PARIS.- Christie’s France will celebrate the third edition of its dedicated 20th century sale season during the week of FIAC, the international contemporary art fair that animates the city, from October 18th to October 21st 2018. During this exceptional week, Christie’s will offer international collectors three auctions presenting over 200 lots by leading international artists with a global estimate of €25 million. Last year, Christie’s realised an exceptional three-day auction season including the exceptional Grande Femme II by Alberto Giacometti selling for €25M. During this busy week, Christie’s also presented the Prat Collection which totalised €36,5M and where Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Jim Crow became the most expensive painting sold in France in 2017 and the most expensive painting by Basquiat ever sold in France, fetching €15M.
François de Ricqlès, President of Christie’s France: “Christie’s is proud to present three sales this season including major works of art by leading modern and contemporary artists such as Jean Arp, Constantin Brancusi, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Kazuo Shiraga, Pierre Soulages, Zao Wou-Ki and Nicolas de Staël for which Christie’s established a new world auction record in New York last May. These masterworks will be presented alongside the collection of Bénédicte Pesle, a French patron who promoted American avant-garde artists throughout her life. The Modern and Contemporary arts departments as well as the Photographs department have worked closely together to build this strong curated sale season which is sure to attract connoisseurs from around the world”.
MASTERWORKS
PARIS AVANT-GARDE – WEDNESDAY 17TH OCTOBER 2017 AT 7PM
During FIAC, Christie’s Paris will organise the third edition of its Paris Avant-Garde auction which saw strong results last year realising €38,6M for 27 lots including the impressive Grande Femme II by Alberto Giacometti which fetched €25M. The third edition of the Avant-Garde sale reinforces our belief to be present amongst the cultural events of this particularly important week for the art market.
Throughout the 20th Century, Paris, attracted artists from around the globe to contribute in the development of new artistic ideas. Within this context grew many of the fundamental artistic movements of the 20th Century, from Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism through to the beginnings of Lyrical Abstraction and New Realism. Our sale will present carefully-selected works from the leading names of these movements, many of which will appear on the market for the first time.
Tudor Davies and Paul Nyzam, co-heads of the sale: “We are proud to present a carefully selected group of works of art for this third edition of Christie’s Avant-Garde sale. Many movements of the 20th century are well represented and we believe that international collectors in Paris during this busy week, will respond positively to the chance to discover these masterpieces”.
Two major works coming from a Parisian private collection will be offered in the sale including a painting by Pierre Soulages from 1962. The early 1960’s were decisive for Pierre Soulages. First, because he and his wife moved to Sète where his work evolved dramatically and second because Soulages gained in notoriety thanks to two main exhibitions organized in 1960. The composition of his paintings changed, the matter, form and colour now bound to one another through a method which consisted in scraping the surface of the canvas to reveal the different shades applied previously. Peinture 5 juin 1962, 97 x 130 cm, estimated at €1,500,000-2,000,000 is typical of this new approach.
From the same collection, Christie’s will present 01.04.1986 by Zao Wou-Ki. This painting was realised by the artist a few years after his wife’s passing which brought him a lot of nostalgia and the will to explore the traditional Chinese models of colour and space. Here, Zao Wou-Ki diluted his colours which brings a lot of transparency to the work and the fine, quick and confident strokes specific to calligraphy which, like a source of light, generate a powerful energy throughout the rest of the composition (estimate: €800,000-1,200,000).
Further highlights of the sale include Chigakusei Tekkyoshi, an important painting by Kazuo Shiraga realised in 1961 (estimate: €1,5000,000-2,000,000). This large format painting (130 x 195 cm) illustrates brilliantly the fundamentals of the Gutaï group such as the concept of painting with the body as a tool. If Shiraga chose to paint with his feet it was because using the hand would be to go back to the excessively controlled habits of his culture. So, suspended from ropes he used his bare feet to trample the blank canvas spread out beneath him.
