1916
1916 Purified Art by Malevich
2018 SOLD for $ 86M including premium
Boccioni had wanted a global art with a figuration blurred within many facets. Kandinsky, Léger and a little later Mondrian were still exploring the boundaries between figurative and emotional. Malevich is unquestionably the first to purify art by freeing it from any interpretation of subject or object.
The second exhibition of his group, from mid-December 1915 to mid-January 1916, includes his Black Square on White Background, the first great shock from this new art. Malevich's aim is aesthetic. He finds for this new approach the designation of Suprematism.
The Black Square is his first flagship but it is not enough. The emotion must not be brought only by the freedom of the elements but also by the colors. Painted in 1915, the 18th Composition is a stack of almost rectangular non-transparent shapes in various colors. This artwork already invites to rotate the canvas for an observation in the four possible orientations. It was sold for £ 21.5M including premium by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015.
After the closing of the exhibition 0.10 in January 1916, Malevich restarts his search for the ultimate expression of colors. Suprematist Composition, oil on canvas 89 x 71 cm painted in 1916, was sold for $ 60M including premium by Sotheby's on November 3, 2008, lot 6. It will be sold by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 12 A.
I described and commented it as follows in 2008:
The painting for sale no longer produces an illusion : it is a composition based on about fifty colored beams spread over a white background. The size, the proportions and the colors are varied. The angular positions show an opposition between the big purple beam and most of the others.
Malevich has succeeded here in his approach to an art that completely escapes nature and feeling, to retain only the aesthetics of color and geometry. He wanted his art to be understandable in the same way in all countries.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The second exhibition of his group, from mid-December 1915 to mid-January 1916, includes his Black Square on White Background, the first great shock from this new art. Malevich's aim is aesthetic. He finds for this new approach the designation of Suprematism.
The Black Square is his first flagship but it is not enough. The emotion must not be brought only by the freedom of the elements but also by the colors. Painted in 1915, the 18th Composition is a stack of almost rectangular non-transparent shapes in various colors. This artwork already invites to rotate the canvas for an observation in the four possible orientations. It was sold for £ 21.5M including premium by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015.
After the closing of the exhibition 0.10 in January 1916, Malevich restarts his search for the ultimate expression of colors. Suprematist Composition, oil on canvas 89 x 71 cm painted in 1916, was sold for $ 60M including premium by Sotheby's on November 3, 2008, lot 6. It will be sold by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 12 A.
I described and commented it as follows in 2008:
The painting for sale no longer produces an illusion : it is a composition based on about fifty colored beams spread over a white background. The size, the proportions and the colors are varied. The angular positions show an opposition between the big purple beam and most of the others.
Malevich has succeeded here in his approach to an art that completely escapes nature and feeling, to retain only the aesthetics of color and geometry. He wanted his art to be understandable in the same way in all countries.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1915-1916 Vegetal Screens by Wu Changshuo
2017 SOLD for RMB 210M including premium by Poly
narrated in 2020
Wu Changshuo had been ruined by the civil wars of the later Qing. This artist might have been the last of the great imperial literati but had to be content with a minor job in the administration, which certainly helped him to continue working under the new regime.
Through his original training as a seal engraver, Wu understood the importance of allowing a free movement to his hand. He specializes in images of plants, with a brushstroke inspired by the emotional art of the calligrapher. He likes to express the density of the foliage. His spontaneity made him compared to Bada Shanren, the great non-conforming artist of the early Qing.
Wu innovated by the simplicity and liveliness of the line and by the use of bright colors. When Qi Baishi moved to Beijing in 1917, Wu encouraged him to modernize the Chinese pictorial art forever.
On December 17, 2017, Poly sold for RMB 210M including premium a set of twelve screens 133 x 53 cm each painted in black ink by Wu Changshuo in 1915-1916, lot 2638. This plant anthology includes peony, narcissus, pomegranate, lotus, pine, plum, bamboo, chrysanthemum, orchid, wisteria, cabbage and one that my source forgot to list, each with a text or a poem.
