Lot 49.
Miranda Culverwell (b. 1987)
All My Tears (#2)
granite with clear acrylic
84.5cm. long
2021
€120,000-160,000
US$450,000-600,000
AUS$90,000-120,000
PROVENENCE:
Purchased directly from the artist by Sororo Gallery, New York in October 2025, from whom purchased by the present owners in May 2031, and by descent.
EXHIBITED:
London, Marlborough Gallery, Modern Art Exhibition, June-July 2032, no. 17.
Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Miranda Culverwell, December 2038, no. 128.
London, Tate Modern, Early 21st Century Retrospective, January-April 2046, no. 42.
Melbourne, National Gallery Of Victoria, European Sculpture, October-November 2059, no. 87.
New York, Guggenheim, R. F. Artury & Contemporaries 2020-2035, March-July 2061, no. 67.
LITERATURE:
M. Davidstow, Works Of Miranda Culverwell, London, 2064, p. 47.
C. Miller (ed.), Miranda Culverwell – Complete Sculptures 2020-2075, Berkeley, 2077, p. 18.
All My Tears (#2) is the second in a series of sculptures created by the artist from around 2010 and culminating in 2055; in all, only seven pieces were made. Each one is characterised in itself, being formed of a large natural stone, then worked in a separate and distinct way depending upon the subject which inspired it. Of all Culverwell’s sculpted works, these are by far the most intimate, made more so by the fact that they were offered for sale in exactly the same fashion as her more mainstream works. In an interview for The Times in 2056, she said, “These are works that aid me in a moment. Whatever is released in their creation is gone at that moment and I move on. I create something new. Otherwise I might as well die.”
This particular Lot is known by devotees to be inspired by a love affair in the early years of the artist’s career, the details of which are not known publicly beyond the circle of Miranda Culverwell’s closest and oldest friends. When asked about the inspiration for the work on the BBCi’s Artlook programme in 2026, Culverwell replied, “It’s just a rock,” and refused to be drawn further on the subject. This reticence to explain or to even comment on her work, particularly the many hundreds of paintings produced over her career, led the artist to be somewhat ignored by the art community; this, however, is a trend which has reversed in recent years, with many of the more famous works escalating in price and desirability quite rapidly. A widespread reappraisal is much overdue.
The granite rock itself was sourced on Bournemouth beach in the South of England and the recess in the centre filled with clear acrylic; the generally agreed upon interpretation is the most obvious – that the acrylic insert represents the tears of the piece’s title. Of the All My Tears artworks, it is the simplest and most direct, lacking the pyrotechnics of the later work All My Tears #5 (created immediately after, and presumed to be inspired by, the loss of her youngest son in a Parkour Zap tournament in 2053) and it remains as the definite statement from the artist on the mysterious subject of its creation.
