« La Toilette, Naissance de l’Intime » au musée Marmottan Monet

Étiquettes

"Après le bain", "Devant la psyché", "Etude pour une photographie publicitaire", "Femme au miroir", "Femme dans son bain s’épongeant la jambe", "Femme peignant ses cheveux", "Gaby d'Entrées", "Jeune femme à sa toilette", "Jeune femme nue, "Karen Mulder portant un très petit soutien-gorge Chanel, "La Femme à la puce", "La toilette : Madame Favre (femme se faisant les mains)", "L’enfant gâté", "Le Bain, "Le rouge à lèvres", "Les femmes à la toilette", "Nu au tub", "Nu dans la baignoire", "Portrait présumé de Gabrielle d’Estrées et la Duchesse de Villars au bain", "Une dame à sa toilette", "Vanité" ou "Jeune femme à la toilette", 1638, 1738, 1742, 1885-1890, 1890, 1891, 1897, 1898, 1902, 1903, 1908, 1920, 1927, 1948, 1965, 1996, 30 avril 1936, Alain Jacquet, École de Fontainebleau, à mi-corps, Berthe Morisot, Bettina Rheimsve, Circa 1626, dit Cagnaccio di San Pietro, Edgar Degas, en train de se peigner", Erwin Blumenfeld, Eugène Lomont, Femme a la Montre, femme nue couchée", Fernand Léger, Fin du XVIème siècle, François Boucher, François Eisen, František Kupka, Georges de La Tour, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, janvier 1996, musée Marmottan Monet, Natalino Bentivoglio Scarpa, Nicolas Régnier, Pablo Picasso, Paris, Pays-Bas du Sud, Pierre Bonnard, Salomon de Bray, tenture de la vie seigneuriale", Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Vers 1500, Vers 1635, Vers 1883, Wladyslaw Slewinski

Nicolas Régnier, « Vanité » ou « Jeune femme à la toilette« , Circa 1626. Huile sur toile, 130 x 105,5 cm, Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts © 2014 DeAgostini Picture Library/Scala, Florence

PARIS – Après avoir célébré les quatre-vingts ans de l’ouverture du musée au public à travers les deux expositions temporaires « Les Impressionnistes en privé » et « Impression, soleil levant », le musée Marmottan Monet présente du 12 février au 5 juillet 2015 la première exposition jamais dédiée au thème de La Toilette et à La Naissance de l’Intime.

Edgar Degas, « Femme dans son bain s’épongeant la jambe« , Vers 1883. Pastel sur monotype, 19,7 x 41 cm, Paris, musée d’Orsay, legs du comte Isaac de Camondo, 1911 © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

L’exposition réunit des œuvres d’artistes majeurs du XVe siècle à aujourd’hui, concernant les rites de la propreté, leurs espaces et leurs gestuelles.

Edgar Degas, « Après le bain« , 1903. Fusain et rehauts sur papier, 71 x 71 cm, Suisse, Collection Nahmad © Suisse, Collection Nahmad / Raphaël BARITHEL

C’est la première fois qu’un tel sujet, unique et incontournable, est présenté sous forme d’exposition. Dans ces œuvres qui reflètent des pratiques quotidiennes qu’on pourrait croire banales, le public découvrira des plaisirs et des surprises d’une profondeur peu attendue.

Pays-Bas du Sud, « Le Bain, tenture de la vie seigneuriale« , Vers 1500. Laine et soie, 285 x 285 cm, Paris, musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Age © RMN Grand Palais (musée de Cluny – musée national du Moyen-Âge) / Franck Raux

Des musées prestigieux et des collections internationales se sont associés avec enthousiasme à cette entreprise et ont consenti des prêts majeurs, parmi lesquels des suites de peintures qui n’avaient jamais été montrées depuis leur création.

Pierre Bonnard, « Nu dans la baignoire » – Sans date (vers 1940?). Aquarelle et gouache sur papier, 23,5 x 31,5 cm, Collection particulière, courtesy Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris © Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris / Christian Baraja ADAGP, Paris 2015

Une centaine de tableaux, des sculptures, des estampes, des photographies et des images animées (« chronophotographies ») permettent de proposer un parcours d’exception.

Pierre Bonnard, « Nu au tub », 1903. Huile sur toile, 44 x 50 cm, Toulouse, Fondation Bemberg © RMN-Grand Palais / Mathieu Rabeau, ADAGP, Paris 2015

L’exposition s’ouvre sur un ensemble exceptionnel de gravures de Dürer, de Primatice, de peintures de l’Ecole de Fontainebleau, parmi lesquels un Clouet, l’exceptionnelle Femme à la puce de Georges de La Tour, un ensemble unique et étonnant de François Boucher, montrant l’invention de gestes et de lieux spécifiques de toilette dans l’Europe d’Ancien Régime.

Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, « La toilette : Madame Favre (femme se faisant les mains)« , 1891. Peinture à l’essence sur carton, 72 x 76 cm, Suisse, Collection Nahmad © Suisse, Collection Nahmad / Raphaël BARITHEL

Dans la deuxième partie de l’exposition, le visiteur découvrira qu’avec le XIXe siècle s’affirme un renouvellement en profondeur des outils et des modes de la propreté. L’apparition du cabinet de toilette, celle d’un usage plus diversifié et abondant de l’eau inspirent à Manet, à Berthe Morisot, à Degas, à Toulouse Lautrec et encore à d’autres artistes, et non des moindres, des scènes inédites de femmes se débarbouillant dans un tub ou une cuve de fortune. Les gestuelles sont bouleversées, l’espace est définitivement clos et livré à une totale intimité, une forme d’entretien entre soi et soi se lit dans ces œuvres, d’où se dégage une profonde impression d’intimité et de modernité.

František Kupka, « Le rouge à lèvres« , 1908. Huile sur toile, 63,5 x 63,5 cm, Paris, Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle, don d’Eugénia Kupka, 1963 © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Jean-Claude Planchet ADAGP, Paris 2015

La dernière partie de l’exposition livre au visiteur l’image à la fois familière et déconcertante de salles de bains modernes et « fonctionnelles » qui sont aussi, avec Pierre Bonnard, des espaces où il est permis, à l’écart du regard des autres et du bruit de la ville, de s’abandonner et de rêver.

La Toilette, Naissance de l’intime. Du 12 février au 5 juillet 2015. Musée Marmottan, 2, rue Luis-Boilly – 75016 Paris. Ouvert du mardi au dimanche de 10h à 18h (20h jeudi)

François Boucher, « L’enfant gâté« , 1742 ? Ou années 1760 ?. Huile sur toile, 52,5 x 41,5 cm, Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe © akg-images

François Boucher, « L’Œil indiscret » ou « La Femme qui pisse« , 1742 ? Ou années 1760 ?. Huile sur toile, 52,5 x 42 cm, Collection particulière © Christian Baraja

Abraham Bosse (d’après), « La Vue (femme à sa toilette)« , Après 1635. Huile sur toile, 104 x 137 cm © Tours, musée des Beaux-Arts

François Eisen, « Jeune femme à sa toilette« , 1742. Huile sur bois, 36,5 x 27,3 cm, Abbeville, Musée d’Abeille © RMN-Grand Palais /Thierry Ollivier

François Boucher, « Une dame à sa toilette« , 1738. Huile sur toile, 86,3 x 76,2 cm, Collection particulière © Image courtesy of P & D Colnaghi & Co, Ltd, London

Edgar Degas, « Après le bain, femme nue couchée« , 1885-1890. Pastel sur papier, 48,3 x 82,3 cm, Suisse, Collection Nahmad © Suisse, Collection Nahmad / Raphaël Barithel

Eugène Lomont, « Jeune femme à sa toilette« , 1898. Huile sur toile, 54 x 65 cm, Beauvais, Musée départemental de l’Oise © RMN Grand Palais / Thierry Ollivier

