1911
See also : Sculpture Italian sculpture Bust Bouquet Italy Modigliani Matisse Kandinsky Picasso 1907-31
1911-1912 Woman and Caryatid
2014 SOLD for $ 71M including premium
Amedeo Modigliani is a young Italian immigrant who is learning the tendencies of modern art in Paris at the Bateau-Lavoir. From his meeting with Brancusi he discovers the sculpture in direct carving, perfectly suited to his skills : Modi operates quickly and without rework.
Brancusi is one of the greatest innovators of sculpture. Reacting against the realistic details of clay and bronze, he is the first to seek beauty through basic and simplified forms that will lead him up to abstraction.
Brancusi and Modigliani find inspiration for their new styles in the antique and African arts. In 1910, Modi draws women topped with a tablette in reference to the Caryatids of the Erechtheion. His series of busts made in 1911 and 1912 will be his temple of art.
Modi is not yet famous. He uses limestone blocks taken from construction sites and carries them in a wheelbarrow to his modest studio in Montparnasse. His heads of women create around him a crowd of pure and stylized faces with the intense force of a tribal ceremony.
On June 14, 2010, a caryatid bust 64 cm high including the cubic base was sold for € 43M including premium by Christie's.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells a bust, 73 cm high including the base, lot 8. The press release of October 3 is announcing an estimate in excess of $ 45M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
Brancusi is one of the greatest innovators of sculpture. Reacting against the realistic details of clay and bronze, he is the first to seek beauty through basic and simplified forms that will lead him up to abstraction.
Brancusi and Modigliani find inspiration for their new styles in the antique and African arts. In 1910, Modi draws women topped with a tablette in reference to the Caryatids of the Erechtheion. His series of busts made in 1911 and 1912 will be his temple of art.
Modi is not yet famous. He uses limestone blocks taken from construction sites and carries them in a wheelbarrow to his modest studio in Montparnasse. His heads of women create around him a crowd of pure and stylized faces with the intense force of a tribal ceremony.
On June 14, 2010, a caryatid bust 64 cm high including the cubic base was sold for € 43M including premium by Christie's.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells a bust, 73 cm high including the base, lot 8. The press release of October 3 is announcing an estimate in excess of $ 45M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
1911 Modigliani sculpted the Timeless Woman
2010 SOLD 43 M€ including premium
Amedeo Modigliani made a dazzling pass in the history of sculpture.
His female heads are a synthesis of all ages and all civilizations. They are simple as the Cycladic idols, noble as queens of Egypt, Mannerist as a Botticelli, mysterious as African masks, serene as deities, geometric like the art of his friend Brancusi. They are designed to be viewed as a group, such as the Cariatides of a Greek temple.
Made in a very limited quantity, they were dispersed. Only the artist in his small studio in Montparnasse, or some friends at an exhibition in 1911 or 1912, could breathe the mystical atmosphere of the whole.
One of these statues, made of Parisian limestone, 64 cm high including the cubic base, is on sale at Christie's in Paris on June 14. It is obvious that this lot, estimated € 4 million, is exceptional. It is shared in an article in French by Le Figaro.
Modigliani carved the stone in direct cut. In 1914, he had to give up his vocation as a sculptor for reasons of health and money. His brush was as clever as his chisel to express the purity of the curves, and he became the best portrait painter of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
The information provided by Christie's did not leave any possibility for doubt: this sculpture is a masterpiece. Result: € 43 million including premium.
His female heads are a synthesis of all ages and all civilizations. They are simple as the Cycladic idols, noble as queens of Egypt, Mannerist as a Botticelli, mysterious as African masks, serene as deities, geometric like the art of his friend Brancusi. They are designed to be viewed as a group, such as the Cariatides of a Greek temple.
Made in a very limited quantity, they were dispersed. Only the artist in his small studio in Montparnasse, or some friends at an exhibition in 1911 or 1912, could breathe the mystical atmosphere of the whole.
One of these statues, made of Parisian limestone, 64 cm high including the cubic base, is on sale at Christie's in Paris on June 14. It is obvious that this lot, estimated € 4 million, is exceptional. It is shared in an article in French by Le Figaro.