All of them are illustrated as the second entry in the article shared by The Value after this very important sale, alongside the twelve landscapes by Qi Baishi sold for RMB 930M including premium.
Through his original training as a seal engraver, Wu understood the importance of allowing a free movement to his hand. He specializes in images of plants, with a brushstroke inspired by the emotional art of the calligrapher. He likes to express the density of the foliage. His spontaneity made him compared to Bada Shanren, the great non-conforming artist of the early Qing.
Wu innovated by the simplicity and liveliness of the line and by the use of bright colors. When Qi Baishi moved to Beijing in 1917, Wu encouraged him to modernize the Chinese pictorial art forever.
On December 17, 2017, Poly sold for RMB 210M including premium a set of twelve screens 133 x 53 cm each painted in black ink by Wu Changshuo in 1915-1916, lot 2638. This plant anthology includes peony, narcissus, pomegranate, lotus, pine, plum, bamboo, chrysanthemum, orchid, wisteria, cabbage and one that my source forgot to list, each with a text or a poem.
All of them are illustrated as the second entry in the article shared by The Value after this very important sale, alongside the twelve landscapes by Qi Baishi sold for RMB 930M including premium.
1916 Houses at Unterach by Klimt
2006 SOLD for $ 31.4M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
It is illusory to represent a volume on a canvas or on a photograph. Klimt takes this into account in his paintings, whatever the subject.
He does not work from a photo, but his removal of the perspective seems to be independent of Cézanne's deconstructions. He finds textures and geometric elements in the landscape, using a viewfinder made up of a hole in a cardboard. Later a friend will give him an ivory eyeglass.
After choosing his elements, Klimt reassembles them in square formats. His villages can be compared to the accumulations of houses in Krumau by Schiele. Both artists thus obtain a personification of the buildings in their compositions with no characters. Their final effect, however, is in opposition. Schiele wants to annihilate his haunted city but Klimt is on holidays : his colors are happy.
Klimt spends every summer at the residence of Emilie's family in Litzlberg on the Attersee. Unterach is a very picturesque village at the other end of the lake. To avoid any temptation of perspective and horizon, the artist takes his view with a telescope from the other side of the lake.
A view of Unterach, oil on canvas 110 x 110 cm painted circa 1916 and coming from the Bloch-Bauer restitution, was sold for $ 31.4M including premium by Christie's on November 8, 2006 over a lower estimate of $ 18M, lot 52. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
He does not work from a photo, but his removal of the perspective seems to be independent of Cézanne's deconstructions. He finds textures and geometric elements in the landscape, using a viewfinder made up of a hole in a cardboard. Later a friend will give him an ivory eyeglass.
After choosing his elements, Klimt reassembles them in square formats. His villages can be compared to the accumulations of houses in Krumau by Schiele. Both artists thus obtain a personification of the buildings in their compositions with no characters. Their final effect, however, is in opposition. Schiele wants to annihilate his haunted city but Klimt is on holidays : his colors are happy.
Klimt spends every summer at the residence of Emilie's family in Litzlberg on the Attersee. Unterach is a very picturesque village at the other end of the lake. To avoid any temptation of perspective and horizon, the artist takes his view with a telescope from the other side of the lake.
A view of Unterach, oil on canvas 110 x 110 cm painted circa 1916 and coming from the Bloch-Bauer restitution, was sold for $ 31.4M including premium by Christie's on November 8, 2006 over a lower estimate of $ 18M, lot 52. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1916 A Swirl of Colors by Goncharova
2010 SOLD 6.4 M£ including premium
The work of Natalia Goncharova was one of the most varied of her time. She had been close of all the avant-gardes: the Blaue Reiter, Cubism, Futurism.