Georges de La Tour, « La Femme à la puce« , 1638. Huile sur toile, 121 x 89 cm, Nancy, Musée Lorrain © RMN-Grand Palais / Philippe Bernard

Salomon de Bray, « Jeune femme nue, à mi-corps, en train de se peigner« , Vers 1635. Huile sur bois, 54 x 46 cm, Paris, musée du Louvre, département des peintures, don de la Société des Amis du Louvre, 1995 © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Gérard Blot

Anonyme (École de Fontainebleau), « Portrait présumé de Gabrielle d’Estrées et la Duchesse de Villars au bain« , Fin du XVIème siècle. Huile sur toile, 63,5 x 84 cm, Montpellier, Musée Languedocien, Collections de la société Archéologique de Montpellier © Musée de la Société Archéologique, Montpellier, France / Giraudon / Bridgeman Images

Alain Jacquet, « Gaby d’Entrées« , 1965. Sérigraphie quatre couleurs sur toile, 119 x 172 cm, Courtesy Comité Alain Jacquet et Galerie GP & N Vallois, Paris © Comité Alain Jacquet ADAGP, Paris 2015

Bettina Rheimsve, « Karen Mulder portant un très petit soutien-gorge Chanel, janvier 1996, Paris« , 1996. C-print, 120 x 120 cm, Signé au dos sur le cartel, Paris, collection de l’artiste © Bettina Reims copyright Studio Bettina Rheims

Pablo Picasso, « Femme à la montre« , 30 avril 1936. Huile sur toile, 65 x 54,2 cm, Paris, musée Picasso -Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979 © RMN-Grand Palais / René-Gabriel Ojéda, © Administration Picasso 2015

Natalino Bentivoglio Scarpa, dit Cagnaccio di San Pietro, « Femme au miroir« , 1927. Huile sur toile, 80 x 59,5 cm, Vérone, collezione della Fondazione Cariverona © collezione della Fondazione Cariverona, Italy

Fernand Léger, « Les femmes à la toilette« , 1920. Huile sur toile, 92,3 x 73,3 cm, Suisse, Collection Nahmad © Suisse, Collection Nahmad / Raphaël BARITHEL ADAGP, Paris 2015

Erwin Blumenfeld, « Etude pour une photographie publicitaire« , 1948. Dye transfer, 51 x 41,5 cm, Signé en bas à droite, Paris, Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle, achat en 1986 © Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Christian Bahier / Philippe Migeat, © Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld

Berthe Morisot, « Devant la psyché« , 1890. Huile sur toile, 55 x 46 cm © Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny

Wladyslaw Slewinski, « Femme peignant ses cheveux« , 1897. Huile sur toile, 64 x 91 cm, Cracovie, musée national © Photographic Studio of the National Museum in Krakow / Jacek Świderski

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, « Le bain« , 1902. Pastel , 49, 5 x 64, 6 cm, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne / J.-C. Ducret Acquisition 1936 © Musée cantonal des Beaux-arts de Lausanne

In one hour, five paintings by Claude Monet fetch $84 Million at Sotheby’s London

Étiquettes

"Etude pour une baignade, Asnieres", Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, Henri Matisse, La chouette, Le Grand Canal, Les Peupliers à Giverny, Odalisque au fauteuil noir, Pablo Picasso

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), Le Grand Canal, signed Claude Monet and dated 1908 (lower right), oil on canvas, 73 by 92cm. 28 3/4 by 36 1/4 in. Painted in 1908. Est. £20 – 30 million. Lot Sold 23,669,000 GBP. Photo Sotheby’s.

LONDON.- Five paintings by French impressionist Claude Monet, including his famous 1908 « Le Grand Canal » view of Venice, sold for a total of $84 million (73 million euros) in a London auction on Tuesday.

« Le Grand Canal », a hazy blue-and-green view of the banks of the Italian city painted at the peak of Monet’s career, sold for $35.6 million (31.4 million euros).

It was part of a Sotheby’s auction of impressionist and modern art works including paintings by masters Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse, and sculptures by Auguste Rodin.

Sotheby’s said the artworks in the sale raised $283 million overall, a record total for an auction in London.

« Tonight’s London Imp., Modern & Surrealist sales achieved £186.5m – the highest total for any auction ever held in London, in any category, » the auction house wrote on its Twitter account.

Other works sold included Monet’s « Les Peupliers a Giverny », a view of tall trees at sunset which previously hung in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and sold for $16.2 million.

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), Les Peupliers à Giverny, signed Claude Monet (lower left), oil on canvas, 74 by 92.7cm. 29 1/8 by 36 1/2 in. Painted in 1887. Est. £9 – 12 million. Lot Sold 10,789,000 GBP. Photo Sotheby’s.

A brightly-coloured Matisse portrait of Princess Nezy-Hamide Chawkat, the great granddaughter of the last Sultan of Turkey, sold for $23.8 million.

Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954), Odalisque au fauteuil noir, signed Henri Matisse and dated 1/42 (lower left), oil on canvas, 38 by 46cm. 15 by 18 1/8 in. Painted in January 1942. Est. £9 – 12 million. Lot Sold 15,829,000 GBP. Photo Sotheby’s.

An owl sculpture named « Chouette » hand-painted by Pablo Picasso and inspired by his own pet owl, sold for $1.9 million.

Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973), La chouette, signed Picasso; signedPicasso and dated 5.1.53. on the underside, hand-painted terracotta, height: 34.5cm. 13 1/2 in. Conceived on 25th December 1950, and cast in a small edition of hand-painted terracottas in 1953. An edition of six bronzes was also cast from the same model in 1950. Est. £350,000 – 450,000. Lot Sold 1,265,000 GBP. Photo Sotheby’s.

The $11.7 million paid for a drawing by Georges Seurat — a study for his monumental « Une baignade, Asnieres » oil painting — was a record for a work by the artist on paper, Sotheby’s said.

Georges Seurat, « Etude pour une baignade, Asnieres« . Conté crayon on paper, 32.4 by 24.1cm., 12 3/4 by 9 1/2 in. Executed in 1883-84. 5,000,000 — 7,000,000 GBP. Lot Sold 7,765,000  GBP. Photo Sotheby’s.

Five major works by Claude Monet lead Sotheby’s London Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art

Étiquettes

Antibes vue de la Salis, Au lit: le baiser, Auguste Rodin, Claude Monet, dit Moyen Modèle, Edgar Degas, Gino Severini, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Matisse, La chouette, L’Embarcadère, Le Grand Canal, Le Penseur, Les Peupliers à Giverny, Moskau II, Odalisque au fauteuil noir, Pablo Picasso, Quatre Danseuses, Ritmo Astratto di Madame M.S., Taille de la Porte, Tête, Vase de pivoines, Wassily Kandinsky

LONDON.– Sotheby’s London Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on 3rd February 2015 is characterised by its breadth of range within this collecting category, combined with an outstanding level of quality across the board. Encompassing works of the highest order by the most sought-after artists including Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Auguste Rodin, and Wassily Kandinsky, to name but a few, the 53 lots in the Evening Sale are estimated to fetch a combined total in excess of £124,200,000 / $199,676,340 million / €145,226,550 million.

In November 2014, Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in New York totalled a record $422.1million, marking the fourth consecutive year as the leading auction house in this field. This February, the group of works presented for sale comprises a selection of paintings and sculpture that will appeal to the most discerning of collectors, offering access to pieces from prestigious private collections and works with exceptional provenance that have been internationally admired and exhibited at the most celebrated museums and galleries.

Helena Newman, Sotheby’s Co-Head of Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide says: “We are extremely excited to be launching the first auction season of 2015 with an Evening Sale that presents a combination of outstanding and museum-quality works by the leading names in the field – including five major works by Claude Monet – and exquisite paintings by sought-after artists whose works appear only rarely on the market – such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Gino Severini.”

