Ruth Smoking 5
Ruth Smoking 5
Signed Print
Julian Opie
£4,150-£6,000Value
Indicator
$8,000-$11,500 Value Indicator
$7,000-$10,500 Value Indicator
¥35,000-¥50,000 Value Indicator
€4,850-€7,000 Value Indicator
$40,000-$60,000 Value Indicator
¥770,000-¥1,120,000 Value Indicator
$5,000-$7,500 Value Indicator
This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
There aren’t enough data points on this work for a comprehensive result. Please speak to a specialist by making an enquiry.
Medium: Screenprint
Format: Signed Print
Year: 2006
Size: H 121cm x W 82cm
Edition size: 50
Signed: Yes
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Track auction value trend
Julian Opie's Ruth Smoking 5 (signed), a screenprint from 2006, is estimated to be worth £4,150 to £6,000. This artwork has been sold at auction 7 times since its initial sale in November 2010. Over the last five years, the hammer price has ranged from £5,500 in October 2022 to £6,279 in July 2020. Despite a -10% average annual growth rate, this artwork continues to be a significant piece in collections. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 50.
Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Artwork | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2022 | Christie's London - United Kingdom | Ruth Smoking 5 - Signed Print | |||
| June 2017 | Phillips London - United Kingdom | Ruth Smoking 5 - Signed Print |
Meaning & Analysis
Ruth Smoking 5 is a print from Julian Opie’s Ruth Smokingseries that features a half-length portrait of an art collector living in Geneva who commissioned the portrait. The sitter looks directly at the viewer with a deadpan expression, her features defined as two buttons for eyes, two dots for a nose and two lines for a mouth.
The figure is shown semi-undressed with her breasts partially exposed by Opie’s rendering of a thin blouse that hangs over her breasts to give the image a certain amount of depth. Opie created a video version of this print, depicting the same model with her eyes blinking, wearing a watch with the second hand ticking, and wisps of smoke rising from her cigarette. By creating moving images Opie brings his subjects to life, but paired with his reductivist visual language, these images produce a lingering sense of unease within the viewer.
Ruth Smoking 5 is indicative of Opie’s interest in Ukiyo-e, a genre of Japanese woodblock prints from the 18th and 19th centuries that often depicted female beauties not meant for exhibition. Opie’s particular interest in Ukiyo-e artist Kitagawa Utamaro comes through in these portraits of Ruth through his choice of eroticised subject matter and use of flattened colour, cropped format and simplified shapes.
