Who is Eric Clapton?
Eric Patrick Clapton, a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), was born on March 30, 1945. He is an English musician known for his expertise in playing the guitar in the genres of rock and blues. Clapton also excels as a singer and songwriter. He is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished and influential guitarists in the history of rock music. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him as the second-best guitarist of all time, and Gibson's list of the "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time" placed him at the fourth position. Time magazine recognized him as the fifth-best electric guitar player in 2009.
Before achieving fame, Clapton played with several local bands. His musical journey led him to join the Yardbirds from 1963 to 1965 and later, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers from 1965 to 1966. After departing from Mayall, he co-founded the power trio known as Cream, alongside drummer Ginger Baker and bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce. In Cream, Clapton showcased his exceptional skills through blues improvisations and contributed to the band's unique blend of blues-based psychedelic pop. Cream enjoyed significant success, releasing four albums, before disbanding in November 1968.
Subsequently, Clapton formed the blues rock group Blind Faith, which included members like Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech. They recorded one album and embarked on one tour before disbanding. Clapton then collaborated with Delaney & Bonnie and produced his first solo album in 1970. Following this, he formed Derek and the Dominos with Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, and Jim Gordon. Similar to Blind Faith, this band released only one album, "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs," which featured the iconic track "Layla."
Throughout his career, Clapton continued to create successful solo albums and songs spanning various genres. Notable examples include his 1974 cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff," which played a significant role in popularizing reggae, the country-influenced "Slowhand" album from 1977, and the pop rock sounds of "August" released in 1986. Tragedy struck in 1991 when Clapton's son, Conor, passed away, inspiring the heartfelt song "Tears in Heaven," featured on his "Unplugged" album. In 1996, he achieved another top-40 hit with the R&B crossover "Change the World." Additionally, Clapton received critical acclaim for his Grammy award-winning track "My Father's Eyes" in 1998. From 1999 onwards, he delved into recording traditional blues and blues rock albums and periodically hosted the Crossroads Guitar Festival. His most recent studio album, as of 2018, is titled "Happy Xmas."
Clapton's remarkable career has earned him numerous accolades, including 18 Grammy Awards and the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2004, he was honored with a CBE for his contributions to music. The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors has awarded him four Ivor Novello Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. Clapton holds the unique distinction of being a three-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, both as a solo artist and as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream. His global record sales exceed 280 million, solidifying his position as one of the best-selling musicians in history. In 1998, Clapton, who battled and overcame alcoholism and drug addiction, founded the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, a medical facility dedicated to helping individuals recover from substance abuse.
Christie's sold Richter painting, formerly owned by Eric Clapton
In 2022, Christie's auctioned a large Gerhard Richter painting titled "Abstraktes Bild" for a minimum of $35 million. This painting had previously been sold by musician Eric Clapton at a Christie's auction in London in 2012 for $34 million.
This artwork was part of Christie's 21st-century sale in May, which featured a range of valuable pieces, including Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict" from 1982, priced at over $30 million, and items from the Anne H. Bass collection valued at more than $250 million.
Eric Clapton had purchased this 7-foot-tall "Abstraktes Bild" in 1994, along with two other Richter works, for $3.4 million at Sotheby's in 2001. The one Christie's sold was the first piece from this collection to be offered on the market, fetching approximately $34 million, which was reportedly the highest price ever paid at that time for a work by a living artist.
Two other "Abstraktes Bild" paintings owned by Clapton were sold later: one for $21 million in 2013 and another for $22.1 million in 2016, both at Christie's auctions in New York.
The artwork presented in May 2022, characterized by its dominant red and yellow colors, serves as a reflection of the artist's painstaking process, involving the application and subsequent removal of successive layers of paint, as stated by Christie's.
The painting was sold by the collectors who acquired it in 2012. Despite fetching $34 million back then, Christie's has set the estimated price for the auction within the range of $15 million to $20 million, aligning with the 2012 estimate for the work. This time, the artwork was guaranteed, and Christie's anticipates strong competition among potential buyers.
Ana Maria Celis, the head of Christie's 21st-century evening sale, noted a growing interest in Richter's work and described this particular painting as a rare and exceptional example of the artist's unique technique. Its massive size and vibrant hues made it stand out.
Christie's unveiled its plans to feature Claude Monet's "Champ d'avoine et de coquelicots" in its May 2022 evening auction of 20th-century art. This 1890 painting, depicting Giverny near the French impressionist artist's residence, was expected to fetch between $12 million and $18 million.
