BEIJING.- China Guardian Auction launches the inaugural ‘Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale.’ Part of the 2021 Autumn Auctions in Beijing Guardian Art Center, this special evening auction includes highlights such as a rare and museum-quality ‘Water Lilies’ painting by Claude Monet, an early portrait by Paul Cézanne, an important landscape by Camille Pissarro, and a signature portrait by Pablo Picasso.
With tracked provenance and well-established exhibition and literature records, all five works represent the artists’ bold exploration and pioneering practice. They are evidence of groundbreaking innovations in art history, new perspectives to view the world and the artists’ inner selves in the light of modern technology, and representation of the continuous breakthroughs in pursuit of innovation in human civilization.
Bassin aux nymphéas, les rosiers, created in 1913, is exemplary of Claude Monet’s mature style. He depicted his gardens in Giverny—one of the artist’s most personal and celebrated subjects—with unique brushstrokes and vibrant tones. It is one of three canvases Monet painted from this particular vantage point, which looks out onto an arched trellis covered in tumbling red and pink roses reflected in the water. Another work from this tripart series is in the permanent collection of the Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona. Through Monet’s energetic yet intimate portrayal of flora, water, sky, and light, one is immersed in this landscape, imbued with the sense of a tranquil summer’s day in northern France.
Another classic work by Monet, L’Escalier (1878), was created during a transitional period in the artist’s life and oeuvre. When he moved to the suburbs north of Paris that summer, the subject of his paintings shifted from modern urban scenes to the countryside. To capture the color of the wilderness under the scorching sun, Monet adopted different techniques that prepared him for his success in later years. L’Escalier depicts a vine covered staircase in the afternoon light in the town of Vétheuil. It is truly a rare work that showcases Monet’s ingenuity from that period.
In 1884, Camille Pissarro moved north of Paris to Éragny, where he created a series of acclaimed landscape paintings. Different from the artist’s earlier ‘wash house’ paintings based on cityscapes, Le lavoir de Bazincourt employs subtle brushstrokes and a masterful use of pointillism, presenting the idyllic rural view in early autumn.
Portrait, begun in 1866, marked the beginning of Paul Cézanne’s extraordinary portraiture series. Challenging the more traditional art of his contemporaries with innovative techniques and radical style, Portrait is a further development from Manet’s elegant yet bold color contrast, and Courbet’s thick and powerful brushstrokes. In Cézanne’s work, color is no longer a rigid tone or a soft gradient, but an active power and his expressive painting defined portraiture in the later 20th century.
Starting in 1964, Pablo Picasso created a number of works around the theme of artist and muse. The model in Le Tete de femme au Chapeau from 1965 is his final wife, Jacqueline Roque. Though Jacqueline never formally posed for Picasso, her likeness is depicted throughout his later works. Picasso’s fascination with women’s headwear can be traced back to the 1930s, when he took it as a representation of a woman’s inner thoughts. In Le Tete de femme au Chapeau, the golden hat stands out against a vivid blue background, the wide soft brim blocking the summer heat and casting a shadow on Jacqueline’s face, implying a relaxed and joyful moment in the south of France.