Modigliani carved the stone in direct cut. In 1914, he had to give up his vocation as a sculptor for reasons of health and money. His brush was as clever as his chisel to express the purity of the curves, and he became the best portrait painter of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
The information provided by Christie's did not leave any possibility for doubt: this sculpture is a masterpiece. Result: € 43 million including premium.
1911 Les Coucous, tapis bleu et rose by Matisse
2009 SOLD for € 36M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
Born in northern France, Henri Matisse very early visited the local weaving workshops. Throughout his life, he will be a creator of forms on the most varied supports, overlapping figuration and abstraction.
Fauvism is a short but decisive phase during which he experiences the power of pure colors. Seeking exotic solutions, he travels to Algeria in 1906 and spends two months in Spain in 1910 studying Moorish art. At that time, collectors ahead of their time like Shchukin no longer support the traditional separation between art and decoration.
In 1910 in Madrid, Matisse bought in an antique shop a two-tone rug in fairly poor condition, whose arabesques were naturalistic without being identifiable. He was seduced by the expressive force of this anonymous textile, close by chance to the new style that he had developed for La Danse in 1909.
By varying the colors, he uses his rug as a decorative element in several paintings. In L'Atelier rose, oil on canvas 180 x 221 cm painted for Shchukin in 1911, it is spread over the large screen.
Les coucous - tapis bleu et rose, oil on canvas 81 x 66 cm painted in spring 1911, appears as a preparatory work for L'Atelier rose. On the table, the vase of primroses (coucous) is the pretext for this image, but the rug used as a tablecloth is indeed the main theme by its invitation to abstraction. The turquoise wall at the back is enhanced with pink reflections.
Yves Saint-Laurent saw in the image of this fabric a precursor to his own work. This painting which offers a link between two great designers went to be the most expensive lot of the sale of his collection by Christie's on February 23, 2009 : it was sold for € 36M including premium over a lower estimate of € 12M, lot 55.
Fauvism is a short but decisive phase during which he experiences the power of pure colors. Seeking exotic solutions, he travels to Algeria in 1906 and spends two months in Spain in 1910 studying Moorish art. At that time, collectors ahead of their time like Shchukin no longer support the traditional separation between art and decoration.
In 1910 in Madrid, Matisse bought in an antique shop a two-tone rug in fairly poor condition, whose arabesques were naturalistic without being identifiable. He was seduced by the expressive force of this anonymous textile, close by chance to the new style that he had developed for La Danse in 1909.
By varying the colors, he uses his rug as a decorative element in several paintings. In L'Atelier rose, oil on canvas 180 x 221 cm painted for Shchukin in 1911, it is spread over the large screen.
Les coucous - tapis bleu et rose, oil on canvas 81 x 66 cm painted in spring 1911, appears as a preparatory work for L'Atelier rose. On the table, the vase of primroses (coucous) is the pretext for this image, but the rug used as a tablecloth is indeed the main theme by its invitation to abstraction. The turquoise wall at the back is enhanced with pink reflections.
Yves Saint-Laurent saw in the image of this fabric a precursor to his own work. This painting which offers a link between two great designers went to be the most expensive lot of the sale of his collection by Christie's on February 23, 2009 : it was sold for € 36M including premium over a lower estimate of € 12M, lot 55.
1911-1912 The Unfinished Temple
2019 SOLD for $ 34M including premium
Modigliani is easily convinced by Brancusi that the direct stone carving may bring an utmost purity to art. Opposed to Rodin's realism, the two artists are attempting a conceptual art that their detractors include in the Cubism still highly disputed at that time.
From 1909 to 1914 Modigliani is obsessed with a unique project : to build a temple dedicated to feminine beauty. To provide a roof for his monument, he tirelessly draws figures of caryatids which he calls his columns of tenderness.
Around 1911 he finally exerts his indisputable skills for sculpture in a series of limestone and sandstone women's heads. These elongated heads with a long neck on a cubic base are similar to each other but details of the faces are different. The varied heights show that the overall design of the temple is far from fixed.
