Karl Wirsum
Steam Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Lot Closed
June 7, 03:50:00 AM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Karl Wirsum
b. 1939
Steam Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Executed in 2018.
Acrylic on cut panel
44 × 24 in. (111.8 × 61 cm)
Please note that while this auction is hosted on Sothebys.com, it is being administered by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and all post-sale matters (inclusive of invoicing and property pickup/shipment) will be handled by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. As such, Sotheby’s will share the contact details for the winning bidders with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago so that they may be in touch directly post-sale.
This online benefit auction has a 10% buyer’s premium, which will be added to the final hammer price of each sold work. The premium allows the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to retain more of the proceeds of the sale and offset administrative costs.
Courtesy of the artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey
A highly influential artist, Karl Wirsum (b. 1939, Chicago, IL; d. 2021, Chicago) helped establish Chicago’s art scene in the late 1960s as part of the Hairy Who, a group of artists often associated with the Chicago Imagists. Drawing inspirations from surrealism, Japanese prints, R&B music, and beyond, many of his paintings and drawings depict cartoonish, hybrid figures rendered with fluid lines, symmetry, and vibrant hues. Wirsum had his first major solo exhibition at the MCA in 1981, and his work has been featured in several group exhibitions at the museum. Other major solo exhibitions of his work have been held at the Chicago Cultural Center; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, WI; University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City; and Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL. Wirsum’s work has also been included in major group exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago; mumok, Vienna; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.