered by the artist. Philippe Noyer was a French postwar and contemporary arti...