Lot 3424 - A205 PostWar & Contemporary - Thursday, 22. June 2023, 02.00 PM
MANOUCHER YEKTAI
(Tehran 1921–2019 New York)
Untitled. 1963.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated lower centre: Yektai 63.
100 × 130 cm.
Provenance: Private collection Switzerland.
"I believe that art has the power to transform both the artist and the viewer. It can challenge us, inspire us, and help us to see the world in new ways." Manoucher Yektai
Manoucher Yektai's atmospheric works with their refreshing explosions of colour and impasto paint strokes depict expressive colour fields, portraits, still lifes and landscapes. His extensive oeuvre is characterised by a vibrant fusion of diverse cultures from Iran, France and the United States. Although the artist did not consider himself an Abstract Expressionist, his work was influenced by this North American art movement. Yektai found inspiration amongst his artist friends Mark Tobey, Mark Rothko, de Kooning, Philip Guston and others. Yektai worked primarily with oil paints and experimented with various techniques to create intense painterly textures and illusory depths in his works.
In his works of the 1960s, the Iranian-American Manoucher Yektai gradually left behind the realm of pure abstraction. The present oil painting from 1963 moves between abstraction and figuration. The work bears no title; it invites the viewer to use their perception and imagination and interpret it in their own way.
The formation of organic shapes in the foreground, rendered in a bold green, can be seen as a simple gestural abstraction. It extends beyond the upper edge and dominates the painting. Here the artist employs the heavy impasto technique which he developed earlier. If we look at the work for a while, the shapes and colours of the central arrangement are reminiscent of a perennial plant with twigs, leaves and tomatoes winding upwards and in various stages of ripeness. The sweeping brushstrokes breathe a certain liveliness and movement into the expressive work. The warm soothing pastel colours and the white-brown colours in the background add a subtle complexity to the work, conveying a pleasant sense of freedom of movement and creating a harmonious contrast to the green-brown composition in the foreground.
"I believe that art has the power to transform both the artist and the viewer. It can challenge us, inspire us, and help us to see the world in new ways." Manoucher Yektai
Manoucher Yektai's atmospheric works with their refreshing explosions of colour and impasto paint strokes depict expressive colour fields, portraits, still lifes and landscapes. His extensive oeuvre is characterised by a vibrant fusion of diverse cultures from Iran, France and the United States. Although the artist did not consider himself an Abstract Expressionist, his work was influenced by this North American art movement. Yektai found inspiration amongst his artist friends Mark Tobey, Mark Rothko, de Kooning, Philip Guston and others. Yektai worked primarily with oil paints and experimented with various techniques to create intense painterly textures and illusory depths in his works.
In his works of the 1960s, the Iranian-American Manoucher Yektai gradually left behind the realm of pure abstraction. The present oil painting from 1963 moves between abstraction and figuration. The work bears no title; it invites the viewer to use their perception and imagination and interpret it in their own way.
The formation of organic shapes in the foreground, rendered in a bold green, can be seen as a simple gestural abstraction. It extends beyond the upper edge and dominates the painting. Here the artist employs the heavy impasto technique which he developed earlier. If we look at the work for a while, the shapes and colours of the central arrangement are reminiscent of a perennial plant with twigs, leaves and tomatoes winding upwards and in various stages of ripeness. The sweeping brushstrokes breathe a certain liveliness and movement into the expressive work. The warm soothing pastel colours and the white-brown colours in the background add a subtle complexity to the work, conveying a pleasant sense of freedom of movement and creating a harmonious contrast to the green-brown composition in the foreground.
CHF 30 000 / 40 000 | (€ 30 930 / 41 240)
Sold for CHF 134 500 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.