Antoine Lebouteiller, the head of Christie's Paris's impressionist and modern art department, underscored the significance of this masterpiece, emphasizing its role in illustrating the crucial development of Monet's serial artistic approach during a pivotal phase of his career. Surprisingly, according to Christie's, the painting had been in the possession of a French family for over a century.
Furthermore, Christie's presented two other artworks from the same collection in its day sale of impressionist and modern art on May 14, 2022. One of these was Alfred Sisley's "Femme et enfant sur le chemin des près, Sèvres," with an estimated value ranging from $400,000 to $600,000. The other piece was Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's "Le gros arbre (environs de Gournay)," with a presale estimate ranging from $200,000 to $300,000.
"These three artworks together exemplify the fundamental principles of impressionism," stated Lebouteiller. Previously, Christie's had unveiled the standout pieces in its 20th-century art evening auction. These included a significant Jackson Pollock drip painting titled "Number 31, 1949," with expectations to surpass $45 million in value. Additionally, there was Pablo Picasso's cubist sculpture, "Tete de femme (Fernande)," being offered from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which was estimated to be worth over $30 million. Another notable inclusion was a Monet painting, "La mare, effet de neige," with an estimated value ranging from $18 million to $25 million.
Richter: The 2016 sale
British rock icon Eric Clapton entrusted his Gerhard Richter painting, "Abstraktes Bild 809-2," to be included in Christie's November 2016 evening auction of contemporary and post-war art.
In an official statement, Christie's described the artwork as "an extraordinary, vibrant burst of luxurious, jewel-like colors, marking the culmination of a thirty-year exploration into the characteristics of painting and perception."
The auction had already been positioned as a litmus test for the art market, which was currently undergoing an adjustment phase after a prolonged period of exuberant spending and record-breaking prices. In fact, the demand for Richter's abstract paintings had waned throughout the year, as many prominent Richter collectors had already acquired significant works.
"As is often the case after a flurry of activity, there can be a subsequent pullback," noted Abigail Asher, a partner at the art advisory firm Guggenheim Asher Associates Inc., in conversation with Bloomberg. "People may step back during moments of heightened excitement."
Art Market Monitor speculated that Sotheby's decision to include two Richter works in their sale might have prompted Christie's to introduce a Richter of their own, albeit one associated with Clapton's ownership, in an effort to outshine their competitors.
In the end, Eric Clapton parted ways with the Gerhard Richter piece, realizing a staggering $22.1 million. This marked the conclusion of Clapton's ownership of the last of the three Richter abstract paintings. Collectively, these three artworks generated an impressive $77.3 million in proceeds over the past few years. Eric Clapton, in turn, realized a staggering profit of $74.1 million. Truly, as the song goes: "Darling, won't you ease my worried mind?"
A brief focus on Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter, a German painter, initially trained in a realist style but later developed an affinity for the innovative approaches of his American and European contemporaries. Richter increasingly used his own paintings as a means to delve into the concept of how images that initially appear to represent "truth" often reveal themselves, upon closer examination, to be less objective and more ambiguous in meaning than initially assumed. Other recurring themes in his work include elements of chance and the interplay between realism and abstraction. While he worked alongside and was influenced by various late-20th-century art movements like Abstract Expressionism, American/British Pop art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism, Richter never fully embraced any of these movements, maintaining a degree of skepticism toward grand artistic and philosophical doctrines.
Four Key Points to Understand Richter
- Throughout his life, Richter has maintained a deep fascination with the potency of images and the intricate relationship between painting and photography. Both mediums claim to faithfully represent or convey reality, yet they ultimately offer only a partial or incomplete perspective on a subject.
- Richter often derives his visual inspiration from newspapers and even his own family photo albums. Frequently, he initiates his creative process by mechanically projecting such images onto the canvas. This approach allows him to contemplate how images often possess a life of their own, akin to enigmatic apparitions lingering in our subconscious. This act of visual amalgamation, where photography, projection, and painting converge to produce a finished artwork, underscores the idea that all forms of perception involve a transformation of the "real" into the realm of the "imaginary."
- Richter frequently incorporates blurriness into his subjects and embraces the random effects within his own painting process to underscore the inherent challenge of any artist capturing the complete truth of a subject in its unaltered state. By doing so, he implies that something fundamental to the original subject is often "lost in translation." This approach redirects the viewer's focus to the dense, tangible nature of oil pigments, highlighting both their capacity for expression and their limitations.
- In Richter's entirely abstract canvases, personal emotions and any traces of the artist's personal history appear to be absent. The layers, brushstrokes, and smears of color within these paintings may thus be perceived as inherently "beautiful," much like phenomena in nature that come into existence through a combination of predetermined structures (such as DNA) and unforeseeable instances of pure chance, influenced by external forces.
Selena Mattei