“In 2014 we saw growth of more than 20 per cent in sales of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby’s, marking our fourth consecutive year as global leader in this field. This reflects the strength of the market and the wealth of extraordinary Impressionist & Modern works that we have sourced, and we are honoured to have been entrusted with such outstanding works as those featured in our forthcoming sale.”

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), Les Peupliers à Giverny, signed Claude Monet (lower left), oil on canvas, 74 by 92.7cm. 29 1/8 by 36 1/2 in. Painted in 1887. Est. £9 – 12 million / $13.8 – 18.4 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

The cover lot of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale is Claude Monet’s exquisite painting Les Peupliers à Giverny of 1887 which comes to sale from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and will be sold to benefit the Acquisitions Fund. The painting marks a highpoint in Monet’s mastery of the evanescent impressions of light and colour that had been his preoccupation over the previous two decades. It represents a pivotal moment in the artist’s career, because Les Peupliers à Giverny also looks forward to his great series paintings of the 1890s, one of the most important of which featured these same poplar trees.

Les Peupliers à Giverny has a long and distinguished provenance, having adorned not one but two of the greatest museum collections in America – both The Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. In its early years in France Les Peupliers à Giverny was acquired by the writer and politician Denys Cochin from Boussod, Valloton et Cie. in 1892. Durand-Ruel acquired it from Cochin’s collection, and exhibited it extensively throughout Europe and in the United States following which it was purchased by Martin A. Ryerson, the Chicago-based industrialist and philanthropist. Upon his death in 1932 the painting joined the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago at Ryerson’s bequest. It remained there for sixteen years when it was acquired by William B. Jaffe and his widow Evelyn (née Annenberg), who in 1951 donated the work to The Museum of Modern Art, where the painting has remained until today.

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), Le Grand Canal, signed Claude Monet and dated 1908 (lower right), oil on canvas, 73 by 92cm. 28 3/4 by 36 1/4 in. Painted in 1908. Est. £20 – 30 million/ $30.6 – 45.9 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

A highlight of the Evening sale is an exceptionally rare and important view of Venice by Claude Monet, Le Grand Canal of 1908, estimated at £20 – 30 million. Reflecting the outstanding quality and beauty of the work, Le Grand Canal was displayed for the last eight years at The National Gallery, London. Painted during a three-month trip to Venice in 1908, such works depicting Venice are highly sought after by collectors as they represent the peak of Monet’s career.

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), L’Embarcadère, signed Claude Monet (lower right), oil on canvas, 54 by 73.5cm. 21 1/4 by 29in. Painted in 1871. Est. £7.5 – 10 million / $11.5 – 15.3 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

L’Embarcadère was painted by Monet in Zaandam in Holland, where the artist lived with his family for four months over the summer of 1871. He produced a series of 25 pictures that explored several areas surrounding Zaandam, focussing his attention upon the architectural motifs of the Dutch landscape, canals, mills, and boats. Within a strong compositional framework and in a boldly inventive style, Monet’s use of colour and the areas of lively brushwork represent his attempts to evoke the atmosphere of the scene, and he includes subtle, but evocative, signifiers of the weather in the full sails of the river-boats, glistening yellow painted houses and the cool relief of the shaded river-bank.

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), Antibes vue de la Salis, signed Claude Monet and dated 88 (lower right), oil on canvas, 65.5 by 91cm. 25 3/4 by 35 7/8 in. Painted in 1888. Est. £5 – 7 million / $7.7 – 10.7 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

Monet’s dazzling view of the south coast of France, Antibes vue de la Salis, is one of his most accomplished and brightly hued compositions of the 1880s. He was transfixed by the brilliance of the light he found in Antibes and completed four paintings of this view shown at different times of the day, placing a particular emphasis on the tonal contrast between the olive trees in the foreground and this distant shoreline. This painting represents dawn, and is perhaps the most successful juxtaposition of light and shade in the group. The canvases resulting from his trip to Antibes in 1888 are testament to Monet’s masterful reconciliation of his earlier Impressionist manner with the Mediterranean conditions of the South. Antibes vue de la Salis is one of a remarkable series of works unique within Monet’s oeuvre, and the paintings received an enthusiastic reception when they were first exhibited shortly after the artist’s return to Paris.

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), Vase de pivoines, signed Claude Monet (lower right), oil on canvas, 100 by 81cm. 39 3/8 by 31 7/8 in. Painted in late spring 1882. Est. £1.2 – 1.8 million / $1.8 – 2.8 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

Monet’s approach to still life was as innovative as his painting of landscapes and he returned to painting still-lifes periodically throughout his career, executing an array of traditional subjects, the most compelling of which are his vibrant pictures of flowers, of which Vase de pivoines is an outstanding example.

Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954), Odalisque au fauteuil noir, signed Henri Matisse and dated 1/42 (lower left), oil on canvas, 38 by 46cm. 15 by 18 1/8 in. Painted in January 1942. Est. £9 – 12 million / $13.8 – 18.4 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

Offered from a distinguished American collection, together with a further eight works that include outstanding examples by Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley, is an exquisite portrait depicting Princess Nézy-Hamidé Chawkat, the great granddaughter of the last Sultan of Turkey. Odalisque au fauteuil noir is one of Henri Matisse’s finest paintings from his famed ‘Odalisque’ series, with which he created one of the most recognisable emblems of eroticism in Modern art. Princess Nézy had moved to Nice to live with her grandmother after the proclamation of the Turkish Republic and was spotted in the street by Matisse in 1940, who was drawn to her striking dark looks. A dazzling composition of pattern and colour, Odalisque au fauteuil noir reflects Matisse’s interest in Orientalism, which he had first explored in the 1920s and drew on his attraction to the vibrant colours, fabric and patterns that were so evocative of the Orient.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 – 1901), Au lit: le baiser, signed H. T. Lautrec (lower right), peinture à l’essence on board, 39 by 58cm. 15 1/4 by 22 3/4 in. Painted in 1892. Est. £9 – 12 million / $13.8 – 18.4 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

Celebrated as the principal artist to have recorded fin de siècle bohemian Paris, ToulouseLautrec’s images of the maisons closes are considered to be his greatest accomplishments. Au lit: le baiser is an especially beautiful and vibrant example of these important works and paintings of museum quality such as this seldom appear on the market. Painted in 1892, Au lit: le baiser dates to an extremely sought-after period of the artist’s career which is considered to be a central date to Toulouse-Lautrec’s greatest works. The work is one of a series of four compositions in which Lautrec depicts a moment of tender intimacy, one of which is held in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. For the present work Lautrec chose a viewpoint almost unique in his oeuvre, and certainly unique among the other works of this group. The two young women are pictured in a loving embrace, with their bodies foreshortened so that all that is visible of them are their intertwined arms and their two closely interlocked faces. The result is a painting of extraordinary intimacy, and among Lautrec’s most psychologically insightful works.

Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917), Quatre Danseuses, signed Degas (lower left), pastel on paper, 84 by 73cm. 33 by 28 3/4 in. Executed circa 1903. Est. £3 – 5 million / $4.6 – 7.7 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

Executed shortly after the turn of the century, Edgar Degas’ highly expressive Quatre Danseuses depicts one of the artist’s favourite subjects – ballet dancers preparing for a performance. Throughout his career, Degas’ treatment of this subject underwent a radical metamorphosis, and in his later years he developed a highly expressive use of materials. In Quatre Danseuses the artist’s vibrant markings, applied in coat after coat of coloured chalk, achieve an effect that appears to be painted. By the end of his career Degas had become a modern artist whose expressive techniques influenced many more of the greatest colourists that followed.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Moskau II (Moscow II), oil on canvas, 52.8 by 38cm. 20 3/4 by 15in. Painted in 1916. Est. £6 – 8 million / $9.2 – 12.2 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

Moskau II, painted in 1916, is one of the finest canvases from Kandinsky’s Russian period in private hands. The tumultuous events that led Kandinsky back to his birthplace precipitated a revival of the artist’s deep-seated love of the city of his birth, Moscow. This kaleidoscopic composition, with its dazzling energy and rich colouration, depicts the city as a place of dynamic beauty, as spiritually enriching as the mountains of Murnau which had informed his development of abstraction in the first years of the twentieth century. In the painting Kandinsky has created a celebration of his vibrant home city which does not derive its character from specific references to the place that inspired it, but rather is a symphonic arrangement of its essential character.

