‘Lines have a great effect on paintings. They give great emphasis. There’s a line in Archilocos, who is my favourite poet, a general, a mercenary: ‘Leaving Paphos rimmed with waves, rimmed’ … It may not sound interesting to you but it’s central to me. I’m a Mediterranean painter’

-Cy Twombly


Showcasing his superb draughtsmanship, Untitled, executed in the early 1960s, is a stunning and rare figurative drawing from Cy Twombly. Characteristic of the artist, Untitled blends erasures with dark, gestural lines to create a palimpsest of rhythmic blurs which form this sensitive portrait. In loose, emotive line, Twombly drew a Roman nose, and long, wavy hair, and the portrait evokes the Classical sculptures that the artist was surrounded by while living in Italy. As Twombly said, ‘For myself the past is the source (for all art is vitally contemporary)' (C. Twombly, quoted in R. Leeman, Cy Twombly: A Monograph, London, 2005, p. 98). Indeed, it wasn't until the artist moved to Rome in 1957 that his visual language truly came together, filtering the history, land and myths of the Mediterranean through a sensuous and exuberant poetics of line. Untitled is an exceptional representation from Twombly and as lyrical and tender as any of his abstractions.
Post Lot Text
This work is filed in the archive of the artist under ‘memorabilia’, and will not be included in the Addendum to the Catalogue Raisonné of Cy Twombly Drawings.