Elena, Schoolgirl (With Lotus Blossom)
Elena, Schoolgirl (With Lotus Blossom)
Signed Print
Julian Opie
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Medium: Screenprint
Edition size: 100
Year: 2006
Size: H 46cm x W 36cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2021 | Christie's New York | United States | |||
| October 2021 | Phillips New York | United States | |||
| September 2021 | Bonhams Knightsbridge | United Kingdom | |||
| September 2021 | Bonhams Knightsbridge | United Kingdom | |||
| July 2021 | Christie's New York | United States | |||
| December 2019 | Bonhams New Bond Street | United Kingdom | |||
| December 2019 | Bonhams New Bond Street | United Kingdom |
Meaning & Analysis
Characteristic of much of Julian Opie’s work from the mid-2000s, Elena, Schoolgirl (With Lotus Blossom) is a portrait from 2006 of a young girl. The print is rendered in Opie’s typical figurative style with thick bold lines, simplified shapes and bright blocks of colour.
Opie presents the viewer with the absolute minimum by which the subject can be recognised, with buttons for eyes, two lines for a mouth, and the image created with flat, block colours. The young girl in this work is fictionalised through the highly stylised rendering of the image and in the presentation of the portrait as a type, rather than as an individual. Working to depersonalise the portrait with his drastically pared-back style, Opie opens the subject to a multitude of interpretations from the viewer.
This print, along with many other portraits in the artist’s oeuvre, is titled with the sitter’s first name and occupation, ‘schoolgirl,’ emphasising the way that Opie sought to use as little information as possible to create a distinctly recognizable portrait. Opie’s portraits like this one reveal the dehumanising effects of extreme digital simplification, highlighted by Elena’s blank expression.