PARIS.- On 2 December, Sotheby’s Paris Contemporary Art Evening Auction will present a selection of museum-quality paintings and sculptures, with examples by the greatest masters of the second half of the 20th century, such as Zao Wou-Ki, Pierre Soulages and Jean Dubuffet, from prestigious private collections. Anchoring the sale will be “Collection Passion…Passions”, 14 works from an important European private collection, led by Tête d’Homme by Alberto Giacometti – a cast made during the artist’s lifetime, which has never been on the market before – and a rare work by Pierre Soulages from 1959, painted during the most sought-after period of his career.

“Passion…Passions” Collection

Diego Giacometti’s Tête d’Homme, conceived and cast 1961 (Estimate: €1.5-2 million)
Appearing at Auction for the First Time

Among the leading works in the collection is Tête d’homme by Giacometti, depicting his brother Diego, who was one of his favourite models together with his wife Annette. The work dates to a crucial time in the artist’s career, just one year after he executed one of his most famous masterpieces, l’Homme qui Marche I, which went on to be installed in the courtyard of Fondation Maeght. The following year, Giacometti received the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale.

Conceived in 1961, Tête d’homme was cast during the same year. Until now, the piece has never been made available on the open market, with a rich provenance tracing back to its first owner, the New York-based gallerist Pierre Matisse. Matisse represented Giacometti in the United States during the 1930s, organising the first exhibition solely dedicated to the artist after the war.

Pierre Soulages’ Peinture, 8 juin 1959, 129 x 89 cm (Estimate: €2.5-3.5 million)
A Rare Work Dating from the Artist’s Most Sought-After Period

Following the recent world auction record achieved at Sotheby’s New York last week for a work by Pierre Soulages – setting the benchmark at over $20 million – the sale presents another remarkable work by the artist.

Painted in 1959, this work forms part of his most sought-after corpus, perfectly encapsulating Soulages’ distinctive use of transparencies in the late 1950s. Combining complex nuances of brownish red and black, the artist masterfully plays with contrasts. It has a long history both in terms of ownership and exhibitions – having formerly been in the collection of Norwegian figure skater and Olympic champion Sonja Henie and presented at exhibitions at European museums from the Tate in London to the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris as early as 1960.




Further Highlights

Zao Wou-Ki’s 5.8.1965, 1965 (Estimate: €2.2-3.2 million)
Previously Unseen and Appearing on the Market for the First Time

Completely fresh to the market and never previously illustrated or reproduced, this impressive work has been held in two successive private collections since it was purchased from the artist 50 years ago. Exceptional for its composition, size, quality and wealth of artistic references, 5.8.65 perfectly represents the best of the artist’s lyrical abstraction period.

The sale also offers a second auction debut by Zao Wou-Ki. Dans un Jardin des Plantes (estimate: €1.7-2.5 million) has remained in the same American private collection since it was purchased at Galerie Pierre in Paris in 1954.

Martial Raysse, Baigneuse sur 4 plans, 1963 (Estimate: €800,000-1.2 million)
A Historic Work Emerging at Auction for the First Time After Decades in Private Hands

This extremely rare life-size amalgamation of a painting and a sculpture from Raysse’s Beach series plays on the fundamental pillars of photography and cinema, embodying the artistic vision of the French Nouveau Realists. In the words of Pierre Restany, an art critic and theorist of the movement, the group worked with found-object assemblages and advertising imagery to create “a poetic recycling of reality”.

Created in 1963, Baigneuse sur 4 plans was initially presented at the legendary Alexandre Iolas Gallery in New York City, and soon after was exhibited at the artist’s major retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam, and later hung on the walls of prestigious institutions including the Museum of Fine Arts of Ghent and the Kunsthalle of Düsseldorf.

Jean Dubuffet, Alentour la maison, 1957 (Estimate: €1.5-2 million)
One of a Trio of Works by the Artist in the Sale

Jean Dubuffet painted Alentour la maison in 1957, at the time when he had begun to exhibit his work at prestigious galleries abroad, notably at the Pierre Matisse Gallery and the Kootz Gallery in New York. A remarkable piece from the Lieux Cursifs series, this work dates to an important period in the artist’s career during which he distanced himself from Paris and enjoyed long stays in Vence in the South of France. The series is situated at the crossroads of these two worlds: capturing a unique dynamic between the rustic nature of the countryside and the dynamic bustle of the city. It prefigures the iconic Paris Circus series, which he began four years later on his return to the capital, whilst referring back to what had come before.