She early met Diaghilev, and designed for years sets and costumes for his Ballets Russes. Diaghilev was the producer of a total show combining music, dance and visual arts, as Aeschylus two thousand years before him.
Inspired by a project for the Ballets Russes, Goncharova painted a Spanish dancer, circa 1916. The long dress and mantilla are made of bright colors and decorative patterns forming a cubist swirl around the extremely simplified head.
This oil on canvas, 130 x 80 cm, estimated £ 4 million, is for sale by Christie's on February 2 in London.
It is tempting to draw a parallel with the beautiful futuro-cubist ballerina of Severini, dating from 1915, which was sold for £ 15M including premium at Sotheby's on June 25, 2008.
POST SALE COMMENT
It was clearly seen. This Spanish dancer is a masterpiece of Goncharova, without reaching the artistic importance of the ballerina of Severini.
The market establishes its excellent position within the barometer of auction results: £ 6.4 million including premium.
She early met Diaghilev, and designed for years sets and costumes for his Ballets Russes. Diaghilev was the producer of a total show combining music, dance and visual arts, as Aeschylus two thousand years before him.
Inspired by a project for the Ballets Russes, Goncharova painted a Spanish dancer, circa 1916. The long dress and mantilla are made of bright colors and decorative patterns forming a cubist swirl around the extremely simplified head.
This oil on canvas, 130 x 80 cm, estimated £ 4 million, is for sale by Christie's on February 2 in London.
It is tempting to draw a parallel with the beautiful futuro-cubist ballerina of Severini, dating from 1915, which was sold for £ 15M including premium at Sotheby's on June 25, 2008.
POST SALE COMMENT
It was clearly seen. This Spanish dancer is a masterpiece of Goncharova, without reaching the artistic importance of the ballerina of Severini.
The market establishes its excellent position within the barometer of auction results: £ 6.4 million including premium.
1916 Kandinsky in Moscow
2015 SOLD for £ 6.3M including premium
Kandinsky was at first a painter of landscapes and epic improvisations. He is the first great theoretician of abstract art, questioning the usefulness of figuration in art and taking as an example one of his own artworks placed on the wrong side.
Yet before the 1920s and the emulation provided by the Bauhaus, he did not really become an abstract artist and willfully ignored Malevich's Suprematist developments.
Kandinsky had developed his art and his theories in Germany. Driven out by the war, he arrived in Moscow in December 1914. Like in Murnau, he is passionate about the light and colors of the city that he did not know quite well, having spent his youth in Odessa.
On February 3 in London, Sotheby's sells Moskau II, oil on canvas 53 x 38 cm painted in 1916, lot 22 estimated £ 6M.
Moskau II is a nice example of the ambiguity of the boundaries between abstract and figurative. The main theme is undeniably the evocation of Moscow's colors.
Moskau II is not an abstract work but an evolution of an urban landscape entitled Moskau I in which perspective was highly shaken. The proportions of the buildings have been conserved between both artworks, but the detailed design of the facades and of the sun, very readable in Moskau I, disappeared in Moskau II. Depriving the viewer of his figurative marks, Moskau II offers a strange poetry.
Yet before the 1920s and the emulation provided by the Bauhaus, he did not really become an abstract artist and willfully ignored Malevich's Suprematist developments.
Kandinsky had developed his art and his theories in Germany. Driven out by the war, he arrived in Moscow in December 1914. Like in Murnau, he is passionate about the light and colors of the city that he did not know quite well, having spent his youth in Odessa.
On February 3 in London, Sotheby's sells Moskau II, oil on canvas 53 x 38 cm painted in 1916, lot 22 estimated £ 6M.
Moskau II is a nice example of the ambiguity of the boundaries between abstract and figurative. The main theme is undeniably the evocation of Moscow's colors.
