LONDON.- Victoria Beckham, renowned fashion designer and entrepreneur has partnered with Sotheby’s to host an exhibition of contemporary art in her boutique on Dover Street in London. Together with Sotheby’s specialists, Victoria has selected 10 artworks – by Yoshitomo Nara, George Condo, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joan Mitchell, Gerhard Richter and Yves Klein – to go on public view at the store from 6-10 February, before they are offered across Sotheby’s upcoming Contemporary auctions in New York and London or sold privately.
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Victoria’s passion for art is no secret. Though she humbly describes herself as no “great expert”, her interest in art is deep and wide-ranging, embracing everything from Old Masters (Victoria worked with Sotheby’s on a collaboration around Old Master portraits in 2018) through to Modern and Contemporary art to the more recent output of younger living artists.
Alongside her husband, David, art has become a shared love and journey of discovery. It was Sir Elton John who first introduced the idea of collecting to Victoria after she became mesmerised by a beautiful Julian Schnabel painting at his home in Nice. Soon after, they made their first purchase – a beautiful Schnabel from his series, ‘Sonanbul’, and from that point on, the Beckhams’ collection started growing steadily. Today, it includes pieces by Yayoi Kusama, Nan Goldin, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Yoshitomo Nara, among others.
Japanese artist Nara is widely acclaimed for his ability to convey complex thoughts through seemingly simple, “kima-kawai” (meaning cute or lovable but with an edge) images. In his huge, nearly two-metre tall, Cosmic Eyes (in the Milky lake) - one of the lead works to be hung in Dover Street before it is offered in Sotheby’s London Modern and Contemporary Evening Sale next month - Nara conveys both the vulnerability and the defiance of the figure he depicts. And, as Victoria Beckham notes: “So much of this painting’s power is in its gaze. It reminds us that things are never as simple as they look. There’s a childlike innocence mixed with a real edge and an eeriness. This is one of the things I Iove so much about Nara. His images seem straightforward, but as you start to move closer, you realise they have so much more to say. Despite the sophistication of the muted colour palette, he never loses that sense of playfulness which is something I always try to weave into my collections.”
There is a similar - but different - childlike playfulness in Richard Prince’s Untitled, a work produced in 2020 as part of the artist’s ‘High Times’ series. Untitled will feature prominently in the exhibition, not only because of its scale, but also because it speaks so strongly to Victoria. Richard Prince also happens to be an artist with whom she, and David, have a long and important connection.
As she made her selection, Victoria was also drawn to two works by Jean-Michel Basquiat: one (Red Joy) a vibrant work from 1984, an important year for Basquiat, and full of the motifs that characterise his most powerful work - African masks, anatomical references from Gray’s Anatomy, references to the jazz scene that he so loved. Red Joy is joined by a powerful work on paper (Untitled) from the same year - an energetic work that captures, with real immediacy, Basquiat’s speed of thought and execution, his powerful imagination, his fascination with words and with beautifully rendered symbols. Victoria was drawn to this particular work for its unfiltered insight into Basquiat’s creative process and ability to express his thoughts through drawings and language – a process that resonates with her own.
Created at the same moment, in the early eighties, are two iconic Keith Harings, which speak to Victoria’s love of American Pop art and which, like the Basquiat, capture the essence of New York at the time.
A champion of women artists, many of whom feature large in her personal collection, Victoria also spotlights Joan Mitchell’s Pastel from 1991. Here, Mitchell layers swathes of blue, green, black and red in an expressive strata of colour. Mitchell had always been inspired by landscape, nature and poetry and the feelings they invoked in her. Never painting physical places themselves, she instead turned to her paintbrush to convey the feelings they triggered inside of her.
Victoria brings additional splashes of vibrant colour to the exhibition with George Condo’s Artist and Muse, which could be interpreted as a double portrait of Picasso, Condo’s most important influence, and his muse, Sylvette. Here, we see Condo employ his signature Cubist style to portray the characters’ diverse psychological states: the woman’s calm expression contrasts sharply with the artist’s torment, which he conveys through layered applications of contrasting colours and thick, heavy brushwork. Reflecting about the Condo, Victoria said: “This piece in particular is thought to be of Picasso and one of his muses Sylvette, which is such a beautiful and layered interpretation given that Picasso was Condo’s own source of inspiration. I love the contrast and the energy of these colours. On paper, they sound completely wrong but when you see them together, they work in perfect harmony.”
Equally popping in color are works by Gerhard Richter (“its luminosity and vibrancy is exceptional. I love how layered it is.” - Victoria Beckham) and a painting from Yves Klein’s most revolutionary body of work: International Klein Blue monochromes. Victoria said: “How could you not be seduced by that saturated blue pigment? It’s without a doubt one of the most iconic colours of the 20th century and has inspired countless other artists and designers. I think this is the epitome of what every creative strives for — an instantly recognisable visual signature.”
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