NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s New York headquarters hosts a dynamic ten-day exhibition ahead of its marquee May auctions of Impressionist & Modern Art (9 & 10 May) and Contemporary Art (11 & 12 May). Reflecting today’s market, and in response to the evolving taste of the world’s great collectors, masterworks spanning both categories have been juxtaposed throughout the galleries and building.
Along with the full Evening and Day auctions, the exhibitions feature works from upcoming sales including American Art, Latin America: Modern and Contemporary Art, African Art, Important Design and more.
Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale on 11 May 2016
HIGHLIGHTS
Untitled (New York City) by Cy Twombly is the only painting from the artist’s famed ‘Blackboard’ series executed with blue loops on grey ground (estimate in excess of $40 million). It boasts a remarkable history having been acquired by the current owner from the artist’s studio immediately after it was executed in 1968, and has not been seen in public since this year’s pre-sale exhibitions. The sale will also include a major late Twombly: Untitled (Bacchus 1st Version V) (estimate in excess of $20 million). The appearance of the 2004 work in May marks the first time an example from the series that is widely recognized as defining the artist’s late work, has appeared at auction.
Two Studies for a Self-Portrait (1970) by Francis Bacon comes to auction for the first time in May, having remained in the same private collection since soon after it was painted over forty-five years ago (estimate $22–30 million). Widely acknowledged as the finest self-portrayal Bacon ever produced, Two Studies for a Self-Portrait (1970) has been exhibited only twice before – first at the acclaimed 1971 Grand Palais retrospective in Paris and then most recently at Marlborough Fine Art’s Small Portrait Studies exhibition in London in 1993. However, perhaps the work’s iconic status lies in the fact that it was chosen to adorn the cover of Milan Kundera and France Borel’s definitive book Francis Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits.
Summer #1 by Sam Francis from 1957 is a masterpiece from the first decade of the artist’s long career (estimate $8–12 million). Long regarded as one of the most sublime works by the artist, Summer #1 was chosen to grace the cover of the artist’s catalogue raisonné, published in 2011, further confirming its place as the ultimate archetype of Francis’ output.
Christopher Wool’s Untitled (1990) is a seminal early example of the artist's most renowned and desirable body of text paintings: the ‘Black Book’ series (estimate $14–18 million). Nearly half of the comparable works from this eminent series of 9-letter word ‘Black Book’ paintings belong to prominent museum collections, and this example is exceptional among the group for the unique complexity of the word it depicts. In addition, it is further distinguished by its long-term loan to the Hamburger Kunsthalle for 16 years, from 1997 – 2013.
EUROPEAN MASTERS
Following the record set for Alberto Burri in London just two months ago, the sale includes Sacco, another of the artist’s celebrated Sacchi works which make use of burlap (estimate $6–8 million). Sacco has resided in the highly esteemed Morton G. Neumann family collection for nearly 60 years and has only been exhibited twice in that period. Other important European artists represented in the sale include Jean Dubuffet, whose Vache à l’herbage (estimate $3– 4 million) is archetypal of one of the artist’s most highly-admired and sough-after series.
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALFRED H. BARR, JR.
Further highlights include two works that were given by Alexander Calder and Frank Stella to Alfred H. Barr Jr., the MoMA founding director who did so much to develop the careers of both artists as well as the course of 20th Century Art History. In 1943, Barr gave Calder a major solo retrospective at MoMA and proceeded to acquire numerous pivotal works by the artist for the collection, including commissioning Calder in 1939 to create the large Lobster Trap and Fish Tail to inaugurate the main staircase of the new MoMA building. The Untitled standing mobile Sotheby’s is offering is likely from the year preceding that seminal exhibition (estimate $3/4 million). However, it was not until 1966, that Barr accepted a personal gift from the artist alongside a large bequest of major works to the museum. Untitled from 1942 is a stunningly rare example of Calder’s earliest mobiles that incorporated found chunks of colored glass representing his breathtaking ingenuity.
Stella’s Untitled striped canvas perfectly encapsulates the artist’s early Benjamin Moore series, a group of six large paintings executed in six distinct patterns in various house paint colors that inspired a body of miniature variations (estimate $300/400,000). Barr gave Stella his first MoMA retrospective in 1970, making him the youngest artist to receive that honor, and this work is specifically dedicated to Barr in appreciation and thanks with a handwritten inscription on the reverse.
SOTHEBY’S MAY EVENING SALE OF IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART
Sotheby’s spring Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art will be held in New York on 9 May 2016.
Two masterpieces by art history’s “Wild Beasts” will appear at auction for the first time on 9 May. Together, André Derain’s 1906 view of the Thames, Les Voiles rouges (estimate $15/20 million), and Maurice de Vlaminck’s 1905 landscape in Chatou, Sous-bois ($12/18 million), embody the explosive Fauve movement of the early-20th century. The term was coined in 1905, when the critic Louis Vauxcelles derided the colorful canvases of Vlaminck, Matisse and Braque on display at the Salon d'Automne as the work of ‘les fauves’ (wild beasts). With Fauvism having lasted three years, only four major Fauve paintings have sold at auction since 2010, when Sotheby’s set a new benchmark price for the movement: Sotheby’s London sale of Impressionist & Modern Art in June featured a 1905 work by Derain, Arbres à Collioure, which sold for £16.3 million ($24 million), setting auction records for both the artist and for any Fauve painting.
