American, b. 1949 Untitled Horse, circa 1980 Mud amalgam with hay on steel and wire armature 78 x 107 inches (198.1 x 271.7 cm) Exhibited: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, The Robert F. & Martha H. Fogelman Collection of Contemporary Art, Jun. 10-Sep. 4, 1994 Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Contemporary Permanent Collection Galleries, Jan. 7-Feb. 25, 2016 Please note, following exhibition on May 6th, this work will be moved to off-site storage at the Brooklyn facility of Fine Art Shippers. The successful buyer will need to schedule collection directly with Fine Art Shippers and after November 29th the buyer will be responsible for all ongoing storage and shipping fees. Small cluster of scrapes at muzzle. A few small losses to back left and right hooves at their bases. Surface crack at upper thighs to both front legs. A small surface crack at rear right leg at lower thigh. A rub to tip of tail. This work also includes a repair kit prepared by the artist.
American, b. 1949 Untitled Horse, circa 1980 Mud amalgam with hay on steel and wire armature 78 x 107 inches (198.1 x 271.7 cm) Small cluster of scrapes at muzzle. A few small losses to back left and right hooves at their bases. Surface crack at upper thighs to both front legs. A small surface crack at rear right leg at lower thigh. A rub to tip of tail. This report was updated at 12pm on Monday, November 13th. Please note, following exhibition on November 15th, this work will be moved to off-site storage at the Brooklyn facility of Fine Art Shippers. The successful buyer will need to schedule collection directly with Fine Art Shippers and after November 29th the buyer will be responsible for all ongoing storage and shipping fees.
Deborah Butterfield (American, b. 1949) Dull Dull, 1974 mixed media on paper signed Deborah Butterfield and dated (lower right); titled (lower left) 22 x 30 inches. Property from the Collection of George C. Kaiser, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Deborah Butterfield (b. 1949) Rufus Welded found steel 42 x 57 x 18 inches (106.7 x 144.8 x 45.7 cm) PROVENANCE: Private collection, acquired circa 2005; Hackett Mill, San Francisco, California, acquired from the above, 2012; Private collection, acquired from the above, 2012. HID01801242017
DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD (B. 1949) Derby Horse 1985 incised with artist's signature, dated 1985, numbered A/P I with Walla Walla foundry mark cast bronze 26 1/2 by 40 1/8 by 11 1/2 in. 67.3 by 101.9 by 29.2 cm.
DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD (B. 1949) Homage to (Lucas) Samaras painted cloth strips and staples on papier-mâché and metal armature 24 x 40 x 8 in. (63.5 x 101.5 x 20.3 cm.)
Deborah Butterfield (American, b. 1949) Untitled, 1977 mud and straw on metal armature 24 x 33 1/2 x 7 inches. Property from the Collection of James and Edythe Cloonan, Chicago, Illinois Provenance: Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago
DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD (B. 1949) Tango, 1987 welded steel 29 x 39 1/2 x 16 in. 73.7 x 100.3 x 40.6 cm. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD (B. 1949) Untitled (2470), 2001 cast bronze 38 x 43 x 10 in. 96.5 x 109.2 x 25.4 cm. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Deborah Butterfield (American, b. 1949) Punch 1997 incised with foundry mark on the underside bronze 35 by 40 by 10 1/2 in. 89 by 101.6 by 26.7 cm. This work was executed in 1997. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Deborah Butterfield Isabel 2002 cast bronze with patina 38 h × 44 w × 21 d in (97 × 112 × 53 cm) Provenance: Zolla / Lieberman Gallery, Chicago | Acquired from the previous in 2002 by present owner condition: Unmarked. Unmarked. Very good overall condition with rich patina. Small amount of dust found in crevices and more layered areas of the composition. Sculpture is very stable.
