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Lot Essay
Executed circa 1960, Ant 152 is one of Yves Klein's Anthropometries, works in which a model has been used to create an image in the artist's trademark IKB, or International Klein Blue. In one of the fortuitous developments or moments of inspiration that punctuated Klein's explorations into the Immaterial, the Anthropometries evolved from his monochromes, which were windows of the infinite, manifestations of the realm of the Immaterial that the artist believed existed in another superimposed dimension around us all. The universe, according to his Rosicrucian beliefs, is saturated with this spiritual layer of life and of existence, and it was through the Blue, through IKB, that Klein best captured it.
In order to be better tuned to the life-force that he captured in his monochromes, Klein began to encourage naked female models to stroll and loiter in his studio, their flesh apparently helping him attune himself to the spiritual dimensions around us:
'My models laughed more than a little when they saw how I created the exquisite blue monochrome, limited to one colour, after their images! They laughed, but they felt more and more attracted to the blue. One day it was clear to me that my hands and tools were no longer sufficient to work with the colour. I needed the model to paint the monochrome painting' (Klein, quoted in Yves Klein, ed. O. Berggruen, M. Hollein, I. Pfeiffer, exh. cat., Ostfildern-Ruit 2004, p. 126).
In this way, Klein began to paint at a distance, to allow the models to be smeared with the IKB and essentially to apply themselves to the picture surface: 'That was, finally, the solution to the problems of distance in painting: My brushes were alive and remote-controlled' (Klein, quoted in ibid., p. 126). In this way, Klein oversaw the creation of works which were essentially Immaculate Conceptions of the Immaterial. In Ant 152, the model's crouching body appears is surrounded by IKB rain, which has spattered the surface around her, leaving a glowing aura of white that heightens the picture's intense spiritual resonance as the Blue becomes incarnate, taking the form of flesh and entering our world.
In order to be better tuned to the life-force that he captured in his monochromes, Klein began to encourage naked female models to stroll and loiter in his studio, their flesh apparently helping him attune himself to the spiritual dimensions around us:
'My models laughed more than a little when they saw how I created the exquisite blue monochrome, limited to one colour, after their images! They laughed, but they felt more and more attracted to the blue. One day it was clear to me that my hands and tools were no longer sufficient to work with the colour. I needed the model to paint the monochrome painting' (Klein, quoted in Yves Klein, ed. O. Berggruen, M. Hollein, I. Pfeiffer, exh. cat., Ostfildern-Ruit 2004, p. 126).
In this way, Klein began to paint at a distance, to allow the models to be smeared with the IKB and essentially to apply themselves to the picture surface: 'That was, finally, the solution to the problems of distance in painting: My brushes were alive and remote-controlled' (Klein, quoted in ibid., p. 126). In this way, Klein oversaw the creation of works which were essentially Immaculate Conceptions of the Immaterial. In Ant 152, the model's crouching body appears is surrounded by IKB rain, which has spattered the surface around her, leaving a glowing aura of white that heightens the picture's intense spiritual resonance as the Blue becomes incarnate, taking the form of flesh and entering our world.