SAN FRANCISCO and LOS ANGELES.- International fine arts auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields bring Modern & Contemporary Art to auction on Tuesday, May 22, 2007. Simulcast between the San Francisco and Los Angeles salesrooms, the auction features works by the foremost artists of the 20th century and icons of the present day.

Artists featured this spring include: Gustave Loiseau, Maria-Helena Vieira da Silva, Andre Lanskoy, Maurice de Vlaminck, George Grosz, Victor Vasarely, Martial Raysse, Jean Arp, Bernard Buffet, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Patrick Heron, Andy Warhol, Adolph Gottlieb, Kenneth Noland, John Baldessari, and Bruce Nauman, among others.

About the Artists and Offered Art: Parisian painter Gustave Loiseau painted with Paul Gauguin, Emile Bernard and other members of the Pont Aven School. In 1894, Durand-Ruel, a leading art dealer and champion of the Impressionists, began handling Loiseau's work. Loiseau's technique exhibits the influence of Gauguin, Pissarro, and Seurat. Like many other impressionist painters, Loiseau was fond of travel, and he painted landscapes in various parts of France, including the Normandy coast, Fecamp, Etretat, Saint Jouin, Le Havre, and Marseill. L'Oise a Pontoise, 1901, (est. $50/70,000) is an oil on canvas depicting a view of the River Oise at the town of Pontoise. It was originally sold through Durand-Ruel in Paris and should interst collectors. Considered to be one of the important postwar Abstract artists, Portuguese-born French painter Maria-Helena Vieira da Silva is known the world over for her involved, multifaceted and almost maze-like compositions. Although not considered a "pure abstraction" painter by scholars, her work resembles that of a number of artists such as Paul Cézanne, and movements and stylistic elements of the time including Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Tachisme, allegory and the fragmented form. Untitled, 1958 (a signed and dated 14 x 19 ½ inch oil on canvas) is estimated to bring $70,000 to 90,000. The international flavor of the May 2007 sale is highlighted with a 1968 watercolor of British abstract painter Patrick Heron. Indigo Round Umber and Venetian and Into Ultramarine (est. $25/35,000) is a classic example of the artist's use of saturated color to express the pleasure of sight as one of the most important human senses. According to specialists, his work is devoted to the analysis of natural forms and colors.

Untitled (Pictograph), 1949-50 (est. $25/30,000) by American abstract expressionist Adolph Gottlieb is also on the auction block at Bonhams & Butterfields. Born in New York, Gottlieb studied at the highly esteemed Art Students League of New York. Boasting a virtual "Who's Who" of faculty and alumni, the League has given rise to great modern talents such as Roy Lichtenstein, Isamu Noguchi, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alexander Calder and Cy Twombly. In 1935 Gottlieb joined fellow League alumni Mark Rothko and nine others to form a group known as "The Ten." The group would later become known as the Abstract Expressionists. Shortly thereafter, Gottlieb was introduced to a group of exiled artists who affirmed his faith in Surrealist theories to express free thought. It was this encounter that led the artist to experiment with symbols, resulting in Gottlieb's 1940s "Pictograph" series. Signed by the artist, this gouache on paper is expected to bring $25,000 to 35,000. Bruce Nauman was among the first of postwar contemporary artists to use his body as an expressive instrument in live performance and in studio performances made for film and video. The fundamental themes the artist addresses throughout his oeuvre include the role of the artist, the function of art, and the primacy of the idea over whatever form it takes. His offered work Study for the Right Half of My Body Carved into a Tree is characteristic of his art. The watercolor and ink on paper is expected to garner interest from an international audience (est. $50/70,000).

In his paintings of the late 1950s and early '60s, Kenneth Noland used familiar forms such as circles and chevrons to explore the expressive potential of color. In his chevron paintings especially, he experimented with color to make a well-known form uniquely his own. In his work from the 1980s, Noland again used the chevron to pursue other aspects of painting: translucency and pearlescence, and their counterpoints opacity and luminescence. Bonhams is pleased to offer an acrylic on canvas from 1984, Songs: Out of Nowhere (est. $20/25,000). Other highlights from the sale include Andre Lanskoy's Untitled oil on canvas (est. $40/60,000); an oil, silkscreen and silk rose on canvas from Martial Raysse titled Tableau Presque Cuvé, 1965 (est. $20/30,000); a rare early assemblage by John Baldessari, X Sign for a Crucification, 1962 (est. 60/80,000); two acrylic works by Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely Malna, 1964 (est. $25/35,000) and Gamma-G, 1958 (est. $20/30,000); Judith Rothschild's acrylic on paper mounted on foam board (in relief) Rubum VI 1980 (est. $4/6,000); and Untitled (Crowd), 1947 (est. $20/30,000) from Pop Art icon Andy Warhol.

The May sale also includes a selection of graphic works by artist, illustrator and American counter culture revolutionary Robert Crumb. For more than 30 years, Crumb has entertained, often shocked and continually challenged the imaginations (and the boundaries) of art collectors and enthusiasts of the illustrated comic form. His voluptuous, LSD-inspired experiences of the 1960s gave way to comparatively sober, introspective dialogues and biting indictments of American culture. More than ten lots of work will be offered during the spring sale of Modern & Contemporary Art.