Deborah Butterfield (b. 1949) Palomino, 1981 Painted metal, wood, wire, and nails 75 x 48 x 99 inches (190.5 x 121.9 x 251.5 cm) PROVENANCE: Hansen Fuller Goldeen Gallery, San Francisco, California; Private collection, California, 1981; Sotheby's New York, November 15, 2007, lot 542; Acquired from the present owner from the above. EXHIBITED: ARCO Center for Visual Art, Los Angeles, California, and elsewhere, "Deborah Butterfield: Sculpture," November 1981-February 1983; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, "Deborah Butterfield," July-September 1996. LITERATURE: ARCO Center for Visual Art, "Deborah Butterfield: Sculpture," exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles, California, 1981, pp. 8-9, illustrated; Artspace Southwestern Contemporary Arts Quarterly, Fall 1982, illustrated as the cover; San Diego Museum of Art, "Deborah Butterfield," San Diego, California,1996, pp. 30-31, illustrated as the cover; R. Gordon, Deborah Butterfield, New York, 2003, p. 39, illustrated. HID04901242017
Kelly Canyon, 2016 Cast Bronze, unique work 86.5 x 98.5 x 27 in (219.7 x 250.2 x 68.6 cm) Deborah Butterfield B. 1949, California, USA “My friend Greta Ehrlich wrote a book Facing the Wave and the title ‘Three Sorrows’ came from a phrase of hers: ‘Three sorrows: earthquake, tsunami, meltdown’ – which I think sums up our environmental disasters, and why I made this piece. A lot of the collected debris drifted to the shores of Alaska specifically from the tsunami in Japan five years ago. In this work, I thought it was very important to have the veracity of the actual objects that went through that experience. The horse, to me, has always been female, and in the body of this particular piece with the blue fishing barrel torn into pieces, I see it as the ocean and continents and a literal metaphor for what we’ve done to the Earth. That’s what this horse is. It’s telling us what we have done to the environment, and to species who don’t have actual voice boxes to tell us. But they’re telling us, we’re just not listening.” - Deborah Butterfield Internationally renowned for her representations of horses in sculpture, Deborah Butterfield portrays the energy and emotion of nature through an emphasis on formal line and structure. Since the 1970s, Butterfield’s sole motif has been the horse, and through her expansive oeuvre of stylized small and large-scale works, she has encapsulated the symbolic freedom and strength of the animal. Butterfield imbues each sculpture with an individual sense of character; the works can be seen as anthropomorphic, with a distinctive spirit that emerges from each unique composition. As the artist once described of her subject, “I first used the horse as a metaphorical substitute for myself – it was a way of doing a self-portrait, one step away from the specificity of Deborah Butterfield”. Butterfield began her practice using natural materials – clay, mud, wood — and subsequently, started working with found materials, employing barbed wire, metal and wood together. Her recent sculptures incorporate plastic detritus collected from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In the pairing of natural wood with manmade refuse, the artist foregrounds the delicate balance of our environment, and the increasingly common phenomena of natural disasters in our current age. In her process, Butterfield harvests found wood from nature, builds the wood elements into a singular composition, casts the work into bronze, and gives each work a special patina that creates a lifelike wood quality. Kelly Canyon was originally composed from wood sourced close to her home and studio in Bozeman, Montana; the surrounding areas nearby have been devastated by fires in recent years due to climate change. The development of Butterfield’s sculptural practice also captures the mystique of the American West. Representing the freedom of manifest destiny and the possibility of the American Dream, Western motifs such as the horse mark the evolution of temporal and spatial opportunity. This sense of sovereignty is evident in the balance between formalism and malleability in Kelly Canyon and highlights the marriage of animalistic and human experience. Courtesy of Deborah Butterfield and L.A. Louver Venice, California Fair Market Value: $450,000
Deborah Butterfield Untitled (Horse) c. 1980 mud and straw over woven grass 29 h x 34 w x 11.5 d in (74 x 86 x 29 cm) Provenance: Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago | Private Collection, Aspen Condition of the item is not included in this description. Condition reports are available from Wright upon request. Wright strongly recommends that you review a condition report for each item on which you plan to bid. Email condition@wright20.com to request a condition report.
Deborah Butterfield Untitled (Horse) c. 1980 aluminum, steel wire 22 h x 31 w x 8 d in (56 x 79 x 20 cm) Provenance: Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago | Private Collection, Aspen Condition of the item is not included in this description. Condition reports are available from Wright upon request. Wright strongly recommends that you review a condition report for each item on which you plan to bid. Email condition@wright20.com to request a condition report.
DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD (B. 1949) Dance Horse, 1999 incised with the Walla Walla Foundry mark and dated ‘1999’ (on the underside) bronze 89 x 60 x 96 in. 226.1 x 152.4 x 243.8 cm This work is unique.
Reuven Milon (Israeli, b. 1928), Photograph of a wooden horse by Deborah Butterfield (American, b. 1942), gelatin silver print, signed by Deborah Butterfield and addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Ruttenberg, Milon's artist stamp verso, overall (with mat): 11"h x 14"w. Provenance: The David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Collection (Chicago, IL)
DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD (B. 1949) Pali, 1992 incised with the Walla Walla Foundry mark and dated '1992' (on the underside) bronze with light gray patina 32 7/8 x 40 5/8 x 11 1/4in. 83.5 x 103.2 x 28.6cm This work is unique. FOOTNOTES Provenance Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Inc., Chicago. Acquired from the above by the previous owner in 1992. By descent from the above to the present owner.
DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD (B. 1949) Bluebird, 2006 found steel, welded 46 x 59 x 14in. 116.8 x 149.9 x 35.6cm This work is unique. FOOTNOTES Provenance Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco. Acquired from the above by the previous owner in 2006. By descent from the above to the present owner. Exhibited San Francisco, Gallery Paule Anglim, Deborah Butterfield, New Sculptures in Steel and Bronze, 4 May-10 June 2006. "The great and immediate power we experience when in the presence of her heroic forms attests to a natural and sympathetic collaboration of spirit."1 Equine imagery is one of the earliest known and most powerful motifs throughout art history, tracing its roots as far back as ancient rock and cave paintings. In more recent times, however, sculptures of horses with gallant warriors astride have most often been commissioned to celebrate illustrious leaders and victories in momentous and triumphant battles as a more monumental form of propaganda. In an entirely different take on the age-old imagery, Deborah Butterfield presents the world with her own view of the majestic creatures. Past depictions of gigantic horses stand not as pure animals, but rather as symbols of the machinations of war. In removing the rider, Butterfield's horses are free to live a life of their own - void of human influence and consequence - reflecting the innate beauty and placidity of nature. Butterfield grew up surrounded by horses:riding them, taking care of them, drawing and painting them. Her initial scholastic studies in art took her away from the subject as it was not fashionable or deemed serious enough a subject matter, but by the time she was in her twenties, the current political environment of the Vietnam War had darkenedher outlook on artistic expression and agency. With the violence and confusion of war ever present in her mind, Butterfield could not help but see the intrinsic link between man, horse and war – from ancient battles of Alexander the Great, to Napoleon crossing the Swiss Alps, to the deadly battles of America's Civil War. Hoping to disrupt this constant association, Butterfield began to conceive of her first equine sculptures. These first beings were decidedly and distinctly contrary to the imposing bronze warhorses we are familiar with from stately plazas and parks. Alternatively, Butterfield presents earthly renditions of gentle mares constructed from mud, sticks, plaster and papier-mâché. As Jane Smiley recounts, "One of her first installations was a group of six mares in a room, all looking toward the door. The visitor had to brave the gaze of the life-size mottled brown and white animals and then squeeze among them once inside. Lots of viewers looked in, but declined to enter, even though the mares' ears were pricked and their demeanor calm."2 As Smiley rightly asserts, this was a defining moment in Butterfield's career, where she fully realized the power her subject holds over the viewer and how she can explore it further. It was not long before Butterfield realized to her frustration the impracticality of her medium, as some of her early works began to fall apart and required constant attention and repairs. The armature, or literal backbone of her early plaster and mud horses, was made of steel - so it was somewhat natural that at the very end of the 1970s, Butterfield began working more closely and exclusively with steel, and in particular found steel. At the same moment, the pervasiveness of war and destruction would again play an important role in the development of her work as a new decade began. During this time period, the media was incessantly showing the destruction and chaos occurring in Israel and the West Bank as a result of the heavy conflicts in the Middle East. At the time, the artist notes of the imagery portraying torn apart cars and metal structures, "You wouldn't believe how excited I get, looking at all of that material... and how guilty!"3 This interpretation of medium reveals the core of Butterfield's ideology in that where we see death, chaos and disintegration in images of war and strife, Butterfield sees the possibility of rebirth and reintegration. In 1980, Butterfield had a unique opportunity to take an extended working trip to Israel though a John Simon Guggenheim grant. Once on the ground, surrounded by an excess of working materials, Butterfield was able to create an extraordinary body of work utilizing only the scrap steel and other detritus of war she encountered. Working so intimately with these found materials, Butterfield realized that the elements themselves carried their own highly charged emotional content which she could bend and repurpose to compliment and augment her own vision. In doing so, the viewer encounters Butterfield's work not as a pile of metal or even simply a horse, but as an entire experience of engagement. It is this somewhat perplexing and contradictory experience that so poignantly expresses Butterfield's magic. That is, by cobbling together all of the reclaimed bits of destruction that she obsessively collects, Butterfield breathes new life into inanimate stoic creatures, generating an abundance of potential energy and a sense of hope and serenity. As Eleanor Heartney writes, "Whether constructed of discarded pipes, fencing and corrugated aluminum, or from once living matter, her sculptures celebrate a universal life force. Butterfield expresses a sense of the energies hidden within the material world. In her sculptures, prosaic elements are transformed and given life without losing their original identities. As a result, we simultaneously perceive them as configurations of recognizable objects and as potentially animate beings."4 By the middle of the 1980s, Butterfield again embraces a new medium - bronze. In manipulating this media, Butterfield finally discovers the perfect solution to her initial dilemma of stability and longevity. Her solution was simple - to create a simple bronze skeletal armature for the work and then ply it with fallen sticks and vines until the perfect balance and form is reached. After being carefully packed, the amalgamation of vegetation and metal is transported to the Walla Walla Foundry in Washington where it is then cast in bronze. The beauty of the process and the finished work, is that as the raw organic materials burn away, liquid bronze permeates throughout the structure, resulting in the precise reproduction of the natural materials in perfect metal form. With both her found steel works and her bronze works, Butterfield's process and intent appears to remain the same, that is, to take the dead, the fallen, the destroyed and make it new and whole again, albeit in a different form in order to show that there is always life in death, order in chaos and hope in despair. Butterfield aptly and eloquently demonstrates the simple physical truth that matter can neither be created nor destroyed, it may change in shape or form but it will always exist. The horse is simply the vehicle that Butterfield uses to express this notion, and while this choice is deeply personal to the artist, it is more generally a fitting choice as the horse is something that we can all intimately relate to and appreciate in a sense not only of utility and practicality, but also in natural beauty and harmony. 1. D. Gerson, Horses: The Art of Deborah Butterfield, exh. cat., University of Miami, Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, 1992, p. 10. 2. J. Smiley, "Deborah Butterfield", in R. Gordon, Deborah Butterfield, New York, 2003, p. 13. 3. Ibid., p. 13. 4. E. Heartney, Deborah Butterfield, exh. cat., Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, 2007, p. 2.