All art critics have searched for models and styles that have inspired the timeless beauty of Modigliani's women's heads. They are indeed a synthesis of aesthetic conceptions of all times and all cultures.
Modigliani carved about 25 heads. In 1911 five of them are recognizable by photography in his solo exhibition organized with the help of Brancusi in the vast workshop of Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. In 1912 the Salon d'Automne aligns seven heads in the Cubist Hall.
In 1913 Modigliani feels that his project of temple is ready. He chooses to use marble and visits Carrara. He carved only one caryatid. His fragile health will not allow him to do more. He abandons his great project and becomes a portrait painter again.
A Tête 64 cm high exhibited by Souza-Cardoso and at the Salon d'Automne was sold for € 43M including premium by Christie's on June 14, 2010. A 73 cm high Tête from the Salon d'Automne was sold for $ 71M including premium by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014. In limestone as the two examples above, a 51 cm high Tête carved around 1911-1912 with no early exhibition history is estimated $ 30M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, lot 31A.
From 1909 to 1914 Modigliani is obsessed with a unique project : to build a temple dedicated to feminine beauty. To provide a roof for his monument, he tirelessly draws figures of caryatids which he calls his columns of tenderness.
Around 1911 he finally exerts his indisputable skills for sculpture in a series of limestone and sandstone women's heads. These elongated heads with a long neck on a cubic base are similar to each other but details of the faces are different. The varied heights show that the overall design of the temple is far from fixed.
All art critics have searched for models and styles that have inspired the timeless beauty of Modigliani's women's heads. They are indeed a synthesis of aesthetic conceptions of all times and all cultures.
Modigliani carved about 25 heads. In 1911 five of them are recognizable by photography in his solo exhibition organized with the help of Brancusi in the vast workshop of Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. In 1912 the Salon d'Automne aligns seven heads in the Cubist Hall.
In 1913 Modigliani feels that his project of temple is ready. He chooses to use marble and visits Carrara. He carved only one caryatid. His fragile health will not allow him to do more. He abandons his great project and becomes a portrait painter again.
A Tête 64 cm high exhibited by Souza-Cardoso and at the Salon d'Automne was sold for € 43M including premium by Christie's on June 14, 2010. A 73 cm high Tête from the Salon d'Automne was sold for $ 71M including premium by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014. In limestone as the two examples above, a 51 cm high Tête carved around 1911-1912 with no early exhibition history is estimated $ 30M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13, lot 31A.
On May 13 we will offer Amedeo Modigliani’s limestone sculpture, 'Tête', circa 1911-1912, in our New York Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art.
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) April 18, 2019
Find out more: https://t.co/gMtuCZPqy8 pic.twitter.com/Tia9YIKeZC
1910-1911 Jeune Arabe by Kees Van Dongen
2009 SOLD for $ 13.8M including premium by Sotheby's
1911 The Breath of Horses
2017 SOLD for $ 12.7M including premium
In 1909 Wassily Kandinsky described his inspiration by three categories : Impression, Improvisation, Komposition. This excessively theoretical approach should not obscure the fact that his great jump forward was to highlight the expression and confrontation of the colors while minimizing the line.
In January 1911 Kandinsky was enthralled by the music of Schönberg heard in a concert. He will now endeavor to express through his painting a universal and pantheistic feeling with a rhythm which is equivalent to a breath. For that purpose he no longer needs a narrative excuse nor a perspective and he also eliminates the graphic consistency between lines and colors.
On November 13 in New York, Christie's sells an example from this new experimental phase. Titled Improvisation mit Pferden (Studie für Improvisation 20), this oil on canvas 71 x 99 cm painted in 1911 is estimated $ 9M, lot 9 A.
The lyrical breath is assured by the primordial force of the diagonal rising from lower left to upper right. The figures are more or less identifiable : horses, a blue and yellow couple, a tower, a row of trees. The powerful rising flow is disturbed by a thick semi-circular black line with zigzag.
The final version 95 x 108 cm titled Improvisation 20 (Zwei Pferde) retained the diagonal and the zigzag, with solid colors. Appearing as a mere detail in comparison with its Studie, it does not offer the same amplitude but is indisputably one of the ultimate stages before pure abstraction.