The pictorial technique of Kazuo Shiraga, perfected in Japan in the 1950s, has rarely been equalled either at the artistic or the spiritual level. In fact, it belongs to the investigations undertaken by the Gutaï group that formed around Jiro Yoshihara, which, in this period developed new ideas about art, advocating the abandonment of traditional painting media. The material has to express itself, as their program defines it: “When the material, as it is, demonstrates its distinctive character, it begins to speak, sometimes even shout.”1
A section of the sale will also be dedicated to surrealism and the DADA movements with major artists such as Max Ernst with his 1958 depiction of his alter ego, Loplop (estimate: €200,000-300,000) and Jean Arp with a rare bronze Torse conceived in 1931 and casted in 1957 (estimate: €500,000-700,000).
ROFA realised in 1932 by Francis Picabia is an unpublished work, part of Picabia's series of Transparences, characterised by an amalgamation of overlaid images deriving from eclectic historical art references. Recently rediscovered, ROFA had been in the same private hands since its execution, initially belonging to one of Picabia’s close friends and then inherited by the present owners - it has never been published nor shown to the public (estimate: €700,000-1,000,000).
A major work by Chaïm Soutine will also be part of this Avant-Garde sale. Paysage was executed in 1919, a few years after Soutine move to Paris. He first lived at La Ruche, a residence for struggling artists in Montparnasse, where he met Amadeo Modigliani who would become a close friend. This painting estimated at between €600,000-800,000 illustrates one of his preferred subject matters: the landscape. Indeed, while referencing his art to Masters as Rembrandt, Soutine developed a vibrant and contrasted palette, sometimes even violent which can recall the style of Edvard Much or Emil Node. The lines are tormented, distorted as we can see in the painting offered in this sale.
In the contemporary art section, Christie’s will offer an early work by Lucio Fontana executed in 1959 and titled Concetto spaziale, Attessa Nudo, one on the first cuts produced by the artist (estimate: €250,000-350,000) and which comes from the collection of famous gallerist Iris Clert. In addition, three paintings by Nicolas de Staël showing the diversity of the artist’s creation will be offered. A painting executed in 1946, La part du vent, the same year de Staël met the gallerist Louis Carré with whom he would sign his first contract. A Paysage (estimate: €600,000-800,000) realised in 1951-52 illustrates the period when de Staël’s style was characterized by a thick impasto showing traces of the brush and the palette knife, and by a division of the canvas into numerous zones of color. His most well-known late paintings of beaches and landscapes dominated by the sky and effects of light can be seen in the third painting, Cap Blanc Nez executed in 1954 a year before his death (estimate €1,000,000-1,500,000).
Christie’s will also offer three works of art coming from the former collection of Josep Lluís and Moncha Sert. A work by André Masson, Souvenir de Long Island, and two works by Alexander Calder, a beautiful brooch, (estimate: €30,000-40,000) and a mobile executed circa 1948 (estimate: €800,000-1,200,000). It was through the intermediary of Joan Miró that Alexander Calder met the Spanish couple. The famous Catalan architect, responsible for the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul de Vence and the Miró Foundation in Barcelona and Calder remained close friends throughout their lives as shown by the numerous gifts offered by Calder to the couple.
Finally, the Avant-Garde auction will present a section of three photographs by Constantin Brancusi representing Lizica Codréano, a Romanian dancer who collaborated with several artists of the 20th century including Constantin Brancusi who filmed her improvisations on the Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies in his studio (estimate: €40,000-60,000).
MODERN ART – THURSDAY 18TH OCTOBER 2017 AT 3PM
The Impressionist and Modern Art department will present a sale dedicated to Modern Art, with more than 120 works offered including an important work by Pablo Picasso, La Danse (estimate: €700.000-1,000,000), an oil on canvas painted in Cannes on 20 August 1956 and which initially passed through the Galerie Louise Leiris in Paris. This painting reconnects with Picasso’s love with dancing and moving bodies. Representing a bacchanal, the procession accompanying Dyonisos during his drunken nights, La Danse is also a tribute to Henri Matisse, who was inspired Picasso in relation to this subject, such as with Matisse’s Danse, a masterpiece commissioned by Sergei Shchukin in 1910.
