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Monday, March 25, 2013

Sotheby’s New York: Jackson Pollock, The Blue Unconscious, 1946

On 14 May 2013 Sotheby’s New York will present The Blue Unconscious by Jackson Pollock as a major highlight of the Contemporary Art Evening Sale. The monumental canvas (84 x 56 in., 213.4 x 142.1 cm.) was painted in the critical year of 1946, just prior to the establishment of the artist’s celebrated drip paintings. Pollock executed the present work in the famed Long Island barn studio he established after moving to East Hampton with his wife, Lee Krasner, the prior year to escape the pressures of the New York City art world. The canvas has remained in the same private collection for nearly 50 years having last appeared on the market in a 1965 auction at Parke-Bernet. The appearance of the work on the market comes just months after Sotheby’s set a new Pollock auction record with Number 4, 1951 which sold for $40,402,500 (est. $25/35 million) in November 2012.



The Blue Unconscious is estimated to bring $20/30 million and will be shown in Sotheby’s Los Angeles galleries from 22-24 March 2013 ahead of exhibitions in London and New York prior to the May auction.






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