In January 1911 Kandinsky was enthralled by the music of Schönberg heard in a concert. He will now endeavor to express through his painting a universal and pantheistic feeling with a rhythm which is equivalent to a breath. For that purpose he no longer needs a narrative excuse nor a perspective and he also eliminates the graphic consistency between lines and colors.
On November 13 in New York, Christie's sells an example from this new experimental phase. Titled Improvisation mit Pferden (Studie für Improvisation 20), this oil on canvas 71 x 99 cm painted in 1911 is estimated $ 9M, lot 9 A.
The lyrical breath is assured by the primordial force of the diagonal rising from lower left to upper right. The figures are more or less identifiable : horses, a blue and yellow couple, a tower, a row of trees. The powerful rising flow is disturbed by a thick semi-circular black line with zigzag.
The final version 95 x 108 cm titled Improvisation 20 (Zwei Pferde) retained the diagonal and the zigzag, with solid colors. Appearing as a mere detail in comparison with its Studie, it does not offer the same amplitude but is indisputably one of the ultimate stages before pure abstraction.
Christie's prépare la vente d'une #collection européenne fin 2017 https://t.co/BpMV1mGnNo @artdaily #AvantGarde #ArtModerne #Bijoux #Design pic.twitter.com/apHITK96W2
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) July 26, 2017
1911 Prométhée by Brancusi
2012 SOLD for $ 12.7M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
1911 Landscape by Malevich
2018 SOLD for £ 7.9M including premium
Relations are excellent between France and Russia, and the Parisian avant-garde artists diffuse up to Moscow. From 1908 exhibitions are organized in that city to confront the young artists of both countries. Also in 1908 Shchukin opened his residence to the public.
This momentum makes Natalia Goncharova and her companion Mikhail Larionov want to create a modern art more directly rooted in Russian traditions. The peasant scenes are one of their themes. It has been said that their group was also inspired by the figures of the icons. Around Repin the official artists spit their contempt.
Based in Moscow since 1904 Kazimir Malevich brings his contribution. In 1911 his Peasant Funeral is comparable to Un Enterrement à Ornans by Courbet but with a choice of colors in the style of Jawlensky. This work is lost. A 46 x 46 cm preparatory gouache showing the head of a bearded peasant was sold for £ 2.1M including premium by Sotheby's on June 2, 2014 over a lower estimate of £ 600K.
On June 20 in London, Christie's sells a gouache on paper laid on board realized in the same year, lot 17 B estimated £ 7M.
This view of an imaginary village is almost unique in Malevich's art. The only other identified example is lost. With its large size 106 x 106 cm it appears as an experimental work in search of a synthesis of styles. The square format and the disappearance of the horizon are bold for this theme and perhaps inspired from Klimt, the variety of colors evokes Kandinsky and the intentionally naive drawing of the houses is in the post-cubist style of Lhote and Gleizes.
Malevich considered this artwork as important in his career. He often exhibited it until his catastrophic attempt of passing to the West in 1927 in which he lost control of his best works. It was restituted to his family in 2012 after hanging for 48 years at the Kunstmuseum Basel.
This momentum makes Natalia Goncharova and her companion Mikhail Larionov want to create a modern art more directly rooted in Russian traditions. The peasant scenes are one of their themes. It has been said that their group was also inspired by the figures of the icons. Around Repin the official artists spit their contempt.
Based in Moscow since 1904 Kazimir Malevich brings his contribution. In 1911 his Peasant Funeral is comparable to Un Enterrement à Ornans by Courbet but with a choice of colors in the style of Jawlensky. This work is lost. A 46 x 46 cm preparatory gouache showing the head of a bearded peasant was sold for £ 2.1M including premium by Sotheby's on June 2, 2014 over a lower estimate of £ 600K.
On June 20 in London, Christie's sells a gouache on paper laid on board realized in the same year, lot 17 B estimated £ 7M.
