CY TWOMBLY
Leda and the Swan
Publisher: Christie’s Inc., May 2017
Candace Wetmore, Editor
Kent Albin, Design
Robert Brown, William Paton, and Candace Wetmore, Text
Archival Interview with Cy Twombly and David Sylvester
Featuring Poems by Various Authors
The Painting.
Cy Twombly’s Leda and the Swan achieved $52,887,500 placing it in the top five highest prices achieved by the artist.
The Book.
Published to coincide with the sale of Cy Twombly’s iconic Leda and the Swan at Christie’s New York in May 2017, this rare publication offers a unique look into the history of one of the most famous stories from classic Greek mythology. Examining the history, art, and literature that surrounds the tale of Leda and the Swan, this elegant publication features a chronology of poems, mosaics, statues and paintings from across history. This insightful publication features three original texts examining both artist and subject, as well as an interview with the artist himself.
“For Twombly, the inspiration of classical mythology and allegorical fiction would become ‘ideal material for a landscape of myth and metamorphosis’ that would reoccur ‘again and again in his painting and never quite leave him.’”
— Heiner Bastian