NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s New York Latin American Sale on November 19 and 20 will showcase extraordinary works by recognized masters spanning several major artistic movements in the Americas. The evening and day sales combined will highlight the unparalleled creative excellence of artists hailing from more than fifteen countries throughout the continent and the Caribbean.

Leading the sale is a mature and complex work by Joaquín Torres García, Tres figuras, painted in 1946 (estimate: $2,000,000 – 3,000,000 million). A monumental tour de force – this composition is a culmination of Torres García’s lifetime of artistic achievements. Merging the figural within an abstract composition, the painting reveals the tenets and invention of Constructivism and the artist’s genius.

The Garden of Paracelsus, 1957 (estimate: $700,000-900,000) is one of Leonora Carrington’s remarkable and poetic paintings and occupies a singular place within her oeuvre. Painted in 1957, it easily is considered one of Carrington’s masterpieces; magical and mysterious, the artist hints at a world that can only be experienced and never truly portrayed.

Stop the Age of Hemmohrr, painted in 1947-1948 (estimate: $1,000,000 -1,500,000) is a monumental canvas by the visionary Chilean, Matta. A dynamic figure on the New York scene since his arrival in New York from Paris in 1938, the artist served as a conduit between the European Surrealists who had gathered in New York, and the emerging New York School. Matta’s humanism is beautifully expressed in a dynamic composition which can be seen as a protest against war and man’s inhumanity and great capacity for destruction.

Emilio Pettoruti’s magnificent El cantor, 1934, a Cubist composition that is both a revelation and a radiant carnival of color and form (estimate: $700,000 – 900,000), is one of the finest modern works of Argentinian art. Pettoruti’s numerous exploration of color, shape and studies on music and musicians began in Europe where he had gone in 1913 as a student and embarked on a prolific and brilliant artistic production. In El cantor, Pettoruti’s play between abstraction and figuration is apparent, which results in a juxtaposition of figure and ground.

Rufino Tamayo, a master colorist, employs color to create realms for reflection that describe sentiment and confront profound ideas. Serenata a la Luna, a masterpiece dating to a period of international critical success, is a culmination of Tamayo’s creative prowess and achievements (estimate: $1,500,000 – 2,000,000).

José María Velasco’s fascination with nature’s majestic realm found expression and meaning in the numerous renderings he painted of the Valley of Mexico – its fertile vastness and imposing volcanoes. The artist is considered Mexico’s most important landscape painter. His magnificent Valley of Mexico from the Hill of Santa Isabel, 1892 is Velasco’s artistic legacy and reveals his great love for his homeland (estimate: $500,000 – 700,000). For Velasco, the Valley of Mexico proved a rich subject allowing for both artistic and national expression. Ultimately, it is a depiction that is considered symbolic of national identity.

The figure of Alfredo Ramos Martínez looms large over the creation of a modern aesthetic in Mexico, however, it is in his adopted home of California that Ramos Martínez gained critical and commercial success. From the artist’s most desirable period which began in the early 1930s shortly after his arrival in Los Angeles – two iconic works, Gemelas, and Mexican Family, (each estimate: $600,000 – 800,000), are now available.

Wifredo Lam’s self-referential Bonjour monsieur Lam, 1959, exhibits the artist’s precise and fluid lines that elegantly detail his surreal compositions (estimate: $600,000 – 800,000). An icon of Surrealism, Lam’s oeuvre, rich in color, structure, and meaning, explores the myths and spiritual beliefs of his Afro-Cuban roots.

The Venezuelan master Armando Reverón depicts the port of La Guaira in a large-scale landscape, La Plaza Vargas de La Guaira, 1942 (estimate: $350,000 – 550,000). Unlike his early luminous landscapes, the artist’s interest had turned to shape and form by this period. His precise draftsmanship is manifested in the use of dark straight lines to describe both the small town’s natural as well as man-made elements.

Jorge de la Vega’s Billiken, is one of the most significant and largest works to come to market in decades and an extraordinary and iconic gem (estimate: $350,000 - 450,000). The Argentine master’s Pop work showcases De la Vega at the height of his powers. Formerly in the collection of The National Bank of Boston in Buenos Aires, the work has largely remained unseen by the general public until now.

Francisco Zúñiga’s magnificent bronze suite of three figures, Grupo frente al mar, 1984, is a rare sculptural ensemble that alludes to the sea and is one of the highlights of the sale, which is especially strong in sculptural works (estimate: $1,200,000 – 1,800,000). The Mexican master created only two casts, the present one and another which is part of the permanent collection of the Hakone Open Air Museum in Japan.

Fernando Botero’s sculpture Reclining Venus, 1989, is a larger than life size representation of this classic subject in bronze with a rich dark brown patina (estimate: $800,000 – 1,200,000).

Tomás Sánchez’s contemporary landscapes express the essence and grandeur that is nature’s domain. Two enigmatic renderings juxtaposing the fertile beauty all around us with the contamination of our natural habitats are Silencio a las tres, 2001 (estimate: $300,000 – 400,000) and
Basura de colores bajo la tormenta, 1991 (estimate: $250,000 – 350,000).