GENEVA, SWITZERLAND.- Sotheby’s next sale of Swiss art will take place in Zurich on Tuesday December 5, 2006, at 5.00pm and 7.30pm. Highlighting once again the auction is Ferdinand Hodler with two masterpieces: Thunersee mit Stockhornkette, estimated at CHF 3-4 million (circa 1913) and Genfersee mit Jura (Landschaftlicher Formenrhythmus), estimated at CHF 2.5-3.5 million (circa 1911). Urs Lanter, the expert in charge of the sale, said: “This autumn, the sale includes 206 lots covering a period from the 18th to the late 20th century. All the great Swiss artists are represented, including Ferdinand Hodler, Cuno Amiet, Albert Anker, Alice Bailly, Adolf Dietrich, Augusto and Giovanni Giacometti, Max Gubler, Gottardo Segantini, Félix Vallotton, Benjamin Vautier, Gustave Buchet, Otto Morach and Robert Zünd.” A selection of highlights will be exhibited in Geneva from November 11 to 13, and then all the works will be on view in Zurich from December 1 to 4, 2006.

Among the many works by Ferdinand Hodler offered for sale, in particular we have two superbly executed oils on canvas from the pinnacle of his career. These are Thunersee mit Stockhornkette (circa 1913) and Genfersee mit Jura (Landschaftlicher Formenrhythmus) (circa 1911). Holder was born in 1853 in a poor quarter of Bern and at the age of 14, having lost both his parents, became an apprentice souvenir painter on the shores of Lake Thun, studying under Ferdinand Sommer. Observing the mountains at close hand introduced him to nature, a theme that was to remain a fascination and inspiration for the rest of his life. In 1871, he moved to Geneva, immersing himself in the romantic representation of nature of artists like Alexandre Calame, François Diday and Charles Humbert. It was during this period that he met and started studying under Barthélemy Menn, to whom he declared his eternal gratitude. As the years went on, Hodler struggled for recognition and the good opinion of critics. Around 1885, he finally mastered his personal means of expression – the principle of parallelism – towards which he had been striving throughout his career. In 1900, he won a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris with three works: Le Jour, La Nuit and L’Eurythmie. In 1904, he was guest of honour at the 19th exhibition of the Vienna Secession, which he had joined in 1900. The event, showing 31 of his works, established Hodler as a major force in European painting.

Thunersee mit Stockhornkette (circa 1913). The mountains and lakes of Switzerland were major themes in Hodler’s works. Right from his apprenticeship, he was fascinated by the beauty of the Stockhorn mountain rising above Lake Thun, which became the subject of 30 works between 1904 and 1913. Although he lived in Geneva, the artist regularly returned to the Bernese Oberland to capture the splendour of the region in his paintings. The work included in this auction is one his most powerful and detailed pieces on the subject. The perfect harmony uniting the different elements of nature combines with the simplification of formal elements to enable the beholder to sense “the eternity of nature”, as Hodler urged at a conference in 1897. The light-filled space is radiant, imbued with the blue of the mountain and the lake. The magic of the snow-covered summits reflected in the surface of the lake, in a symbiosis of earth and water, pays homage to the uniqueness and purity of unchanging nature (estimate: CHF 3,000,000-4,000,000 / EUR 1,890,000-2,520,000 / lot 46).

Genfersee mit Jura (Landschaftlicher Formenrhythmus) (circa 1911). When Ferdinand Hodler moved to Geneva, his interest turned to Lake Geneva and the surrounding area, which became a fresh source of inspiration right up until his death in 1918. This work was one of the last in a series of 12 entitled Sur Le Lac Léman (on Lake Geneva), depicting views of the Jura mountains from Vézenaz-Bellerive, on the left bank of the lake. This oil on canvas, executed in light colours and exemplifying the parallelism typical of the artist, is one of the most abstract in the series and anticipates some of his later works. The lake follows the line of the horizon, creating parallels, while the barely perceptible gleam of the water echoes the clouds dancing above. This is also one of the last works belonging to a private collection; the Aarau Art Museum has a comparable example (estimate: CHF 2,500,000-3,500,000 / EUR 1,575,000-2,205,000 / lot 38).

Augusto Giacometti is represented in the sale by Die Musik (circa 1899), a magnificent work in charcoal, pastels and tempera on paper (estimate: CHF 600,000-800,000 / EUR 378,000-505,009 / lot 31). The cousin of Giovanni Giacometti, he trained at the schools of applied arts in Zurich and Paris. Here, he was encouraged to make decorative and symbolic use of forms and colours, and he eventually became the most significant exponent of Jugendstil and symbolism in Switzerland. Die Musik, a large decorative painting in the spirit of Gustav Klimt, was one of the youthful works that enabled Giacometti to make a name for himself and gain recognition. The two mystical and sublimely beautiful female figures personify the idea of music, transposing sound into a visual event. The swirling coloured draperies echo partitions, where the notes – geometric signs with symbolic connotations – set the rhythm of the composition. This painting, which brings all of our senses into play, is a key work in the evolution of Giacometti, who a few years later moved towards complete abstraction.

The auction also includes Augusto Giacometti’s Italienische Landschaft (Italian landscape), produced during his time in Florence from 1902 to 1915. In this work, we see how the artist is moving away from decorative Japanese-inspired painting towards formal abstraction. While this watercolour with its fresh, luminous colours still clearly represents a study of nature, the opposition of colours delineating the stylised natural elements already clearly indicates a simplification of form. This work on paper, estimated at CHF 120,000-160,000 (EUR 76,000-101,000 / lot 82), is undoubtedly one of the painter’s finest vivid watercolours.

From the same artist, we have Nelken in runder Glasvase mit blauem Hintergrund (Carnations in a round glass vase on a blue background), an oil on canvas that is one of his earliest flower pictures. This work from 1918 reflects Giacometti’s experimentation with colour – the vase and flowers being a pretext for a chromatic composition bordering on abstraction. The flowers, vase and background form a single mass of warm and muted colours. The surface is painted right up to the edges, with Giacometti’s familiar thick touch. This one work, estimated at CHF 100,000-140,000 (EUR 63,000-88,500 / lot 44) incarnates all the chromatic and formal questions with which Augusto Giacometti grappled.

A further work by Augusto Giacometti is Waldinneres – Birkenwald (In the forest – birch forest), a sketch dating from 1907. The golden yellows and subtle browns have been delicately applied by spatula, giving the composition a rhythm emulating the neo-impressionist style of Paul Signac. Once again, it is the colours that provide the structure of the composition, space and light. As an artist of his time, Giacometti uses colour as a means of expression, composition and form, with his dynamic brushstrokes bringing life and movement to the suggestion of nature. This unique masterpiece by Augusto Giacometti – regarded as the father of abstract painting in Switzerland – is estimated at CHF 200,000-300,000 (EUR 126,000-189,000 / lot 61).

Alice Bailly, Paysage à Orsay (L’Arbre Vert) (1912). Alice Bailly was born in Geneva in 1872. At the age of 32 she moved to Paris, where her talent was immediately recognised. In 1912, her exhibits at the Paris salons were praised by Apollinaire. Her first so