Moskau II is not an abstract work but an evolution of an urban landscape entitled Moskau I in which perspective was highly shaken. The proportions of the buildings have been conserved between both artworks, but the detailed design of the facades and of the sun, very readable in Moskau I, disappeared in Moskau II. Depriving the viewer of his figurative marks, Moskau II offers a strange poetry.
1916 The Ninos of Valencia
2013 SOLD 2.77 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida is the painter of Valencia. He loves the beach and the characters engaged in innocent or insignificant pleasures. He is also one of very few artists of his time to show children without sentimentality.
In 1916, at the height of his career, he does not try to interpret it, he observes, simply. No adult intervenes in the beach games of these small children. Idle, the boys leave the Mediterranean sea and the warm sun bathe their naked bodies.
Sorolla's colors are as warm as the atmosphere of this beautiful summer. On the beach of El Cabañal a small child with blond hair, maybe a girl, passes the artist without seeing him. The scene is spontaneous, with no identified preliminary sketch or photograph, but the composition is as bold as a Degas.
This oil on canvas, 100 x 70 cm, titled Niños en la playa is estimated £ 1.8 million, for sale by Sotheby's in London on May 23.
This painting is regarded for a long time as a masterpiece of Sorolla. The artist's family bought it back in the late 1950s. In 1963, for the centenary of the artist, this fresh and dynamic image has been issued as a Spanish stamp.
POST SALE COMMENT
This lovely painting was sold £ 2.77 million including premium, in the region of its higher estimate.
The picture is shared by Sotheby's on Wikimedia:
Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida is the painter of Valencia. He loves the beach and the characters engaged in innocent or insignificant pleasures. He is also one of very few artists of his time to show children without sentimentality.
In 1916, at the height of his career, he does not try to interpret it, he observes, simply. No adult intervenes in the beach games of these small children. Idle, the boys leave the Mediterranean sea and the warm sun bathe their naked bodies.
Sorolla's colors are as warm as the atmosphere of this beautiful summer. On the beach of El Cabañal a small child with blond hair, maybe a girl, passes the artist without seeing him. The scene is spontaneous, with no identified preliminary sketch or photograph, but the composition is as bold as a Degas.
This oil on canvas, 100 x 70 cm, titled Niños en la playa is estimated £ 1.8 million, for sale by Sotheby's in London on May 23.
This painting is regarded for a long time as a masterpiece of Sorolla. The artist's family bought it back in the late 1950s. In 1963, for the centenary of the artist, this fresh and dynamic image has been issued as a Spanish stamp.
POST SALE COMMENT
This lovely painting was sold £ 2.77 million including premium, in the region of its higher estimate.
The picture is shared by Sotheby's on Wikimedia:
1916 The Abstract Sincerity of Georgia O'Keeffe
2007 SOLD for $ 3M including premium by Christie's
2016 SOLD for $ 2.4M including premium
In 1908, Georgia O'Keeffe abandoned the idea of becoming an artist. She was 21 years old. Four years later, she understands the reason for her doubts : her highly personal creativity does not meet any academism.
She nevertheless finds a teacher to guide her talent. AW Dow is not a great artist but he is promoting line, mass and color. He is a figurative painter but his student takes his ideas to express her feelings through abstraction. Unrelated with the European artistic movements, with no further inspiration than her aesthetic sensibility, Georgia is one of the first US artists to explore the modern art.
She did not return immediately to color. Her charcoal drawings are animated by large spirals. At the end of 1915, aware of her profound originality that will continue to mark her career for seven decades, Georgia sends some examples of her art by post to a friend named Anita Pollitzer.
Anita knows Stieglitz. When Georgia visits the Gallery 291 a few months later, she sees her works on display. Stieglitz had not dared to ask for her permission. He tells Georgia that her drawings are the purest, finest and sincerest things that he exhibited in his gallery.
It is easy to understand to what extent the independent minded Georgia is encouraged by such a statement. Decidedly ahead of her time, she now tries a monochrome use of color. Her choice goes to the Prussian blue.