Valérie Hess, Impressionist and Modern Art Specialist: “We are pleased to host our Modern Art sale, in the context of a sensational sale week at Christie’s Paris. The sale will present a variety of 20th century artists and a wide range of estimates which we expect to appeal the international crowd gathered in Paris at this very special time of the art market calendar.
A tribute to Old Masters can clearly be perceived through Gestes de Nymphes painted in 1926 by James Ensor (estimate: € 400,000-600,000). Far from his tormented and symbolic artworks, the artist realised a magnificent work of art capturing light in a cheerful and enchanting atmosphere populated by nymphs and reminding us somewhat of Watteau’s fêtes galantes.
An important painting by Marc Chagall will certainly attract international collectors. This painting titled Place du Tertre (estimate €500,000-700,000) was realised in 1953-54 when the artist was staying in Paris. At this time, he produced a series of paintings and lithographs dedicated to the capital. In Place du Tertre, Chagall represented himself as a rooster, symbol of love and creativity, making one with a bird-woman, adorned with a bridal veil in memory of his wedding with Vava in 1952. This painting is a tribute to love and to women and celebrates several themes as passion, joy and religion reinforced with the presence of a crucifix and the Sacré-Coeur monument in the background.
SHE WAS A GIANT: THE BENEDICTE PESLE COLLECTION - THURSDAY 18TH OCTOBER 2017 AT 7PM
Christie’s will host the sale of the collection of Bénédicte Pesle on Thursday 18th October, during the week-long Paris international contemporary art fair. Comprising 75 lots, this exceptional collection is a testimony to the ceaseless work of Madame Pesle to promote American avant-garde artists throughout her life. The collection includes works by some of the most important international figures of the 20th century, such as James Bishop, Bob Wilson, Sol Lewitt in contemporary art and Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso for the Impressionist and Modern art section.
Paul Nyzam, Head of Sale: “Bénédicte Pesle was a passionate, generous and faithful woman, who dedicated her entire life to the arts and artists. It’s a privilege and honor for Christie’s to have been entrusted with the collection of a unique person who cherished the works of art she has acquired throughout her life until her passing last January”.
Leading the collection is an important bronze sculpture by Max Ernst titled Âmes-Soeurs and executed in 1961 (estimate: €250.000-350.000). This sculpture occupies a special place in the work of Max Ernst who periodically devoted himself to this technique. From 1934, his sculptures are influenced by the work of Alberto Giacometti with whom he would spend the summer in Switzerland to sculpt and discover new techniques. On his return, he would create works of art close to Âmes-Soeurs such as les Asperges de la Lune (1934). Sculpture is also a way to escape, as Ernst declared: "Whenever I get into an impasse with painting, which happens to me all the time, sculpture is always there as a way out, for sculpture is even more a game than painting". Tudor Davies: “Ernst’s wit and indeed surreal sense of humour are evident in les Âmes-soeurs for the two protagonists appear anything but soul mates/soul sisters- failing to see eye to eye, the taller of the two even seems to writhe away from her sibling”. This work was one of Bénédicte Pesle’s favourite from her collection, as it was symbolising her own couple according to her.
James Bishop also had a prominent place in Pesle’s collection as three works will be offered in the sale. This American artist born in 1927 moved to France in 1958 where he stayed ever since. His style is close to American and European abstraction to which he added a highly unique visual language. His paintings explore flatness and spatiality using expressive and bright colors, giving a special dimension to his works. The American poet and art critic John Ashbery used to describe his work as “half-architecture, half air”2.
In addition to these works of art, several prints and lithographs will be offered to international collectors. Pablo Picasso, Martial Raysse, Jim Dine, Barnet Newman, Jasper Johns and Jean Dubuffet will be presented alongside modern art major artworks realised by Victor Brauner, Maurice Utrillo, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp and Luis Fernandez.
In total, the collection will present 75 lots with a global estimate of €1,500,000 to 2,000,000.
2 John Ashbery, "The American Painter James Bishop," in Dieter Schwarz and Alfred Pacquement, eds., James Bishop: Paintings and Works on Paper (Düsseldorf: Richter Verlag, 1993), p. 109
