Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel, born 1951 in New York, lives and works in New York. His work is marked by a bold interplay of contradiction and excess – a volatile energy arising from the clash of opposing elements. Combining painterly extravagance with raw materiality, Schnabel constructs theatrical compositions from fragments, found objects, and expressive gestures. Shards of pottery, antique architectural remnants, and photographic images collide with sweeping brushstrokes and dense surfaces, creating richly layered works that evoke both historical depth and personal mythology. Throughout this dissonant terrain, Schnabel’s distinct hand remains unmistakable – fearless, questioning, and charged with poetic intensity.
Julian Schnabel Editions
Lost Relative
1998
From Wall Works
Multimedia wall painting. Photo silkscreen on acetate, framed photograph, silkscreen, and pencil line on the wall. Acetates 70 x 98 cm (27½ x 38¼ in) each, photo 41 x 30.5 cm (16 x 12 in), silkscreen mark 104 x 46 cm (41 x 18 in); overall installation size variable. Limited to 12 installations, with a signed and numbered certificate.
Julian Schnabel’s Lost Relative is a multimedia edition that brings together painting, photography, and installation in a poignant, theatrical composition. A framed portrait is flanked by two red velvet valances printed on acetate, suggestive of a vanished stage or ceremonial display. Above them, a silkscreened gestural smear in deep red breaks across the wall like a wound or memory trace, connected to the floor by a drawn pencil line. The layering of materials and motifs – photographic image, painterly mark, architectural fragment – is emblematic of Schnabel’s approach, fusing personal narrative with baroque intensity. Lost Relative feels like a shrine to someone half-remembered: part fiction, part archaeology, wholly infused with the drama and fragility of human presence.
Malfi
1998
From Sequences
Three silkscreens, printed in five to seven colors on primed Rising museum board, each handworked with monotype and poured resin. Each print 50 x 40 cm (19¾ x 15¾ in), each signed and numbered. Edition of 60.
Julian Schnabel’s edition Malfi is composed of three silkscreen prints; each uniquely finished with monotype and poured resin. The works are derived from Schnabel’s larger series The Conversation of St. Paolo Malfi, a visceral tribute to the artist’s late friend and former studio assistant, Paolo Malfi, who died in a car accident near Rome in 1995. Layering vibrant yellow grounds with sweeping red gestures and raw textures, this edition captures the emotional turbulence of grief. With their expressive physicality and radiant surfaces, the silkscreens exemplify Schnabel’s ability to fuse painting, printmaking, and sculpture into a deeply personal and spiritually charged visual language.
Set EUR 5,000
Le Tango I
1991
Etching, aquatint, printed over collage, on rag paper, 198 x 137 cm (78 x 54 in). Edition of 48, signed and numbered.
In Le Tango I, Julian Schnabel assembles a visual fragment of memory, desire, and loss. The printed image of seated card players is overlaid with loose, expressive gestures while the partial phrase “Le Tango” hovers at the top like an interrupted thought. This edition captures Schnabel’s instinct for balancing figuration with abstraction, narrative with atmosphere, all while maintaining his unmistakable visual voice.
Le Tango II
1991
Etching, aquatint, printed over collage, on rag paper, 198 x 137 cm (78 x 54 in). Edition of 48, signed and numbered.
Julian Schnabel’s edition Le Tango II draws tension from the layering of disparate elements: a somber historical image of men around a table is partially obscured by a large, sensuous mass of painted pink. A connecting stroke extends to a second, block-like form, creating a strange choreography across the surface. The piece reflects Schnabel’s painterly instincts – raw, emotional, and defiant in its embrace of contradiction.
EUR 16,000
Flamingo II
1991
Etching, aquatint, printed over collage, on rag paper, 198 x 137 cm (78 x 54 in). Edition of 48, signed and numbered.
Flamingo II by Julian Schnabel is a quietly surreal edition that pairs a delicate tree with the unexpected addition of a flamingo’s head nestled among its bare branches. Encircled by a single, fluid red brushstroke, the composition feels like both a shrine and a riddle. The work exemplifies Schnabel’s ability to fuse bold gesture with poetic ambiguity, bringing painting’s emotional weight into the realm of print.