Blue I, watercolor 79 x 57 cm made in 1916, is included in the first solo exhibition of works by Georgia organized by Stieglitz at the 291 in April and May 1917. This seminal work was sold for $ 3M including premium by Christie's in New York on May 24, 2007. It comes back to the same auction room on May 19, lot 7 estimated $ 2.5M.
She nevertheless finds a teacher to guide her talent. AW Dow is not a great artist but he is promoting line, mass and color. He is a figurative painter but his student takes his ideas to express her feelings through abstraction. Unrelated with the European artistic movements, with no further inspiration than her aesthetic sensibility, Georgia is one of the first US artists to explore the modern art.
She did not return immediately to color. Her charcoal drawings are animated by large spirals. At the end of 1915, aware of her profound originality that will continue to mark her career for seven decades, Georgia sends some examples of her art by post to a friend named Anita Pollitzer.
Anita knows Stieglitz. When Georgia visits the Gallery 291 a few months later, she sees her works on display. Stieglitz had not dared to ask for her permission. He tells Georgia that her drawings are the purest, finest and sincerest things that he exhibited in his gallery.
It is easy to understand to what extent the independent minded Georgia is encouraged by such a statement. Decidedly ahead of her time, she now tries a monochrome use of color. Her choice goes to the Prussian blue.
Blue I, watercolor 79 x 57 cm made in 1916, is included in the first solo exhibition of works by Georgia organized by Stieglitz at the 291 in April and May 1917. This seminal work was sold for $ 3M including premium by Christie's in New York on May 24, 2007. It comes back to the same auction room on May 19, lot 7 estimated $ 2.5M.
1916 The Dawn of the Conscripts
2017 SOLD for £ 1.87M including premium
The dawn of the twentieth century was marked by a hope for modernism and nothing seemed able to stop the creativity of the artistic avant-gardes. The First World War was a human and cultural disaster, mass killing young men and traumatizing the survivors forever.
C.R.W. 'Richard' Nevinson was a young English artist close to the Futurist movement. He enlisted as an ambulance driver and participated in November 1914 in the Battle of Ypres.
His health was deteriorating rapidly. During his convalescence he painted the war in its everyday life, an ordeal without liberty and without honors. In France conscription was obligatory : the soldiers had not chosen the heroism. Nevinson alternatively uses several modernist techniques but his images tell the same anonymous story as the photos brought home by the poilus.
On November 21 in London, Sotheby's sells A Dawn (1914), oil on canvas 57 x 48 cm painted in 1916, lot 5 estimated £ 700K. This painting appeared at the Leicester Gallery in the fall of 1916 in a solo exhibition applauded by Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw.
The French troops in march occupy the whole width of the street. No spectator cheers them and there is no flag in the windows. The scene is punctuated by the positions of the bayonets. The faces of the first ranks are differentiated. From the fifth rank this crowd forms the cubist mosaic of the multitude of the unknown soldiers.
C.R.W. 'Richard' Nevinson was a young English artist close to the Futurist movement. He enlisted as an ambulance driver and participated in November 1914 in the Battle of Ypres.
His health was deteriorating rapidly. During his convalescence he painted the war in its everyday life, an ordeal without liberty and without honors. In France conscription was obligatory : the soldiers had not chosen the heroism. Nevinson alternatively uses several modernist techniques but his images tell the same anonymous story as the photos brought home by the poilus.
On November 21 in London, Sotheby's sells A Dawn (1914), oil on canvas 57 x 48 cm painted in 1916, lot 5 estimated £ 700K. This painting appeared at the Leicester Gallery in the fall of 1916 in a solo exhibition applauded by Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw.
The French troops in march occupy the whole width of the street. No spectator cheers them and there is no flag in the windows. The scene is punctuated by the positions of the bayonets. The faces of the first ranks are differentiated. From the fifth rank this crowd forms the cubist mosaic of the multitude of the unknown soldiers.
