In what many will inevitably see as
the latest example of the emperor's new clothes, a large, blank white
canvas that just has the date written in the bottom corner is expected
to sell for £60,000.
Artist Bob Law did nothing to the minimalist work other than draw a border around the edge with a black marker pen and date it.
The piece, called Nothing to be Afraid of V 22.8.69, is set to be keenly fought over when it goes under the hammer at auction.
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Law has been described as one
of the founding fathers of British minimalist painting but he did not
receive the accolades his contemporaries in the US were getting.
He died in 2004 and this is the first major canvas of his hugely collectable work to come up for auction.
The item, for sale at Bonhams' contemporary art sale on October 13, has been owned by its vendor for more than a decade and there is great excitement in the art world that it will be included at auction.
Measuring 108 by 84 inches, it is designed to be hung on a wall and has already appeared in a number of exhibitions.
Tony McNerney, head of contemporary art at Bonhams, said: 'Bob Law is the most underestimated and overlooked minimal artist in Britain and this is the first major canvas of his to come up for auction.
'He was doing in the UK what others
were doing in America, but he didn't get the recognition that he
deserved.
'This piece is dated 1969 and it is art in its purest form. He drew the border in black marker and added the date.'
Bob Law was born in 1934 in Brentford, Middlesex. Following National Service in 1954 he decided he did not want to pursue a career as an architect.
In 1957 he moved to St Ives, Cornwall, which had a long-established art movement and it was there that he learned pottery and painting.
Law created his first black paintings using powdered pigment and linseed oil because he could not afford tubes of paint.
By 1959 he had the beginnings of a reputation, working from a cottage at Nancledra, south of St Ives, which he rented from the painter Trevor Bell.
Minimalism had always been a difficult route and, after his initial success, Law suffered doubts about the validity of his work - what might be called the Rothko syndrome, after the American abstract artist Mark Rothko, who committed suicide in 1970.
In 1960 Law moved away from Cornwall but returned to live there in 1997 and died in April 2004, aged 70.
He is survived by his former wife, Gina and their two children, Vanessa and Daniel.
Artist Bob Law did nothing to the minimalist work other than draw a border around the edge with a black marker pen and date it.
The piece, called Nothing to be Afraid of V 22.8.69, is set to be keenly fought over when it goes under the hammer at auction.
Much ado about 'Nothing'? The minimalist work,
"Nothing to be Afraid of V 22.8.69", by British
artist Bob Law goes under the hammer at Bonhams' contemporary art sale
next month
He died in 2004 and this is the first major canvas of his hugely collectable work to come up for auction.
The item, for sale at Bonhams' contemporary art sale on October 13, has been owned by its vendor for more than a decade and there is great excitement in the art world that it will be included at auction.
Measuring 108 by 84 inches, it is designed to be hung on a wall and has already appeared in a number of exhibitions.
Tony McNerney, head of contemporary art at Bonhams, said: 'Bob Law is the most underestimated and overlooked minimal artist in Britain and this is the first major canvas of his to come up for auction.
Black Arts: Law's Black Watercolour XLIII
22.2.88
'This piece is dated 1969 and it is art in its purest form. He drew the border in black marker and added the date.'
Bob Law was born in 1934 in Brentford, Middlesex. Following National Service in 1954 he decided he did not want to pursue a career as an architect.
In 1957 he moved to St Ives, Cornwall, which had a long-established art movement and it was there that he learned pottery and painting.
Law created his first black paintings using powdered pigment and linseed oil because he could not afford tubes of paint.
By 1959 he had the beginnings of a reputation, working from a cottage at Nancledra, south of St Ives, which he rented from the painter Trevor Bell.
Minimalism had always been a difficult route and, after his initial success, Law suffered doubts about the validity of his work - what might be called the Rothko syndrome, after the American abstract artist Mark Rothko, who committed suicide in 1970.
In 1960 Law moved away from Cornwall but returned to live there in 1997 and died in April 2004, aged 70.
He is survived by his former wife, Gina and their two children, Vanessa and Daniel.
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