BEN VAUTIER (né en 1935) - Lot 41

BEN VAUTIER (né en 1935) Ben signs Nice and its details, May 11, 1966. Large black-and-white photograph on baryta paper. Titled, dated and signed by the artist in black felt-tip pen, lower right. Condition of photograph: fair, damp stains and creases The three whitish vertical "stripes" on the left-hand side are original print defects and not posterior damage. 108 x 194 cm. "Around 1960, I played the Appropriations game. The rules set down by Yves Klein were very simple. You had to appropriate the world, i.e. the physical reality around you, and sign it as a work of art. The only prohibition: don't copy, be the first. This game was played in Nice with Arman, Yves Klein and others. Les Chiffons belonged to Deschamps, Emballages to Christo, Accumulation to Arman, Monochrome to Klein and so on. So, in a period of prosperity, I appropriated Holes, Dirty Water, God, Windows, Kicks and a host of other realities. Ben, pour ou contre, une rétrospective, MAC, galeries contemporaines des musées de Marseille, 1995, catalog p. 37. Nota bene : Ms Eva Vautier, in an email to the owner dated July 22, 2021, states that "the artist does not recognize the object as a work of art, but confirms that it is a souvenir photo, i.e. a photo that was signed by him in a certain atmosphere. For this reason, the object is not considered a work of art, although it is a photograph with an autograph/dedication by the artist". Consequently, "the object submitted cannot be included in the artist's Catalogue Raisonné, which is currently being prepared and will be published".