A further highlight from the Evening Sale is a striking Pointillist painting of Saint-Tropez by Paul Signac (estimate $8/12 million). Inscribed Op.237, the painting heralds from an important period for the artist, during which he designated his works with opus numbers, much as a composer would name a masterful musical composition. Painted in 1892 --- his first year visiting the coastal town to which he would return many times over the years -- Maisons du port, Saint-Tropez was created at the peak of Signac's time as the leader of the Neo-Impressionist painters. Maisons du port, Saint-Tropez has remained in the family collection of Ambassador John Langeloth Loeb, Jr. since his parents acquired it in July 1958. It comes to auction for the first time this May with an estimate of $8/12 million.
A rare and exquisite marble of one of Rodin’s most celebrated forms will highlight the sculpture on offer in the Evening Sale. Conceived in 1884 and carved in 1901-03 from a single block of marble, Rodin's L’Éternel Printemps ranks among his most skillful renderings of embracing lovers. It comes to auction this May with an estimate of $8/12 million. This sculpture is believed to be the fifth of ten known uniquely finished marble carvings of the subject, and was singled out in Frederick Lawton's 1906 biography on the artist as the most magnificent of the series. A Rodin marble of this subject has not appeared on the market in over two decades, and the present example is appearing at auction for the first time this May.
Joan Miró's monumental and dynamic bronze Oiseau exemplifies the artist’s inventive approach to one of his most celebrated subjects (estimate $6/8 million). Miró conceived the form for this sculpture in 1968, when his compositions challenged the boundaries of representation and abstraction. Oiseau was originally made by Miró as a unique sculpture in 1968 for the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. In 1981, the artist enlarged the form, which was then cast in bronze in a numbered edition of six, plus one artist’s proof. Other casts from this edition belong to The Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.
In the late 1930s, as the Civil War divided Spain and the rest of Europe contemplated the growing threat of Fascism, Max Ernst responded with a series of paintings that are among his most visually striking and historically significant. Depicting ancient, ruined civilizations, vast swathes of jungle and giant mythical or allegorical creatures, these works represent a unique engagement with the events that were unfolding across Europe. Painted in 1937, La Conversion de feu (estimate $5/7 million) combines many of the most striking elements of this series with techniques and motifs that were central to his oeuvre.
The Evening Sale will feature eight works spanning Pablo Picasso’s career ----- with examples ranging from 1901 to 1969. The vibrant Buste d’homme lauré (estimate $8/12 million), appearing at auction for the first time, is a powerful example of a theme that was central to Picasso in the last years of his life. For Picasso, the Mousquetaire signified the golden age of painting, and allowed him to escape the limitations of contemporary subject matter and explore the spirit of a past age. The present work is differentiated from other portraits of 1969 by the addition of a laurel wreath to the musketeer----- a rare symbol of triumph.
Also appearing at auction for the first time this May, Femme dans un fauteuil depicts Jacqueline Roque, Picasso’s beloved second wife who remained with him until his death in 1973 (estimate $5/7 million). Picasso’s renderings of Jacqueline constitute the largest group of images of any woman in his life. The present picture, which Picasso completed in September 1963, belongs to a series of depictions of Jacqueline in an armchair. In this picture, the profile of Picasso appears in shadow behind the figure’s head, presenting us with a dual portrait of both artist and model.
Sotheby’s will present property from A Discerning Eye --- The Collection Of A Notable Lady across a series of sales this spring in New York, London and Paris. The property on offer in the 9 May Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art includes arresting works on paper by Egon Schiele and Pablo Picasso. The group of four works by Schiele demonstrates an important shift in the artist’s short career. Following his brief imprisonment in 1912 for the alleged dissemination of indecent drawings, Schiele reduced some of the sexual explicitness typical of his earlier work. As evidenced by the present work from 1913, Frau in Unterwäsche und Strümpfen (Valerie Neuzil) (Woman in Underclothes and Stockings) (estimate $2.5/3.5 million), Schiele transitioned from his provocative and explicit works, to compositions which feature fully-clothed women. The model for the present composition was Schiele’s companion Valerie Neuzil, who featured in Schiele’s most visually daring and experimental compositions of his career.
The Evening Sale will also feature three important works by Edvard Munch, emerging from a prominent private collection. The group includes Sjalusi i badet (Jealousy in the Bath) (estimate $2/3 million) from his Frieze of Life series; Halvakt med senket hode (Nude with Bowed Head), a bust depicting Birgit Prestøe, who would become his most frequently used model (estimate $700,000/1 million); and Badende gutter (Boys Bathing), a 1932-33 painting that reflects Munch’s life-long fascination with the sea (estimate $1.2/1.8 million). The three paintings together demonstrate the range of Munch’s oeuvre.
Painted in 1876, the year of the second Impressionist exhibition, Claude Monet’s Camille à l'ombrelle verte is an exquisite example of the artist’s early Impressionist technique, and provides insight into his colorful personal life (estimate $9/12 million). Camille Doncieux became Monet's partner in 1866; much to the disapproval of their families, the two lived together for the following four years, and finally married in 1870. This beautifully rendered, full-length portrayal of Camille belongs to a group of works dating from August 1876, painted in the garden of Monet's second house at Argenteuil, where he and his family lived from October 1874 until early 1878. However, unlike other works from the group, which depict Camille in the distance, often reading or walking, dominated by nature, in the present painting the artist divided his attention equally between the figure and her surroundings.