This view of an imaginary village is almost unique in Malevich's art. The only other identified example is lost. With its large size 106 x 106 cm it appears as an experimental work in search of a synthesis of styles. The square format and the disappearance of the horizon are bold for this theme and perhaps inspired from Klimt, the variety of colors evokes Kandinsky and the intentionally naive drawing of the houses is in the post-cubist style of Lhote and Gleizes.
Malevich considered this artwork as important in his career. He often exhibited it until his catastrophic attempt of passing to the West in 1927 in which he lost control of his best works. It was restituted to his family in 2012 after hanging for 48 years at the Kunstmuseum Basel.
Christie’s Scores a Second Malevich for June https://t.co/dYUgxvIGFX pic.twitter.com/Cyj4Lb8o9v
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) April 13, 2018
1911 Le Guéridon by Braque
2017 SOLD for $ 10.1M by Christie's
Supported by Kahnweiler, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso had their studios in Montmartre. Despite their dissimilar temperaments, they friendly discussed on a daily basis the great project of a new form of graphic perception that would challenge and supersede realism and perspective. They were to acknowledge the planar fragments by Cézanne as a precursor style but they went much further in the faceting of the forms.
Braque's cubisme analytique endeavored to express the emotion, the attributes and the privacy of the artist through a recreated space within a self contained art work. Picasso was more looking at the root nature of the object.
Le Guéridon, oil on canvas 41 x 33 cm, was painted by Braque in Paris in the spring of 1911. The personal elements are not perceived as a first glance. They include the image of the equipment of the painter : table, palette, stick, brush, a container, a brush washer and two tubes of paint. In the new graphic style, the palette is doubled and the wash pot is oblique and fragmented. The color of the ochre tube is repeated elsewhere in the composition.
Le Guéridon was sold for $ 10.1M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 5A.
That early cubisme was short lived. Braque later commented : “One should always have two ideas : one to destroy the other”.
Braque's cubisme analytique endeavored to express the emotion, the attributes and the privacy of the artist through a recreated space within a self contained art work. Picasso was more looking at the root nature of the object.
Le Guéridon, oil on canvas 41 x 33 cm, was painted by Braque in Paris in the spring of 1911. The personal elements are not perceived as a first glance. They include the image of the equipment of the painter : table, palette, stick, brush, a container, a brush washer and two tubes of paint. In the new graphic style, the palette is doubled and the wash pot is oblique and fragmented. The color of the ochre tube is repeated elsewhere in the composition.
Le Guéridon was sold for $ 10.1M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 5A.
That early cubisme was short lived. Braque later commented : “One should always have two ideas : one to destroy the other”.
1911 La Carafe by Picasso
2015 SOLD for $ 10.5M by Christie's
In mid-August 1911, Braque joined Picasso for a three week summer holidays at Céret in the French Pyrénées. Relying on their previous partnership in Montmartre, they further developed the Cubisme applied by Braque to the still life theme of bottle and glass.
La Carafe, oil on canvas 55 x 38 cm, was painted by Picasso in the following fall or winter. The forms of a carafe, a bottle and a glass are reduced to an overlapping assemblage of fractured forms. The palette is restricted to grey, ochre and black with flashes of white and unpainted areas for an effect of translucence.
La Carafe was sold for $ 10.5M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Christie's on November 12, 2015, lot 21C.
La Carafe, oil on canvas 55 x 38 cm, was painted by Picasso in the following fall or winter. The forms of a carafe, a bottle and a glass are reduced to an overlapping assemblage of fractured forms. The palette is restricted to grey, ochre and black with flashes of white and unpainted areas for an effect of translucence.
La Carafe was sold for $ 10.5M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Christie's on November 12, 2015, lot 21C.
1911 The Bridge between Dresden and Berlin
2012 SOLD 7.3 M£ including premium
One century ago, throughout Europe, groups of artists and intellectuals question the origin of mankind and the role of art. In Dresden, Die Brücke, led by Kirchner, has the ambition to be a bridge between past and present.
The present is the urban landscape that reflects modern life. The past, or the origin, is characterized by obsessive nudes with a primitivist sexuality. The group executes some masterpieces of wood engraving.
