Lot Essay
In February 1960, Yves Klein began working on a series of body imprints to which his close friend, the art critic Pierre Restany, gave the name Anthropometries. In describing these powerful images of the aura of human existence, Sidra Stich writes: "(Klein) conceived of the body as a force of creativity, a marking apparatus that was itself a sign and signifier of life. The body was an evocative presence but also only a trace - the incorporeal vestige of a material form that no longer existed in real time." (In: Yves Klein, Sidra Stich, Stuttgart 1994, p. 176).
In the present work, the theme of weightlessness, which also figures into his later "architecture of air" projects, plays a central role. In both cases, Klein's goal is to usher in a technological return to the garden of Paradise: "Human will-power at last in a position to regulate life at the level of a permanent "miracle", Man liberated to the point to being able to levitate!" (Quoted in: Yves Klein 1928-1962. International Klein Blue, Hannah Weitemeier, Cologne 1995, p. 61). A similar sense of weightlessness and levitation can be found in a related work, ANT 96, Humans Begin to Fly (1961) as well as in the artist's now legendary Leap into the Void of 1960: "Thus we will become aerial men. We will literally float in a total physical and mental freedom." (Yves Klein, quoted in: Weitemeier, p. 62).
The present work also anticipates ideas which would become central to Klein's series of Cosmogonies, imprints of nature captured in pure pigment on paper and canvas: "Based on an evolutionary principle, the Cosmogonie prophesises the end of the age of physical matter (form, bound spirit) and ego awareness, and the return to the age of space and pure spirit. (...) The new era embraces a reawakening to life: life that is conceived as a void - featureless and boundless yet full of energising influences." (Stich, p. 18). Like the Cosmogonies, ANT 141 presents human life as a product of nature, an immaterial, organic energy contained within the material form of the physical body. Klein conceived of the body as the centre of various spiritual and metaphysical energies and the core of creativity and what the artist called "sensibility". "The shape of the body, its curves, its colours between life and death, are not of interest to me. It is the pure affective atmosphere that is valuable." (Yves Klein quoted in: Stich, p. 171).
For ANT 141, Klein not only used the imprint of a nude model "impregnated" with pure blue pigment, he also sprayed paint around her to create a ghost-like silhouette effect, similar to that found in the large scale work, ANT 79, Hiroshima (c. 1961) and the frightening shroud anthropometry Vampire (1961). The body is represented here as a negative space, a void, the presence of which is defined by the space surrounding it. Thus, it is more a portrait of the body's energy than of its corporality. The model's Medusa-like hair and curvaceous torso recall those of the Vampire. "It is an image that evokes the legendary, blood-sucking phantom at the same time as it epitomizes the stereotype of the beautiful woman who seduces men and leads them to their ruin." (Stich, p. 185).
In the present work, the theme of weightlessness, which also figures into his later "architecture of air" projects, plays a central role. In both cases, Klein's goal is to usher in a technological return to the garden of Paradise: "Human will-power at last in a position to regulate life at the level of a permanent "miracle", Man liberated to the point to being able to levitate!" (Quoted in: Yves Klein 1928-1962. International Klein Blue, Hannah Weitemeier, Cologne 1995, p. 61). A similar sense of weightlessness and levitation can be found in a related work, ANT 96, Humans Begin to Fly (1961) as well as in the artist's now legendary Leap into the Void of 1960: "Thus we will become aerial men. We will literally float in a total physical and mental freedom." (Yves Klein, quoted in: Weitemeier, p. 62).
The present work also anticipates ideas which would become central to Klein's series of Cosmogonies, imprints of nature captured in pure pigment on paper and canvas: "Based on an evolutionary principle, the Cosmogonie prophesises the end of the age of physical matter (form, bound spirit) and ego awareness, and the return to the age of space and pure spirit. (...) The new era embraces a reawakening to life: life that is conceived as a void - featureless and boundless yet full of energising influences." (Stich, p. 18). Like the Cosmogonies, ANT 141 presents human life as a product of nature, an immaterial, organic energy contained within the material form of the physical body. Klein conceived of the body as the centre of various spiritual and metaphysical energies and the core of creativity and what the artist called "sensibility". "The shape of the body, its curves, its colours between life and death, are not of interest to me. It is the pure affective atmosphere that is valuable." (Yves Klein quoted in: Stich, p. 171).
For ANT 141, Klein not only used the imprint of a nude model "impregnated" with pure blue pigment, he also sprayed paint around her to create a ghost-like silhouette effect, similar to that found in the large scale work, ANT 79, Hiroshima (c. 1961) and the frightening shroud anthropometry Vampire (1961). The body is represented here as a negative space, a void, the presence of which is defined by the space surrounding it. Thus, it is more a portrait of the body's energy than of its corporality. The model's Medusa-like hair and curvaceous torso recall those of the Vampire. "It is an image that evokes the legendary, blood-sucking phantom at the same time as it epitomizes the stereotype of the beautiful woman who seduces men and leads them to their ruin." (Stich, p. 185).