Provocative Statue Of Hitler ‘Innocent And Kneeling’ Sells For $17.2M At Christie’s Auction
A controversial statue of Hitler on his knees was auctioned by Christie’s in New York on Sunday for $17.2 million, a record for a work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, Today Online reports. Entitled “Him,” the statue had been expected to fetch between $10-$15 million. It was completed in 2001 and depicts Hitler as a small child in a gray woolen suit, kneeling in prayer.
The 55-year-old Cattelan, known as the art world’s resident prankster, constructed “Him” using human hair, wax and polyester resin. Daily Mail notes that he has created sculptures of historical figures like JFK and Pope John Paul II. The artist has said that he considered destroying the piece of work several times.
“Hitler is pure fear; it’s an image of terrible pain. It even hurts to pronounce his name. And yet that name has conquered my memory. It lives in my head, even if it remains taboo,” he said. “Hitler is everywhere, haunting the specter of history; and yet he is unmentionable, irreproducible, wrapped in a blanket of silence.”
Cattelan added, “I’m not trying to offend anyone. I don’t want to raise a new conflict or create some publicity. I would just like that image to become a territory for negotiation or a test for our psychoses.”
Maurizio Cattelan’s “Him” is the sale’s top lot & sets world auction record for the artist selling for $17,189,000 pic.twitter.com/1Hly5qMI0S
— Christie’s (@ChristiesInc) May 8, 2016
In 2012, the statue sparked controversy when it was installed in a former Warsaw ghetto, where thousands of Jews died under Nazi rule. Critics accused Cattelan of mocking the suffering of Jewish victims. The artist defended himself against the criticism, saying, “I actually think that reality is far more provocative than my art. I just take it. I’m always borrowing pieces, crumbs really, of everyday reality. If you think my work is provocative, it means that reality is extremely provocative, and we just don’t react to it. Maybe we no longer pay attention to the way we live in the world. We are anesthetized.”
Christie’s highly anticipated “Bound to Fail” themed auction also included a ball suspended in a distilled water tank by Jeff Koons. Titled “One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank,” the work was completed in 1985, and garnered just under $15.3 million. The auction features 39 works curated by Loic Gouzer, Christie’s deputy chairman of post-war and contemporary art. Both “Him” and “One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank” came up for auction for the first time.
The themed auction “shines a spotlight on works that have purposefully pushed the envelope of what the art market would be willing to call ‘successful’ in the pursuit of creating something new and ground-breaking,” said Mr Gouzer. He said Cattelan “defied the taboos of representation by disguising evil incarnate under a cloak of innocence,” he added.
Jeff Koons’ “One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank (Spalding Dr. J Silver Series) sells for $15,285,000 pic.twitter.com/v9U9Rp6eJ3
— Christie’s (@ChristiesInc) May 8, 2016
Art inspired by the leader of the Nazi party remains a curious fascination to collectors, as does work created by the man himself. Last year, 14 paintings, watercolors, and drawings by Hitler were sold at the Weilder auction house in Nuremberg, collectively fetching $450,000, Artnet News reported. The most expensive piece — a view of Bavaria’s famous “fairytale” castle Neuschwanstein — went to a buyer from China. Check out the video clip above about the sale.
Adolf Hitler initially wanted to become an artist, and applied to the Vienna Academy of Art but was rejected. In a 1939 article in Life magazine, he reportedly told a British ambassador, “I am an artist and not a politician.” He continued, “I want to end my life as an artist.”
[Image via Shutterstock]