Gino Severini (1883 – 1966), Ritmo Astratto di Madame M.S., signed G. Severini (lower right); signed Gino Severini twice, inscribed « Portrait » de Madame S., 1912, Réplique faite par moi avec variente on the reverse, oil on canvas, 92 by 65.5cm. 36 1/4 by 25 3/4 in. Painted in 1915. Est. £5 – 7 million / $7.7 – 10.7 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

Appearing at auction for the first time, having been acquired directly from the artist in 1961 and remained in the same family collection ever since, Ritmo astratto di Madame M.S. of 1915 is an exceptional and highly important Futurist portrait by Gino Severini. The artist first painted Madame M.S. in 1912 and produced a number of studies in pastel between the first version executed in oil and this work. The variations represent the finest and most complete exploration of portraiture within the artist’s œuvre. Although the Futurists executed only a few portraits, both Severini and Boccioni considered them to be an important part of their work. Portraiture enabled the artists to further explore the deconstruction of form and animation which formed the basis for their work; as Severini explained: ‘One should consider that the research into movement and the dynamic perception of the world does not at all demand paintings exclusively of racing automobiles or dancers moving in space, for a seated person, or any object, apparently static, can be considered dynamic and suggest dynamic forms. I give for an example the Portrait of Madame M-S’. Severini was evidently attached to this painting, for it remained in his possession until his death and he produced several versions of it. The painting was exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, while on loan from 1984-1993.

Sculpture

Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973), Tête, iron and steel, height: 105cm. 41 1/4 in. Executed in Mougins in 1962-64. Est. £5 – 7 million / $7.7 – 10.7 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

Tête (Maquette pour la sculpture en plein air du Chicago Civic Center) is one of two iron and sheet-metal maquettes that Picasso developed between 1962 and 1964. One of these was sent to the United States as the model for the large-scale sculpture planned for the Chicago Civic Center (later renamed the Richard J. Daley Center) which, standing at twenty metres high and completely dominating the surrounding environment, represented Picasso’s paramount achievement in monumental sculpture. The design of Tête is a continuation of Picasso’s explorations of the female physique that began with his earliest cubist experiments. This experimentation was particularly pronounced in his sheet metal sculptures of the 1950s and early 1960s, where the medium allowed him to focus on building the face out of separate planes and opening up the body to reveal the space within. One of the two original maquettes was presented by the artist as a gift to the Arts Institute of Chicago, and Picasso chose to keep the present work in his own collection where it remained until his death in 1973, after which it passed to his granddaughter Marina Picasso. The work comes to auction from the estate of Jan Krugier.

Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973), La chouette, signed Picasso; signed Picasso and dated 5.1.53. on the underside, hand-painted terracotta, height: 34.5cm. 13 1/2 in. Conceived on 25th December 1950, and cast in a small edition of hand-painted terracottas in 1953. An edition of six bronzes was also cast from the same model in 1950. Est. £350,000 – 450,000 / $540,000 – 690,000. Photo Sotheby’s.

The owl interested Picasso greatly, and alongside the horse and the bull, it was a subject he returned to frequently. Owls appeared in a number of paintings and at least two lithographs, as well as a number of ceramics. However, it was this terracotta model that was subject to the greatest attention. The maquette for La chouette was created in plaster on Christmas Day 1949. A couple of years later Picasso returned to the model and created a small edition of terracotta casts. Picasso treated these casts individually, painting them in a variety of ways, some with the dazzling monochromatic pattern found on this particular work, others using colour and anthropomorphic features. A few examples of this model remained with the artist until his death and feature in numerous photographs of the artist’s studios. Two of the painted terracotta casts from Picasso’s own collection are now in the Musée National Picasso in Paris and another is in the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. This cast was inherited by his granddaughter, Marina Picasso, and was exhibited alongside the rest of her celebrated collection at a series of shows held in the early 1980s. The work comes to the market from the estate of celebrated gallerist Jan Krugier.

Auguste Rodin (1840 – 1917), Le Penseur, Taille de la Porte, dit Moyen Modèle, inscribed A. Rodin; inscribed with the foundry mark Alexis Rudier fondeur Paris and with the raised signature A. Rodin, bronze, height: 71.5cm. 28 1/8 in. Conceived in 1880, and cast in bronze between 1919 and 1925. Est. £3 – 4 million / $4.6 – 6.1 million. Photo Sotheby’s.

Rodin’s Le Penseur has become one of the most recognisable sculptures in the history of art, a true masterpiece that continues to transfix contemporary society. The Alexis Rudier foundry, known for having created some of the most desirable casts of Rodin’s oeuvre, executed approximately 30 casts of Le Penseur in this scale beginning in 1902. Other casts from this edition hold positions in prominent museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University; the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia; The Montreal Museum of Art and the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. The first owner of this particular cast was likely to have been The Prince Takamatsu (Takamatsu-no-miya Nobuhito Shinnō), the younger brother of Emperor Shōwa – better known as Hirohito. A further work by Auguste Rodin to feature in the sale, Éternel printemps, one of Rodin’s most celebrated sculptures of the 1880s (pictured right, Conceived in 1884 and cast in bronze during the artist’s lifetime, probably between 1887 and 1894) and is estimated at £1.8 – 2.5 million / $2.8 – 3.8 million.

Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals announces its latest online fine art auction

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250 BC-200 AD, ca 500 to 900 CE, Ca. 1200-1400 A.D., ceramic horse, Chupicuaro figure, Costa Rica, human skull, Jaguar Urn, Madhya Pradesh, Madura, Margaret Tafoya, Maria Martinez, matte black-on-black ceramic jar, Mayan Territories, Nicoya Peninsula, Pablo Picasso, Popovi Da, Pre-Columbian Costa Rican, Rajasthan, San Ildefonso Pueblo, sandstone torso, Tang dynasty, wedding vase with impressed bear paws, Yakshi

Pre-Columbian, Mayan Territories, ca 500 to 900 CE. Carved volcanic stone head in the form of a human skull. Provenance: Important Hollywood Collection of Donick Cary, an American television writer. 8″H. Estimate $4,000 – $6,000. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

SCOTTSDALE, AZ.- Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals, a gallery specializing in Pre-Columbian, Classical, Egyptian, Tribal & Native American Art announced its latest online fine art auction – Fine Pre-Columbian and Tribal Art, Classical and Asian Antiquities – featuring more than 400 lots of authentic examples from around the world. Offered on LiveAuctioneers auction bidding format allows bidders to register and then place bids at their own pace right up until each auction’s closing.

Everything in the auction is an authentic, quality item. All art has been legally acquired and is legal to sell. All auction lots can be viewed online or by visiting the gallery now through Jan. 17, 2015. The auction features numerous lots of ancient Pre-Columbian art including items selected from the Wally Katz collection and selected fine quality lots from the collection of Walter Knox in Scottsdale.

The first part of The auctions offers numerous selections of ancient Anasazi, prehistoric ceramics dating from 1000 AD. Including three large ancient storage ollas. The first section continues with offerings of several contemporary Native America artists such as Maria Martinez and Margaret Tafoya from Santa Clara pueblo. Also a number of lots of plains Indian beadwork, large selection of Navajo Jewelry, Hopi Kachinas and Apache baskets.