A gentle oil on canvas by Kirchner, 120 x 151 cm, has for theme the Albertplatz of Dresden. The characters are quiet and anonymous, like the walkers of Utrillo or Dufy. However, its date, 1911, is important, and brings an estimate of £ 5M. It is for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 8. Here is the link to the catalog.
It is indeed one of the last provincial cityscapes made by Kirchner before leaving for Berlin, a move that had so far-reaching consequences on his life and was so fruitful for the history of art. His anguished discovery of the communication difficulties in the anonymity of the big city generated some masterpieces of expressionist art.
In 1913, the group exploded. Persecuted in 1937 by the Nazis who considered him as a typical example of degenerate artist, Kirchner could not protect his own artwork and committed suicide the following year.
POST SALE COMMENT
This lovely painting that could be described as pre-expressionist was sold for £ 7.3 million including premium.
The present is the urban landscape that reflects modern life. The past, or the origin, is characterized by obsessive nudes with a primitivist sexuality. The group executes some masterpieces of wood engraving.
A gentle oil on canvas by Kirchner, 120 x 151 cm, has for theme the Albertplatz of Dresden. The characters are quiet and anonymous, like the walkers of Utrillo or Dufy. However, its date, 1911, is important, and brings an estimate of £ 5M. It is for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 8. Here is the link to the catalog.
It is indeed one of the last provincial cityscapes made by Kirchner before leaving for Berlin, a move that had so far-reaching consequences on his life and was so fruitful for the history of art. His anguished discovery of the communication difficulties in the anonymity of the big city generated some masterpieces of expressionist art.
In 1913, the group exploded. Persecuted in 1937 by the Nazis who considered him as a typical example of degenerate artist, Kirchner could not protect his own artwork and committed suicide the following year.
POST SALE COMMENT
This lovely painting that could be described as pre-expressionist was sold for £ 7.3 million including premium.
1911 Childish Pantheism by Franz Marc
2014 SOLD 6.2 M£ including premium
Franz Marc himself stated that his inspiration was mystical. He wanted a happy pantheism where passions and strengths are expressed by the animal and not by man.
Fauvism interests him : the color is more expressive when it is not realistic. In September 1910, Marc is dazzled by the art of Kandinsky in an exhibition in Munich. The image can express the message as well or better than words do.
Marc then establishes a full code of colors. Blue and yellow are the good, male and female respectively. The red must be fought. Combinations of these primary colors complicate the message and its emotion.
On June 24 in London, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 70 x 50 cm painted before March 1911, in the early days of this new creative impetus. It is estimated £ 5M.
The orange cat is sleeping behind a blue tree. The tree is mostly a trunk but its sinuous shape is pleasant. The feline predator could have been red but with the protection by the tree it became orange and charming like in a child's drawing. The painting is titled Kinderbild.
The cooperation between Kandinsky and Marc during the Blaue Reiter secession is successful. The language of colors by Marc accompanies the language of forms by Kandinsky which opens the glorious path of abstract art.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good price, £ 6.2 million including premium, for this rare Kinderbild altogether simple in composition and complex in meaning.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's:
Fauvism interests him : the color is more expressive when it is not realistic. In September 1910, Marc is dazzled by the art of Kandinsky in an exhibition in Munich. The image can express the message as well or better than words do.
Marc then establishes a full code of colors. Blue and yellow are the good, male and female respectively. The red must be fought. Combinations of these primary colors complicate the message and its emotion.
On June 24 in London, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 70 x 50 cm painted before March 1911, in the early days of this new creative impetus. It is estimated £ 5M.
The orange cat is sleeping behind a blue tree. The tree is mostly a trunk but its sinuous shape is pleasant. The feline predator could have been red but with the protection by the tree it became orange and charming like in a child's drawing. The painting is titled Kinderbild.
The cooperation between Kandinsky and Marc during the Blaue Reiter secession is successful. The language of colors by Marc accompanies the language of forms by Kandinsky which opens the glorious path of abstract art.
POST SALE COMMENT
Good price, £ 6.2 million including premium, for this rare Kinderbild altogether simple in composition and complex in meaning.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's:
