1914
1913-1914 Berliner Strassenszene by E.L. Kirchner
2006 SOLD 38 M$ including premium by Christie's
Shared by Wikimedia :
1914 Schiele's Dead City
2011 SOLD 24.7 M£ including premium
Egon Schiele felt misunderstood and was not living with his own time. These difficulties have made him a major artist of the 1910s, just when everything moved in Vienna, Paris, Munich, Berlin, to invent new styles of artistic expression.
Attracted by the morbid and the erotic, he executed in 1912 some extraordinary portraits of himself and his girlfriend Wally. The young artist was soon after returning to his dark thoughts.
He took as a major theme the small town of Krumau, in southern Bohemia, where his mother was born. Sensitive to the paradox of living today in a medieval city, he gave it the name of Tote Stadt (The Dead City).
The panorama is seen from above, an angle of view that Schiele liked even in his portraits. The houses are in close ranks, schematized like on an engraving of the Renaissance. Much later, this vestige of ancient times will be listed in the World Heritage list of the UNESCO. The river flows in the foreground or away: the Moldau.
Sometimes, bright splashes of color give a hope of happiness to the dreary cityscape. On the banks of the river, the laundry is exposed on this oil on canvas made in 1914, 100 x 120 cm, estimated £ 22M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 22. The picture, along with the story of the circumstances of its arrival on the market, is shared on an article by Bloomberg.
This series of paintings is very rare at auction, and is among the most important roots of modern art. Two other specimens were sold over the past decade: $ 22.5 million including premium at Christie's on November 8, 2006 (1915, 110 x 140 cm), £ 12.7 million including premium by Sotheby's on June 23, 2004 (1916, 110 x 140 cm).
POST SALE COMMENT
The price, £ 24.7M including premium, confirms the lower estimate.
Attracted by the morbid and the erotic, he executed in 1912 some extraordinary portraits of himself and his girlfriend Wally. The young artist was soon after returning to his dark thoughts.
He took as a major theme the small town of Krumau, in southern Bohemia, where his mother was born. Sensitive to the paradox of living today in a medieval city, he gave it the name of Tote Stadt (The Dead City).
The panorama is seen from above, an angle of view that Schiele liked even in his portraits. The houses are in close ranks, schematized like on an engraving of the Renaissance. Much later, this vestige of ancient times will be listed in the World Heritage list of the UNESCO. The river flows in the foreground or away: the Moldau.
Sometimes, bright splashes of color give a hope of happiness to the dreary cityscape. On the banks of the river, the laundry is exposed on this oil on canvas made in 1914, 100 x 120 cm, estimated £ 22M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 22. The picture, along with the story of the circumstances of its arrival on the market, is shared on an article by Bloomberg.
This series of paintings is very rare at auction, and is among the most important roots of modern art. Two other specimens were sold over the past decade: $ 22.5 million including premium at Christie's on November 8, 2006 (1915, 110 x 140 cm), £ 12.7 million including premium by Sotheby's on June 23, 2004 (1916, 110 x 140 cm).
POST SALE COMMENT
The price, £ 24.7M including premium, confirms the lower estimate.
1914-1917 Brancusi from Cubism to Abstraction
2009 SOLD 29 M€ including premium
A visit to the archives of Christie's, caused by a forthcoming sale in Paris, allows us to appreciate the evolution of the work of Constantin Brancusi, this artist reputed to have invented the modern sculpture.
The Cubist painting was developed in 1907 by Picasso in search of a representation of depth that would no longer use the perspective. At the same time, 1907-1908, the Kiss by Brancusi destructures also the forms. Two stylized head, face to face, form a cube. A simple plaster of this seminal work has been sold $ 3.6 million including expenses by Christie's in 2005.
In 1913, the shape of the Danaid is summarized by a perfect ovoid head on which two arcs draw the eyebrows and the nose. We are halfway between the figurative and the abstraction. Figurative is still dominating due to the bun and neck applied to the head egg. A small bronze 28 cm high was sold $ 18 million including expenses by Christie's in 2002.
The Brancusi from the Saint-Laurent collection, that Christie's and Pierre Bergé will sell in Paris from 23 to 25 February, is entitled Portrait de Madame LR. This wooden statue of 1.20 meter high has the global look of an African statuette. In focus, it is a geometrical construction where the figurative has almost disappeared. This work was done between 1914 and 1917. It is estimated 15 million €.
Then, the lines get longer and become pure forms. The Bird in Space of 1922-1923 is not a bird, excepted for the title of the work and the inspiration of the artist. In marble, one of those statues of 85 cm high, mounted on a stone base, has reached $ 27 million including expenses at Christie's in 2005. As Malevich, as Mondrian, Brancusi was able to free his art from any emotional aspect, to only retain shape and texture.
In 1920-1925, the work entitled Mademoiselle Pogany resumed some characteristics of the Danaid. Christie's sold a bronze $ 7 million in 1997.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Brancusi of the Saint-Laurent collection was a masterpiece, it was obvious. It was sold € 29 million including premium.
The Cubist painting was developed in 1907 by Picasso in search of a representation of depth that would no longer use the perspective. At the same time, 1907-1908, the Kiss by Brancusi destructures also the forms. Two stylized head, face to face, form a cube. A simple plaster of this seminal work has been sold $ 3.6 million including expenses by Christie's in 2005.
In 1913, the shape of the Danaid is summarized by a perfect ovoid head on which two arcs draw the eyebrows and the nose. We are halfway between the figurative and the abstraction. Figurative is still dominating due to the bun and neck applied to the head egg. A small bronze 28 cm high was sold $ 18 million including expenses by Christie's in 2002.
The Brancusi from the Saint-Laurent collection, that Christie's and Pierre Bergé will sell in Paris from 23 to 25 February, is entitled Portrait de Madame LR. This wooden statue of 1.20 meter high has the global look of an African statuette. In focus, it is a geometrical construction where the figurative has almost disappeared. This work was done between 1914 and 1917. It is estimated 15 million €.
Then, the lines get longer and become pure forms. The Bird in Space of 1922-1923 is not a bird, excepted for the title of the work and the inspiration of the artist. In marble, one of those statues of 85 cm high, mounted on a stone base, has reached $ 27 million including expenses at Christie's in 2005. As Malevich, as Mondrian, Brancusi was able to free his art from any emotional aspect, to only retain shape and texture.
In 1920-1925, the work entitled Mademoiselle Pogany resumed some characteristics of the Danaid. Christie's sold a bronze $ 7 million in 1997.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Brancusi of the Saint-Laurent collection was a masterpiece, it was obvious. It was sold € 29 million including premium.
1914-1917 Growth of the Irises
2015 SOLD for £ 10.8M including premium
After several difficult years, Monet had a new creative fervor in 1914. He starts his large decorative project envisioned a few years earlier and which will eventually reconstruct in a showroom the atmosphere of his garden under the title Grandes Décorations.
He executes in a few years 250 oil paintings which are variations preparing this theme. He does not date these paintings, most of which remained unknown until his death. Yet they are highly innovative.
The mural purpose leads the artist to experiment with very large dimensions. Beyond about 200 Nymphéas included in this group, he explores new themes including the irises that grow at the edge of his pond.
On June 23 in London, Christie's sells Iris mauves, oil on canvas 200 x 100 cm painted between 1914 and 1917, lot 12 estimated £ 6M.
The tall and narrow format is unusual but perfectly suited to this portrait of wild flowers that anticipates O'Keeffe. The theme is also the pretext for a superb study of colors with these mauve flowers rising from green grass to be displayed over a background that gradually turns from blue to pink.
He executes in a few years 250 oil paintings which are variations preparing this theme. He does not date these paintings, most of which remained unknown until his death. Yet they are highly innovative.
The mural purpose leads the artist to experiment with very large dimensions. Beyond about 200 Nymphéas included in this group, he explores new themes including the irises that grow at the edge of his pond.
On June 23 in London, Christie's sells Iris mauves, oil on canvas 200 x 100 cm painted between 1914 and 1917, lot 12 estimated £ 6M.
The tall and narrow format is unusual but perfectly suited to this portrait of wild flowers that anticipates O'Keeffe. The theme is also the pretext for a superb study of colors with these mauve flowers rising from green grass to be displayed over a background that gradually turns from blue to pink.
From Monet to Miró: highlights from Christie's Impressionist & Modern sale http://t.co/77dgF9K6u7 pic.twitter.com/HYYHwl3cHC
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) June 3, 20151914-1917 The Unlimited Pond of Claude Monet
2013 SOLD 9 M£ including premium
In 1912, aged 71, Monet suddenly loses the vision in his right eye blinded by cataract. This illness could have been a disaster for his career as an artist, and for his passion to show in his paintings the transparent surface of the water.
He has good friends. Supported by Clémenceau, he starts a new project titled Les Grandes Décorations. The idea is fabulously ahead of his time. The artwork must wrap the viewer to the point of making him forget the actual environment of the exhibition room.
The means chosen by Monet is to align the views of the pond after removing the horizon. Only remain the flowers and the reflecting of foliage in the water. He worked hard to the project from 1914 to 1917.
A large oil on canvas of this period, 130 x 200 cm, is estimated £ 12M, for sale at Sotheby's in London on February 5.
Its composition is uncommon within the suite of Monet's Nymphéas, perhaps in conjunction with his loss of depth perception. Flowers fill the foreground in only one group. The artist had accustomed to offer several groups to generate the perspective. He compensates by sprawling grass, coming from nowhere, and whose reflection extends to the flowers.
This goal to wrap the viewer in the subject will be the thread of the art of the great colourist of Abstract Expressionism, Mark Rothko, four decades later.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was too high for this unusual composition. This lot has still been sold: £ 9M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
He has good friends. Supported by Clémenceau, he starts a new project titled Les Grandes Décorations. The idea is fabulously ahead of his time. The artwork must wrap the viewer to the point of making him forget the actual environment of the exhibition room.
The means chosen by Monet is to align the views of the pond after removing the horizon. Only remain the flowers and the reflecting of foliage in the water. He worked hard to the project from 1914 to 1917.
A large oil on canvas of this period, 130 x 200 cm, is estimated £ 12M, for sale at Sotheby's in London on February 5.
Its composition is uncommon within the suite of Monet's Nymphéas, perhaps in conjunction with his loss of depth perception. Flowers fill the foreground in only one group. The artist had accustomed to offer several groups to generate the perspective. He compensates by sprawling grass, coming from nowhere, and whose reflection extends to the flowers.
This goal to wrap the viewer in the subject will be the thread of the art of the great colourist of Abstract Expressionism, Mark Rothko, four decades later.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was too high for this unusual composition. This lot has still been sold: £ 9M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
1914 Synthetic Trompe-l'oeil by Georges Braque
2015 SOLD for $ 8.2M including premium
The synthetic Cubism follows chronologically the analytical cubism, but it is not really a cubism excepted by the fact that both styles were developed by the same innovators, Picasso and Braque. In this second phase, the work of art is no longer a representation but an extension of reality, a new object that escapes its own figurative theme.
The two artists create collages, which are also an excuse to try various materials beside the paper. The assembly is designed to display a figure. Georges Braque favors the still life because the model has a similar size as the artwork. The stenciled letters sketch messages.
This style has a big disadvantage. Artists are happy to open a new era that no longer depends on perspective, but the disappearance of any three-dimensional illusion is at the opposite of the original Cubist desire and cannot but disturb the viewer.
The painting imitating the collage is an attempt to overcome this issue. In the very first year, 1912, Braque mixes sand with his oil for introducing volumes. His paper constructions, all of which have disappeared, addressed the same question.
The painting of a wood grain mimics the wallpaper that mimics the real wood. Spontaneity has also vanished but the double trompe l'oeil is by itself a profound reflection on the creative act.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells Le Violon, oil and sand on canvas 91 x 60 cm painted by Braque in 1914, lot 60Testimated $ 12M. Paraphrasing Magritte, ceci n'est pas un violon.
The Synthetic Cubism was ephemeral but it paved the way for Miro whose poems-paintings will bring the dreamlike feature and the acceptance of abstraction that were missing in Braque and Picasso.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The two artists create collages, which are also an excuse to try various materials beside the paper. The assembly is designed to display a figure. Georges Braque favors the still life because the model has a similar size as the artwork. The stenciled letters sketch messages.
This style has a big disadvantage. Artists are happy to open a new era that no longer depends on perspective, but the disappearance of any three-dimensional illusion is at the opposite of the original Cubist desire and cannot but disturb the viewer.
The painting imitating the collage is an attempt to overcome this issue. In the very first year, 1912, Braque mixes sand with his oil for introducing volumes. His paper constructions, all of which have disappeared, addressed the same question.
The painting of a wood grain mimics the wallpaper that mimics the real wood. Spontaneity has also vanished but the double trompe l'oeil is by itself a profound reflection on the creative act.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells Le Violon, oil and sand on canvas 91 x 60 cm painted by Braque in 1914, lot 60Testimated $ 12M. Paraphrasing Magritte, ceci n'est pas un violon.
The Synthetic Cubism was ephemeral but it paved the way for Miro whose poems-paintings will bring the dreamlike feature and the acceptance of abstraction that were missing in Braque and Picasso.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1914 The Engine of the Charlatans
2017 SOLD for $ 7.3M including premium
The quarrel had been lasting in the Peugeot family between supporters and opponents of the automotive industry to the point that the activity had been split into two independent companies. After the death of Eugène, his sons are finally interested in the automobile and create the brand Lion-Peugeot. Even after the merger of the two companies in 1910, some reluctance persists. The Peugeot racing team receives internally the derogatory nickname of Charlatans.
After a first experience in engine design for the navy, the young engineer Ernest Henry was hired by Peugeot in 1911. He joined the Charlatans team where he listened to the innovative ideas of the pilots.
Henry conceived a synthesis of two techniques : the double overhead camshaft and the four valves per cylinder. At that time the organizers of the competitions were managing to limit the volumes. The Peugeot cars equipped with the engine designed by Henry are the L76 (7.6 liters) and the L3 (3 liters) in 1912, the L56 (5.6 liters) in 1913 and the L45 (4.5 liters) in 1914. In a ultimate challenge to the traditionalists of the company this L is for Lion.
Thanks to these innovations, the Peugeots of the Charlatans have a lighter chassis and a better handling. They begin to dominate the ACF competitions in France and then the 500 miles of Indianapolis.
The Peugeot-Henry engine is so far ahead of its competitors that the organizers of Indianapolis, fearing that the war in Europe reduces the appeal of their event, commission an American manufacturer to build replicas. Through that following Peugeot is the precursor of all modern car engines.
Two of these Peugeot cars survive. On November 11 in the house sale of the Bothwell collection near Los Angeles, Bonhams sells an L45 in an authenticity which is wonderful for a car of that time. Its chassis and engine are number 1 and the bodywork is original. Thanks to a progress in the technology of the tires it was timed at 165 km/h in 1949, an unprecedented speed for a car manufactured before the First World War.
This L45 is estimated $ 3M, lot 408. It was filmed in operation by a spectator at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed. This video is shared on YouTube.
After a first experience in engine design for the navy, the young engineer Ernest Henry was hired by Peugeot in 1911. He joined the Charlatans team where he listened to the innovative ideas of the pilots.
Henry conceived a synthesis of two techniques : the double overhead camshaft and the four valves per cylinder. At that time the organizers of the competitions were managing to limit the volumes. The Peugeot cars equipped with the engine designed by Henry are the L76 (7.6 liters) and the L3 (3 liters) in 1912, the L56 (5.6 liters) in 1913 and the L45 (4.5 liters) in 1914. In a ultimate challenge to the traditionalists of the company this L is for Lion.
Thanks to these innovations, the Peugeots of the Charlatans have a lighter chassis and a better handling. They begin to dominate the ACF competitions in France and then the 500 miles of Indianapolis.
The Peugeot-Henry engine is so far ahead of its competitors that the organizers of Indianapolis, fearing that the war in Europe reduces the appeal of their event, commission an American manufacturer to build replicas. Through that following Peugeot is the precursor of all modern car engines.
Two of these Peugeot cars survive. On November 11 in the house sale of the Bothwell collection near Los Angeles, Bonhams sells an L45 in an authenticity which is wonderful for a car of that time. Its chassis and engine are number 1 and the bodywork is original. Thanks to a progress in the technology of the tires it was timed at 165 km/h in 1949, an unprecedented speed for a car manufactured before the First World War.
This L45 is estimated $ 3M, lot 408. It was filmed in operation by a spectator at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed. This video is shared on YouTube.
1914 #Peugeot L45 Grand Prix 2 Seater, Chassis no. 1, Engine no. 1 - #Bothwell Collection now online- Nov. 11 in #LA https://t.co/OY1MaNkVhz pic.twitter.com/tJhZDARuQ3
— BONHAMS (@bonhams1793) October 11, 2017
1913-1914 The Laurentian Hills
2016 SOLD for $ 2.2M CAD including premium
An amateur artist at his beginning, Lawren Stewart Harris is a tourist enjoying the landscapes. He spends an increasing time in animating the artistic life of Toronto. He has the fertile intuition of new opportunities for Canadian art when visiting an exhibition of Scandinavian art in 1913 in Buffalo : these views of the far north could have been done in Canada.
An intense creative phase starts as a friendly competition between Harris and A.Y. Jackson. The landscape will be more expressive if the colors are vibrant and laid on the canvas in high speed.
Harris takes as a model one of his own views of the Laurentians, painted in 1908. The dry rocks dotting the surface and the dead trees at the top of the hill bring an illusion of bitterness that art can accentuate. He reinterprets it in his workshop in 1913 or 1914 with autumn colors and a bright blue sky threatened by stylized clouds in a sharp white.
This new oil on canvas 77 x 89 cm is one of the founding works of this group of friends which will take in 1920 the name of Group of Seven. It is estimated $ 1.2M CAD for sale by Heffel in Vancouver on May 25, lot 142. It is illustrated in the flyerannouncing the sale.
Becoming the painter of ice and cold, Harris will be along with Tom Thomson the first great artist of the Canadian artistic differentiation.
An intense creative phase starts as a friendly competition between Harris and A.Y. Jackson. The landscape will be more expressive if the colors are vibrant and laid on the canvas in high speed.
Harris takes as a model one of his own views of the Laurentians, painted in 1908. The dry rocks dotting the surface and the dead trees at the top of the hill bring an illusion of bitterness that art can accentuate. He reinterprets it in his workshop in 1913 or 1914 with autumn colors and a bright blue sky threatened by stylized clouds in a sharp white.
This new oil on canvas 77 x 89 cm is one of the founding works of this group of friends which will take in 1920 the name of Group of Seven. It is estimated $ 1.2M CAD for sale by Heffel in Vancouver on May 25, lot 142. It is illustrated in the flyerannouncing the sale.
Becoming the painter of ice and cold, Harris will be along with Tom Thomson the first great artist of the Canadian artistic differentiation.
1914 The Ranger of Algonquin Park
2016 SOLD for $ 1.53M CAD including premium
Tom Thomson is a self taught artist who desires to engage in full time painting when attending the art circles of Toronto. He discovers the beauty of Algonquin Park in 1912. He enjoys fishing and wild living.
His life changes in 1914. His artistic patron Dr. MacCallum, a friend of Lawren Harris, offers him a place in the collective workshop and ensures the purchase of his paintings. Thomson arrives in Algonquin Park in late April for a stay of several months during which he becomes a ranger of the park.
This subtle mixing of stability and adventure immediately improves his artistic vision. His views of forest details in Algonquin Park are highly emotional, with unprecedented colors that renounce realism to better express the feeling. The hard conditions of his artistic creation require him to work on canvas of small size 22 x 27 cm which will serve as models for larger compositions executed in the Toronto studio during the next winters.
On November 23 in Toronto, Heffel sells Sleet Storm, oil on canvas mounted on board 22 x 27 cm, made in 1914, which is tentatively one of the first achievements in his phase of great creativity. Spring is about to win over winter. Melted snow is still hanging on the branches but already dispersed by the wind.
Sleet Storm is estimated CAD $ 1M, lot 212, illustrated on page 6 of the flyer announcing the sale.
The ranger of Algonquin Park was a pioneer of Canadian modern art. His new style greatly inspired his Toronto friends who will create the Group of Seven in 1919. Thomson had died by drowning in Algonquin Park in July 1917 in circumstances that were never established.
His life changes in 1914. His artistic patron Dr. MacCallum, a friend of Lawren Harris, offers him a place in the collective workshop and ensures the purchase of his paintings. Thomson arrives in Algonquin Park in late April for a stay of several months during which he becomes a ranger of the park.
This subtle mixing of stability and adventure immediately improves his artistic vision. His views of forest details in Algonquin Park are highly emotional, with unprecedented colors that renounce realism to better express the feeling. The hard conditions of his artistic creation require him to work on canvas of small size 22 x 27 cm which will serve as models for larger compositions executed in the Toronto studio during the next winters.
On November 23 in Toronto, Heffel sells Sleet Storm, oil on canvas mounted on board 22 x 27 cm, made in 1914, which is tentatively one of the first achievements in his phase of great creativity. Spring is about to win over winter. Melted snow is still hanging on the branches but already dispersed by the wind.
Sleet Storm is estimated CAD $ 1M, lot 212, illustrated on page 6 of the flyer announcing the sale.
The ranger of Algonquin Park was a pioneer of Canadian modern art. His new style greatly inspired his Toronto friends who will create the Group of Seven in 1919. Thomson had died by drowning in Algonquin Park in July 1917 in circumstances that were never established.
1914 Sleet Storm #tt1914 pic.twitter.com/7TO7S0tB1A
— Tom Thomson (@TTLastSpring) November 23, 2016
1914 The Kokotten Tribe
2012 SOLD 1.06 MCHF including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Kirchner could not fit into the big city. That is great for us because his street scenes in Berlin, viewed with a corrosive derision, are masterpieces of Expressionist printmaking.
On June 15 in Bern, Galerie Kornfeld sells a copy of Fünf Kokotten, estimated CHF 600K. Kirchner considered engraving as a major art and was a master of the color image. He practiced with an equal success the woodcut, and this sheet 52 x 39 cm made in 1914 is beautifully printed in deep blacks.
The five Kokotten are standing and waiting for the lover or the customer. This scene from almost one hundred years ago yet looks familiar and modern.
First, they wear extravagant feathered hats offering a parallel with the hairstyles of the fetishes of tribal art highly sought after by the European artists of that time. Then these half-worldly women are five figures like their Spanish colleagues from Carrer d'Avinyo (Avignon) immortalized on canvas by Picasso in 1907, and also have a face stylized to the extreme.
POST SALE COMMENT
Kirchner is one of the greatest masters of engraving. This print was sold CHF 920K before fees, CHF 1.06 million after calculating the premium announced by the auction house.
Kirchner could not fit into the big city. That is great for us because his street scenes in Berlin, viewed with a corrosive derision, are masterpieces of Expressionist printmaking.
On June 15 in Bern, Galerie Kornfeld sells a copy of Fünf Kokotten, estimated CHF 600K. Kirchner considered engraving as a major art and was a master of the color image. He practiced with an equal success the woodcut, and this sheet 52 x 39 cm made in 1914 is beautifully printed in deep blacks.
The five Kokotten are standing and waiting for the lover or the customer. This scene from almost one hundred years ago yet looks familiar and modern.
First, they wear extravagant feathered hats offering a parallel with the hairstyles of the fetishes of tribal art highly sought after by the European artists of that time. Then these half-worldly women are five figures like their Spanish colleagues from Carrer d'Avinyo (Avignon) immortalized on canvas by Picasso in 1907, and also have a face stylized to the extreme.
POST SALE COMMENT
Kirchner is one of the greatest masters of engraving. This print was sold CHF 920K before fees, CHF 1.06 million after calculating the premium announced by the auction house.
1914 Six Cylinders in Indianapolis
2016 SOLD for $ 1.02M including premium
It is appealing for industrialists to design automobiles. A manufacturer of milling equipment in Indianapolis since 1851, Marmon built cars from 1902. The search for reliability and speed soon brings the brand into competitions.
After several trials with multiple cylinders, Marmon opts for a four-cylinder engine. The 1911 season will be exciting with the first edition of the Indianapolis 500. Marmon prepares with great care that event which will soon be the best symbol of endurance racing in the United States.
With Ray Harroun who was the pilot of the brand, Marmon brings significant innovations : the return to a six-cylinder engine, the adaptation of the tires to long-distance events and the retro-viewfinder mirror that provides an additional comfort by avoiding the driver to be accompanied by an assistant for appreciating his imminent overrun by a competitor.
Ray Harroun wins the 1911 Indy 500 miles. His Marmon nicknamed The Wasp completes the 200 laps in 6 hours and 42 minutes. He had left the car to his assistant for only 35 laps in mid-racing.
The prestige of this victory brings Marmon to introduce in their catalog two high-end six-cylinder models, the massive tourer model 48 and the less powerful but lighter 41 Speedster.
Such a luxury is indeed very expensive. It is believed that a total quantity of only six 41 Speedsters has been produced. One of them made in 1914 was found in great condition in 1947 in Wisconsin. The story of its earlier 33 years is unknown.
This car was sold for $ 616K including premium by Gooding in Pebble Beach in 2006. It is estimated $ 1M for sale by the same auction house in the same venue on August 20, lot 054.
After several trials with multiple cylinders, Marmon opts for a four-cylinder engine. The 1911 season will be exciting with the first edition of the Indianapolis 500. Marmon prepares with great care that event which will soon be the best symbol of endurance racing in the United States.
With Ray Harroun who was the pilot of the brand, Marmon brings significant innovations : the return to a six-cylinder engine, the adaptation of the tires to long-distance events and the retro-viewfinder mirror that provides an additional comfort by avoiding the driver to be accompanied by an assistant for appreciating his imminent overrun by a competitor.
Ray Harroun wins the 1911 Indy 500 miles. His Marmon nicknamed The Wasp completes the 200 laps in 6 hours and 42 minutes. He had left the car to his assistant for only 35 laps in mid-racing.
The prestige of this victory brings Marmon to introduce in their catalog two high-end six-cylinder models, the massive tourer model 48 and the less powerful but lighter 41 Speedster.
Such a luxury is indeed very expensive. It is believed that a total quantity of only six 41 Speedsters has been produced. One of them made in 1914 was found in great condition in 1947 in Wisconsin. The story of its earlier 33 years is unknown.
This car was sold for $ 616K including premium by Gooding in Pebble Beach in 2006. It is estimated $ 1M for sale by the same auction house in the same venue on August 20, lot 054.
A blast from 100 years in the past. This 1914 #Marmon 41 Speedster. Heading to #PebbleBeach, Aug 20/21st! #GCoPB pic.twitter.com/0P690yTgEw
— Gooding & Company (@goodingandco) August 9, 2016