Classic matte black-on-black ceramic jar by Maria Martinez and Popovi Da, San Ildefonso Pueblo. Dimensions: 4.75 in. high x 6.5 in. diameter. Estimate $4,500 – $6,500. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

Substantially sized, flawlessly potted, polished, and painted. An Avanyu (mythical horned water serpent) encircles the jar from just above the shoulder to just below the rim. The image is painted in the negative, Maria’s signature technique. Borderline gunmetal finish. The body of work Maria created with her son Popovi is widely considered to be the finest of her long career. This stunning jar is a prime example of Maria’s artistry at its peak. Signed Maria / Popovi as shown.

Large wedding vase with impressed bear paws. 11.5″ h x 8″ w. Signed Margaret Tafoya (1904-2001) on the bottom. Estimate $3,500 – $4,500. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

Large Native American, Mogollon Tularosa storage olla 1200 AD – 1300 AD 13 inches tall and 15 inches dia. Estimate $4,000 – $6,000. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

Mogollon refers to the pre-historic site which bordered the Anasazi and Hohokam in the Central valley. This massive, 13 inches tall and 15 inches diameter is done in interlocking stair step designs, beautiful rim. The paint is bold and really stands out in a room. Comes with display ring. A wonderful and rare piece being offered at a fraction of its value. Legally excavated on private ranch.

Reassembled by a museum qualified restorer, restoration is barely visible, reassembled from approx. 10 pieces, which is expected in ollas of this size.

The second group of offerings is ancient Pre-Columbian artifacts including important pieces such as a Costa Rican Jaguar jar from the museum displayed estate of Wallace Katz NY., and an impressive and rare Chupicuaro Female Figure from Arte Primitivo and the collection of Walter Knox along with over a hundred other lots of authentic pre-Columbian art.

A rare and authentic Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Jaguar Urn, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. Ca. 1200-1400 A.D. Size: 11″ H. Provenance: The Estate of Wallace Katz. Estimate $5,000 – $7,000. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

A highly decorated, polychrome pottery vessel in the form of a crouching jaguar with loop arms and paws resting on knees. Open toothy mouth, openwork tail support, rattles incorporated in the legs. Painted ocher-cream ground with elaborate black and red-orange zoomorphic and geometric decoration. Mineral deposits on the surface. Two minor stable hairlines from the rim. Size: 11″ H.

Large, 14-1/4”H. pre-Columbian hollow pottery standing female Chupicuaro figure, 250 BC-200 AD. A rare and impressive example. Provenance: Ex. Mort Lipkin Collection, acquired in London, 1970s, Ex- Arte Primitivo Gallery NY,NY, Ex- Knox Artifacts Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ. Estimate $15,000 – $20,000. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

holding both hands to her chest. Depicted with an elongated head, open mouth with individually applied teeth, large incised eyes and wearing ear spools. Cream ground with red painted geometric facial decoration, poncho and lower leg bands. Scattered surface deposits. A rare and impressive example. Custom Lucite base. Large, 14-1/4”H.

Next a fine offering of world class Asian artifacts including a very large Han Dynasty 250 AD warrior and an absolutely breathtaking Tang Dynasty horse, 24 inches tall with a Thermoluminescence test from Oxford dating the pieces to the Tang Dynasty 618 AD – 906 AD and a beautiful India sandstone sculpture, ca. 900 AD – 1100 AD of a sexy female form of Madhya Pradesh over 23″ tall.

Chinese Tang Dynasty, 618-906 AD . An exceptional, world class, very large ceramic horse, 61 cm (24″). Oxford, England thermoluminescence acquired July 17th 2013, report # C113E14. Estimate $25,000 – $30,000. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

the goddess of nature standing in a graceful tribhanga with her hips swung to the right, wearing a long dhoti, wide beaded belt with three beaded festoons suspended from her waist. Beaded collar with central beaded strand falling between her ample, rounded breasts. Some minor losses and normal surface weathering. Mounted on a custom metal base.

in active pose with arched neck and head slightly tilted; the musculature carefully defined to the neck, chest and legs; the mouth open showing power and aggression; shallow channel to the rear of the neck to accept a separate mane; the saddle and saddle blanket carefully molded, colored with orange and ochre pigment; the tail shown docked and bound. Similar in style to the Sancai but this one is painted and not glazed. The quality of this sculpture and it’s size suggests that it was for a royal tomb or a high ranking person. 8 kg, 61 cm (24″).

UK art market, acquired prior to 1980. Oxford, England thermoluminescence acquired July 17th 2013, report # C113E14. All four samples dated between 618 AD – 906 AD.

We have handled hundred of Tang and Han Dynasty horses over the years and this is by far the finest we have ever seen. The powerful pose is one that is extremely rare and I have not seen a similar pose in any museum or collection. Cf. Sotheby’s NY. 23 March 2004, lot 595 for lesser example, price realized $226,400 (USD) : Also Sotheby’s NY. 19 March 2007, lot 519, price realized $228,000.00 also a much inferior piece.

Large sandstone torso, high relief carving of Yakshi, Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan, the goddess of nature. Provenance: Private NYC collection, ex. Massachusetts collection, acquired 1970s. Ex- Arte Primitivo Auctions NY, NY. Estimate $12,000 – $15,000. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

the goddess of nature standing in a graceful tribhanga with her hips swung to the right, wearing a long dhoti, wide beaded belt with three beaded festoons suspended from her waist. Beaded collar with central beaded strand falling between her ample, rounded breasts. Some minor losses and normal surface weathering. Mounted on a custom metal base. Size: 23-1/2inch.

The auction continues with a number of selections of fine art including three Pablo Picasso ceramic Madura plates, an original oil painting of noted artists Carl Oscar Borg, Billy Schenck, Marion Kavanagh Wachtel and several original photographs from the last sitting of Marylin Monroe by Bert Stern.

Picasso, Pablo (1881 – 1973), Bull Under Tree, 1952. Ceramic Madura plate 7 1/2 inches diameter. Signed: This work is stamped ‘Edition Picasso,’ and glazed ‘Edition Picasso,’ on the reverse. Estimate $2,500 – $3,5000. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

Picasso, Pablo (1881 – 1973), Picador, 1952. Ceramic Madura plate 7 1/2 inches diameter. Signed: This work is stamped ‘Edition Picasso,’ and glazed ‘Edition Picasso,’ on the reverse. Estimate $2,500 – $3,5000. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

Picasso, Pablo (1881 – 1973), Bird Under the Sun, 1952. Ceramic Madura bowl 6 1/4 inches diameter. Signed: This work is stamped ‘Edition Picasso,’ and glazed ‘Edition Picasso,’ on the reverse. Estimate $800 – $1,500. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

These works are stamped ‘Edition Picasso,’ and glazed ‘Edition Picasso,’ on the reverse
In 1946 Picasso in Golfe Juan with his friend Louis Fort, decided to visit the pottery exhibition in Vallauris. He took a particular interest in the Madura stand and asked to be introduced to the owners РSuzanne and Georges Rami̩. They invited him to their Madura Pottery workshop in Vallauris. There he made three pieces which he left to dry and bake.
A year later Picasso returned to see how the pieces had turned out. He was delighted with the quality of the work and asked if he could make more. They agreed and an area of the workshop was arranged especially for him. Immediately, he began to work, inspired by his portfolio of sketches. So began a long and very productive partnership between Picasso and Madura. The whole Madura team became part of the creative process. They made sure Picasso had all the materials he needed and assisted in producing perfectly finished works of art. Suzanne Ramié shared her vast experience, teaching him all the secrets of ceramics.
The ceramics ranged from vases, sculptures, plaques to even a complete dinner service. The familiar themes included bullfighting scenes, portraits and nature – goats, birds, and fish. In 24 years over 633 pieces were created in limited editions all engraved with the Madura stamp.
Literature: Ramié, Alain, 1988, Picasso, Catalogue of the Edited Ceramics

Bert Stern (American, 1929-2013), Marilyn Monroe, from The Last Sitting, 1962, 12.5″ x 13″ on 13″ x 19″ archival photo matte paper or pigment print., ed 41/100 made in 2012. Signed in crayon in the margin recto; artist’s stamp & Signature verso. Estimate $5,000 – $7,000. Photo Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals

If you are in Scottsdale we invited you to stop by and preview the auction at 7056 E. Main St. Scottsdale, AZ. Please call ahead (480) 703-3122 the owner of the gallery, invites you to visit in-person, no appointment needed. A printed copy of the current auction Catalog is available upon request through the website www.scottsdaleauctions.com

Scottsdale Auctions & Appraisals is a brick and mortar gallery located in the art of the Scottsdale gallery district. We also specialize in auctions of small collections to entire estates on staff specialists and experts in Pre-Columbian Art, Classical and Egyptian Antiquities, Asian Antiquities and Antiques and Ethnographic Art including Native American collectables and Navajo weavings. The gallery conducts absentee internet auctions approximately 6 times a year, plus special exhibitions, retail, and private sales. We offer free appraisals and can assist in museum donations and authenticity testing.

Pablo Picasso’s painting ‘Femme’ from 1937 now on view at the Getty through March

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. Paul Getty Museum, “Demoiselles d’Avignon” period, Femme, Pablo Picasso

Femme (“Demoiselles d’Avignon” period) 1907, Pablo Picasso. Oil on canvas, 119 x 93.5 cm. © 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

LOS ANGELES, CA.– Pablo Picasso’s 1907 painting Femme is on temporary display at the J. Paul Getty Museum through March 2015. The painting, which closely relates to Picasso’s famed Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907, Museum of Modern Art, New York), will hang in the Getty Museum’s West Pavilion alongside portraits by Edouard Manet and Paul Cézanne, 19th-century masters whom Picasso greatly admired.

“This work represents a pivotal moment in Picasso’s career, marking the first experiments with fractured space that culminated in his revolutionary painting Les Desmoiselles D’Avignon of the same year and the creation of cubism,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Thanks to our Conservation Partnership Program and the support of the Getty Museum Paintings Council, over the next three months our visitors will have a unique opportunity to experience one of the landmark moments in modern art as if it were still happening ─ the fractured composition still carving itself into space around the woman’s head and the blocks of color still being laid out in form-defying blocks. Even alongside our Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces, this striking work of modern art is a commanding presence that announces in explosive and uncompromising terms that a new approach to painting has arrived.”

Femme was created while Picasso was working on his masterwork Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, a notorious brothel scene that stands out as a radical break from his earlier blue and rose periods. In this painting, Picasso’s burgeoning interest in compressed divided space and African masks is fully evident.

Femme is part of the collection of the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, Switzerland and was brought to the Getty by their chief conservator, Markus Gross, who spent three months doing research related to the painting, working with Getty Museum conservators and Getty Conservation Institute scientists, to develop a conservation protocol for the work. When the painting returns to the Beyeler Foundation in Switzerland, Gross and his team will use the conservation protocols developed at the Getty to guide future work on the painting. While at the Getty, Femme was extensively studied using x-radiography, ultraviolet light, and multi-spectral imaging, among other techniques.

Said Gross about his time at the Getty: “For a conservator to work here is a kind of heaven. The facilities are the best in the world. And the collaboration and networking with colleagues has been extraordinary. While here, I worked with experts and lived with visiting scholars—art historians and conservators—the constant exchange of ideas was very fruitful.”

The J. Paul Getty Museum’s Paintings Conservation Department has a long-established program of bringing important paintings from around the world for conservation, study, and display at the Museum. Scientists from the Getty Conservation Institute—which works to advance conservation practice through research, education, applied field work, and the dissemination of knowledge—were consulted extensively on this project. The Getty Research Institute, which holds one of the world’s most important archives for the study of modern and contemporary art, was also an important resource.

R.I.P. Lucien Clergue

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Arles, El Cordobes, Lucien Clergue, Pablo Picasso, Raul Aranda

Lucien Clergue

Pablo Picasso © Lucien Clergue

Picasso, 1962 © Lucien Clergue

El Cordobes, Nimes, 1965 © Lucien Clergue

El Cordobes, Nimes, 1965 © Lucien Clergue

Raul Aranda, Arles, 1978 © Lucien Clergue

Norton Museum of Art opens exhibition featuring Pablo Picasso’s muses

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Aquatint, Femme a la Montre, Fernande, L’Egyptienne, Pablo Picasso, The Egyptian, Woman with Wrist Watch

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881¬1973), Woman with Wrist Watch (Femme a la Montre), 1932. Oil on canvas. Euroart Investments LLC/Emily Fisher Landau loan.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.- Due to the popularity of the Masterpiece of the Month series, especially Pablo Picasso’s Tête de femme (Head of a Woman), 1952, which was on view in August, the Norton has created Picasso’s Muses, on view Nov. 6, 2014 – Feb. 15, 2015. The artist drew inspiration from many sources during his long life and career, including French café society, the struggling poor, live models, and especially girlfriends and mistresses – which Picasso’s Muses illustrates. “Picasso returns again and again to his female companions as a source of pictorial and sculptural inspiration,” explains Jerry Dobrick, Curatorial Associate for European Art. The centerpiece of this boutique exhibition is Woman with Wrist Watch, from 1932, a monumental work inspired by Marie-Thérèse Walter, with whom Picasso was then in a relationship. Also in the exhibition is another work from the Tête de femme series  as well as works from the Museum Collection.

Pablo Picasso, (Spanish, 1881 – 1973), The Egyptian (L’Egyptienne), 1953. Aquatint.

Picasso’s Muses

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) found inspiration from many sources during his long life and career. Taught by his father, a professional art instructor, he acquired an excellent academic background at a very young age. Drawing from plaster casts and live models, his early work is extremely realistic and representational. Picasso’s academic training is reflected in works like Au Café, a pastel on paper, which dates from 1901, the year he moved to Paris, where he would have a home for the rest of his life. In this work, he is inspired by Parisian café society with all its emphasis on style and joie de vivre. But, at almost the same moment, he explored the life of the less fortunate in The Fugal Repast, an etching from his Blue period (1901-1904) which reflects his mood and circumstances as a young, struggling, foreign artist in Paris, before meeting American art collectors Gertrude and Leo Stein, who would become life-long patrons.

Perhaps the most enduring muses for Picasso were his models, mistresses, and wives. Beginning with Fernande Oliver, his first model, who is the inspiration for Head of a Woman (Fernande), in which he explores the Cubist idiom. Picasso returns again and again to his female companions as a source of pictorial and sculptural inspiration. Such is the case with Woman with Watch, a monumental work whose physiognomy recalls Marie-Thérèse Walter, with whom Picasso was then in a relationship. A later work, Tête de femme, also finds its inspiration in one of his female companions, Françoise Gilot, the mother of his daughter, Paloma Picasso. This important work is the second in a series of six portraits he painted of his companion over the course of 12 days in May 1952.

Other sources from which Picasso found artistic encouragement were classical mythology and the Old Masters. From the 1920s onward, but most memorably in the iconic Guernica, in 1937, he portrayed mythological creatures in his works. His Bust of a Faun, is a celebration of the ancient roots of Mediterranean culture and creativity. Since his early study of the Old Masters in Madrid’s Prado Museum, Picasso returned to them repeatedly for creative stimuli. His acknowledgement of this source is nowhere more charming than in his painting Venus and Cupid, based directly on Venus and Cupid, The Honey Thief by Lucas Cranach I (1472 – 1553). For Picasso’s fertile mind, everything he came into contact with, both organic and man-made, offered creative inspiration.

By: Jerry Dobrick

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973), Head of a Woman (Fernande), 1909. Cast bronze.

Self-portrait by Pablo Picasso that has not previously been exhibited in public goes on view in London

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Damien Hirst, Francis Bacon, Jeff Koons, Ordovas, Pablo Picasso, Self Portrait

LONDON.- Self, on public display at Ordovas from 14 October until 13 December 2014, looks at interpretations of self-portraiture by four of the greatest artists of the 20th century – Francis Bacon, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Pablo Picasso. Examining the way in which self-portraiture has been used in the modern era as a vehicle for communication and celebration, as well as for the inevitable memento mori, Self includes a major self- portrait study made in 1901 by Picasso, which has never before been publicly exhibited, and one of the first studies of a single head ever painted by Bacon, which has not been shown in London for almost 50 years. The exhibition also reveals new insights into the importance of ‘self’ in the work of Hirst and Koons, who have contributed a conversation to the exhibition catalogue, exploring their relationship with their own self-portraits as well as with those by important old and modern masters.

“The idea behind this exhibition grew from a conversation with Damien Hirst and took two initial works as its inspiration – Self-Portrait (Yo Picasso), 1901, and Self-Portrait, 1969 by Francis Bacon,” says Pilar Ordovas. “I was intrigued by the idea of exploring the self-portraits of living artists alongside those made by Picasso and Bacon, and I approached Damien to see if he might be interested in participating – he not only was happy to be part of the show, but also suggested the title Self, and that I included Jeff Koons.”

Since the first hand print was left on the side of a cave, the making of images has been intrinsically bound up with self-portraiture and its concerns of self-presentation and self-preservation. During the sea changes that took place in the art world in the 20th century, this timeless human activity was thoroughly re-examined. Photography, mass media and existentialism would all come to have an impact on the way that artists as diverse as Picasso and Hirst captured their own image. Looking at the self-portraits of Picasso, Bacon, Koons and Hirst we can see highly different strategies being used to examine the entire nature of self-portraiture, while also celebrating and commemorating the larger-than-life personas of the artists themselves.

Self-Portrait (Yo Picasso), 1901, is a bold, declamatory image of Picasso painting by candlelight, capturing his own fierce gaze for posterity, and has never before been publicly exhibited. Bacon’s Self-Portrait, 1969 has not been publicly exhibited in London for nearly 50 years and is one of the artist’s first studies of a single head, a work imbued with haunted mortality and displaying the sinuous paint handling, visceral intensity and psychological depth of his mature works.

Pablo Picasso, Self-Portrait (Yo Picasso), 1901, Private Collection © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2014.

Francis Bacon, Self-Portrait, 1969, Private Collection © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2014.

In Jeff Koons’ Self-Portrait, 1991, a white marble bust from his Made in Heaven series, the artist is reinvented as a prophet able to lead viewers to a promised land, free of the shackles of shame and taste. Koons’ work stands in contrast to Hirst’s darkly humorous yet poignantly reflective works, With Dead Head, 1991 – a photographic piece that documents the artist’s earliest attempt at facing the idea of death – and Self-Portrait R., 2008.

Self installation view, Photography by Mike Bruce, Damien Hirst artworks © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd, all rights reserved. DACS 2014

Self installation view, Photography by Mike Bruce, Damien Hirst artworks © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd, all rights reserved. DACS 2014

Self installation view, Photography by Mike Bruce

Masterworks assembled by Pierre & São Schlumberger to be offered at Sotheby’s

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Ad Reinhardt, Adolph Gottlieb, Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Baigneuse Au Ballon, Handshake and Fishtail, John Chamberlain, La Femme Poisson, Lambda II, Mark Rothko, Morris Louis, Mr. Moto, Pablo Picasso, Pierre and São Schlumberger, Red and Blue, Salvador Dalí, Swirling Sea Necklace

Andy Warhol, A Group of Four Portraits of São Schlumberger. Each: acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas. Each: 102.2 by 102.2cm; 40 ¼ by 40 ¼ in. Each executed in 1974. Est. $2/3 million. Photo: Sotheby’s.

NEW YORK, NY.- This November, Sotheby’s New York will present The Schlumberger Collection, the magnificent compendium of Modern and Contemporary masterworks acquired by distinguished collectors and benefactors, Pierre and São Schlumberger. The collection brings together over 90 outstanding works from the Twentieth Century with a combined estimate in excess of $85 million and is led by Mark Rothko’s pivotal canvas No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange) from 1951, which has been in The Schlumberger Collection for over 40 years. Other highlights include important Color Field, Abstract Expressionist, Pop, and Surrealist works, reflecting a lifetime of collecting fueled by a singular vision and relationships with artists forged over decades. Highlights will be on view in Hong Kong and London before the entire collection will be installed together in Sotheby’s New York headquarters for a special two-day preview exhibition from 22-24 October before being showcased in our main exhibitions of Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary Art from 31 October to 11 November. The Collection will be offered in the Evening and Day Sales of Impressionist & Modern Art and Contemporary Art on 4 & 5 and 11 & 12 November, respectively.

Oliver Barker, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe commented: “Pierre and São Schlumberger belonged to one of the most important collecting dynasties of all time, but their vision was entirely their own: a unique aesthetic that blended their European roots with their American experience. Pierre’s early passion for the modern masters combined with São’s engagement with some of the key artists of the Twentieth Century to produce one of the most important private collections of our time, and helped prominent institutions including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Centre Georges Pompidou to acquire major masterworks. For several decades, the Schlumbergers were at the center of both New York and Paris society, and hosted such luminaries as Yves Saint Laurent, Andy Warhol and Rudolph Nureyev in their homes around the world. It is a tremendous honor to share their extraordinary legacy with collectors this autumn.”

Pierre & São Schlumberger are considered two of the most visionary collectors of the Twentieth Century. A successful businessman from one of France’s most distinguished families, Pierre led the company founded by his father, Marcel, and uncle, Conrad, inventors of wireline logging, which is still the primary method used to locate and retrieve oil deposits from the earth’s subsurface all over the world. Pierre Schlumberger had already amassed a superlative collection of Modern art, inspired in part by his uncle, including works by Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse and Piet Mondrian, paralleling that of his cousin Dominique de Menil by the time he married São in 1961. Working closely with influential Post-War art dealers Alexander Iolas and Ileana Sonnabend, and nurturing close relationships with artists, São expanded the collection to include contemporary works by a range of artists including Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, Andy Warhol, and Robert Rauschenberg, whose sculpture Oracle is now in the Pompidou Center collection.

As leading figures in Parisian and New York society, the Schlumbergers were major benefactors of the arts, helping to fund the restoration of Versailles, backing Robert Wilson’s early avant-garde operas and becoming the first patrons to commission Warhol for a silkscreen portrait. They sat on the boards of the Pompidou Center, where they donated works by Ellsworth Kelly and Frank Stella, and were patrons of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Lincoln Center and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to which they donated a major Piet Mondrian grid painting. Their close circle also included some of the most prominent collectors of the day, including La duchesse de Bedford, Gunter Sachs, Gianni Agnelli, and, Ronald and Leonard Lauder.

