Patrick Caulfield's Some Poems Of Jules Laforgue melds visual art with poetic nuance in this emotive series of silkscreen prints. Created in 1973, the series fosters a visual dialogue on love, longing, and existentialism, utilising abstract shapes and commonplace items as vehicles of expression.
With 60 auction appearances since 2003, Patrick Caulfield's Some Poems of Jules Laforgue series is one of the most actively traded in the market. Prices have varied significantly – from £85 to £1,344 – reflecting a range linked to work characteristics and a premium placed on rare-to-market examples. Peak hammer prices have reached £1,344 for top-performing works. Over the past 12 months, the average selling price was £662, with an average annual growth rate of 2.5% across the series. Factors that enhance value include condition, rarity, and signature status; auction data show a premium for signed examples. Private market activity is present for sought-after items, and the market view is one of measured growth with mixed performance across timeframes.
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Patrick Caulfield's Some Poems Of Jules Laforgue merges visual art with poetry to create a series that resonates with emotional and existential themes. Each print in the series transforms the mundane into the extraordinary, using objects like glassware, furniture, and interior spaces as poignant symbols. These items, often overlooked in their everyday contexts, are depicted in bold colours against stark backgrounds, presenting them as sites of narrative and emotion.
The titles of the prints, directly drawn from Laforgue’s poetry, guide the viewer into the artwork’s intended emotional or philosophical exploration. For instance, the print My God! My God! Will She Relent? features a stark depiction of a clock, the simplicity of which belies the complex emotions of waiting and longing for love, suggestive of the complex relationship between the passage of time and anticipation.
This series is notable for its ability to create a dialogue between the visual and the verbal, where each piece stands as an interpretation of Laforgue’s poetry but also as an independent exploration of universal themes such as loneliness, longing, and the human condition. Caulfield's work in this series showcases his evolution as an artist who depicts physical spaces and delves into the emotional and existential spaces they represent.