The couple’s many residences expressed their distinctive tastes in art and design. The renowned architect of his time, Pierre Barbe, architect of the House in Chantilly for the Aga Khan, was a close friend of Pierre Schlumberger. Barbe was commissioned to rebuild the mansion on the Rue Férou near the Luxembourg Gardens which was decorated by Valerian Rybar and Daiere in an audacious and colorful blend of contemporary and classic styles. The home became a salon for artists such as Rauschenberg, Christo, Man Ray, Dalí, and Lichtenstein. The Schlumbergers’ other residences included a 100-acre estate in Portugal, where the couple once entertained 1,500 guests at the famous “Le Dolce Vita” ball, including Audrey Hepburn and Gina Lollobrigida; the David Hicks-designed Cap Ferrat estate, “Le Clos Fiorentina,” one of the French Rivera’s most beautiful villas; and a stunning Sutton Place apartment in New York. Wherever they were, Pierre and São were an irresistible magnet for a cadre of artists, designers, performers and society luminaries.

Mark Rothko, No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange), signed and dated 1953 on the reverse. Oil on canvas, 241.5 by 162.5 cm; 95 by 64 in. Executed in 1951. Estimate upon request. Photo: Sotheby’s.

“This dramatic canvas ranks among Mark Rothko’s most compelling paintings – from the zenith of his career – to remain in private hands. Its composition brings fresh changes on the artist’s classic ‘signature’ style. Together, these factors make No. 21 a unique example of Rothko’s art.”
– Dr. David Anfam, Editor of the catalogue raisonné Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas

No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange) stands at the pinnacle of Mark Rothko’s mature work and is being offered at auction for the first time having been purchased by the Schlumbergers from the artist’s estate. The vast canvas was executed in 1951, a pioneering period for the artist when he was exploring the very limits of abstraction. The canvas was first exhibited in the legendary exhibition 15 Americans at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1952. That seminal show included many of the most recognizable icons of American Art including Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Clyfford Still’s 1947-S, in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Subsequent to that show, the work has only been exhibited twice and has not been seen in public since the major European travelling retrospective of Rothko’s art organized by the Kunsthaus Zürich in 1971-72. Mr. Barker added, “Among the finest examples of the artist’s work remaining in private hands, No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange), could easily achieve a price in excess of $50 million.”

Ad Reinhardt, Abstract Painting, Blue. Estimate $5,000,000-7,000,000. Photo: Sotheby’s

Abstract Painting, Blue is a historically monumental example of Ad Reinhardt’s groundbreaking oeuvre (est. $5/7 million). Painted in 1953, the watershed year in which the artist won the widespread critical praise of which he was so deserved, the work is an archetype of Reinhardt’s pioneering early output and among the largest canvases by the artist to appear at auction. “Major works by Reinhardt are extremely scarce on the market and the appearance of the present canvas at auction this November is a major event,” noted Mr. Barker.

Adolph Gottlieb, Red and Blue. Estimate $2,000,000-3,000,000. Photo: Sotheby’s

The vast Red and Blue by Adolph Gottlieb is a prime example of the artist’s most accomplished renowned series of Burst paintings (est. $2/3 million). The archetypal abstract expressionist gesture of the Bursts is parallel to Jackson Pollock’s “drips”, Barnett Newman’s “zips” and Mark Rothko’s floating bands of color, and Red and Blue epitomizes the triumph of Gottlieb’s most significant series.

Morris Louis, Lambda II. Estimate $1,000,000-1,500,000. Photo: Sotheby’s

The monumental eight-and-a-half by twelve-foot canvas of Morris Louis’ Lambda II encompasses the viewer with nearly symmetrical cascades of color (est. $1/1.5 million). The work is one of the first of a series of paintings the artist titled Unfurleds, executed primarily between June and July of 1960, they are widely considered the painter’s crowning achievement.

Alexander Calder, Handshake and Fishtail. Estimate $2,000,000-3,000,000. Photo: Sotheby’s

Handshake and Fishtail is archetypal of Alexander Calder’s most forcefully magnetic mobile sculptures (est. $2/3 million). Once in the prominent collection of famed Academy-Award winning director Billy Wilder, celebrated for classic films like The Apartment and Some Like It Hot, the present work’s illustrious provenance renders it a formidable model of Calder’s output during his most sought after period.

John Chamberlain, Mr. Moto, 1963. Estimate $1,800,000-2,500,000. Photo: Sotheby’s

John Chamberlain’s pressed metal sculptures are some of the most distinctive works post-war sculpture. Mr. Moto from 1963 combines this gestural vigor with many of the aesthetic tenets of the burgeoning Pop Art movement (est. $1.8/2.5 million). Included in many of Chamberlain’s seminal career-defining exhibitions, this work was selected personally by Chamberlain for his retrospectives at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in both 1972 and 2012, Mr. Moto is one of Chamberlain’s earliest and foremost sculptural achievements.

Cité Fantoche was executed at the very peak of Jean Dubuffet’s artistic prowess and is one of the most accomplished paintings by the artist ever to appear at auction (est. $4/6 million). The simplified palette of Cité Fantoche, with carefully placed and energizing highlights of yellow, pink and orange lends the abstractive figuration a clearer contour and would become typical in series such as L’Hourloupe from late 1963 onwards.

Amongst the coterie of artists that São Schlumberger championed, there was perhaps none more important or favored than Andy Warhol. Significantly, it was Warhol who first sought out his subject for the spectacular quadruple Portrait São Schlumberger of 1974 (est. $2/3 million), and not vice versa. For the current work, the artist photographed her at the Carlyle Hotel in New York using his distinctive Polaroid camera. It was due to Sao’s support that Warhol’s retrospective at the Pompidou was able to take place.

Salvador Dalí, La Femme Poisson. Estimate $3,000,000-4,000,000. Photo: Sotheby’s

Leading an extraordinary group of Surrealist works is La Femme Poisson by Salvador Dalí (est. $3/4 million). Dating from his most important period the work is a spectacular example of Dalí’s boundless imagination and technical skill. La Femme Poisson features many of the signature motifs that characterize the Catalan’s work such as a clock, desert landscape, a shoe, and the cypress. The painting is inscribed to ‘Olivette’ Dalí’s term of endearment to his lover Gala Eluard.

Salvador Dalí, Swirling Sea Necklace. Estimate $100,000-150,000. Photo: Sotheby’s

São Schlumberger and Salvador Dalí shared a love for the lavish and avant-garde. The artist was commissioned to paint São’s portrait shortly after her marriage and the design for Swirling Sea Necklace must have been the subject, or indeed even the result, of the numerous fascinating conversations which took place between artist and sitter (est. $100/150,000). Executed after Dalí’s meticulous designs by his long term collaborator, New York jeweler Carlos Alemany, Swirling Sea Necklace is made up of flowing tassels set with pearls and emerald and sapphire beads flowing onto stylized gold. These elements culminate in that most precious and luminous product of the sea, a baroque cultured pearl, set on the crest of a wave and nestled in the nape of the wearer’s neck.

Painted in 1956, Les enfants belongs to a series of canvases executed by Pablo Picasso of his two youngest children (est. $5/7 million). Unlike his earlier more formal portraits of Paolo and Maya, Picasso’s paintings of Claude and Paloma offer an informal picture of his growing children. Picasso was a devoted father and took great pleasure from spending time with his children as the many photographs from this period indicate and in these works he set out to capture the essence of this experience. More than just a charming family scene, there is a curious tension at the heart of the present composition – the detail that Picasso has built up in his depiction of Claude is juxtaposed with the stark simplicity of his rendering of Paloma, perhaps referencing the growing absence of the children in his life at that time following his separation from their mother, Françoise Gilot.

Pablo Picasso, Baigneuse Au Ballon. Estimate $1,000,000-1,500,000. Photo: Sotheby’s

The collection also includes the work-on-paper Baigneuse Au Ballon, an extraordinary piece exemplifying the unparalleled inventiveness of Picasso’s art which was drawn in August 1929 (est. $1/1.5 million). That summer the artist was holidaying with his wife Olga in Brittany but installed Marie-Thérèse Walter nearby. His frequent escapes to the beach to meet his young lover inspired many works from this period including Baigneuse Au Ballon.