'No man saw pageantry in the trenches': #Vorticist masterpiece by #Nevinson ranks among most powerful images of #WWI https://t.co/hIBbaf06Ba pic.twitter.com/tGAAXcMIxT
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 30, 2017
1916 Standing Nude by Munch
2020 SOLD for $ 2.06M including premium
Link to catalogue.
1916 The Kindness of Helene Schjerfbeck
2015 SOLD for £ 870K including premium
Born in Helsinki, Helene Schjerfbeck was precociously skilled for graphic arts and entered in relation with the modern painters in Paris and Brittany. She is only 20 years old in 1882 when she paints the charming portrait of a little girl lacing her dancing shoes. This oil on canvas 65 x 55 cm was sold for £ 3.05M including premium by Sotheby's on May 30, 2008.
The health of the artist was poor. She could not marry, gave up teaching and had an uneventful life in Finland with her mother. She remains attentive to modern art and favors after Cézanne the expressive colors instead of the line. After Lautrec, she likes to paint her canvas in pastel-like hues.
On December 16 in London, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 57 x 45 cm painted in 1916, lot 10 estimated £ 500K.
The sitter is a young neighbor of the artist in Hyvinkää, a quiet town famous for its sanatorium near Helsinki. She is reading with some attention. The diaphanous colors perfectly express the long blonde hair and the whiteness of the face of this young Scandinavian beauty.
This painting is a good example of the originality of the art of Schjerfbeck, halfway between empathy towards children and peaceful internalisation.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The health of the artist was poor. She could not marry, gave up teaching and had an uneventful life in Finland with her mother. She remains attentive to modern art and favors after Cézanne the expressive colors instead of the line. After Lautrec, she likes to paint her canvas in pastel-like hues.
On December 16 in London, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 57 x 45 cm painted in 1916, lot 10 estimated £ 500K.
The sitter is a young neighbor of the artist in Hyvinkää, a quiet town famous for its sanatorium near Helsinki. She is reading with some attention. The diaphanous colors perfectly express the long blonde hair and the whiteness of the face of this young Scandinavian beauty.
This painting is a good example of the originality of the art of Schjerfbeck, halfway between empathy towards children and peaceful internalisation.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1916 The Rookie Cards of Babe Ruth
2016 SOLD for $ 720K including premium
In 1914 Babe Ruth played for a few months in Minor League with the Baltimore Orioles before being transferred to the Boston Red Sox operating in Major League. Essentially a pitcher at that time, he begins training his highly promising skills in other movements.
The card 151 of the later coded M101 series edited in 1916 is the first to show Babe Ruth since his debut in Major League and is appreciated in the hobby as his Rookie card. The nickname Babe replaces for ever the first name. The attitude of the player is in full swing to fire the ball. The picture is sharp and pleasing.
The M101 series, comprising 200 views partly modified in a second edition during the year, was mainly intended for distribution. The back identifies the sponsor. One of them is the weekly paper The Sporting News 'the paper baseball of the world' owned by C. C. Spink and Son in St. Louis MO. I guess that he was also the publisher of the cards.
On August 27 in Dallas, Heritage sells two rookie cards of Babe Ruth.
Lot 80001 has an unprinted back. It was graded NM 7 by PSA and its centering, while not perfect, is better than usual for this series. The population certified by PSA is six in that grade and four in the next higher grade. Its guide value is $ 600K.
Lot 80002's back is advertising the Standard Biscuit Company. The text indicates that a photograph is offered in each package of their products. This card graded Good 2 by PSA is announced with a guide value of $ 40K which is already far exceeded 24 days before the sale.
The rookie card of Babe Ruth was preceded in 1914 by another card from his time in the Minor League. Aesthetically unappealing, this rare first card of "Ruth, pitcher" is almost always in poor condition.
Results including premium :
NM 7 : $ 720K
Good 2 : $ 130K
The card 151 of the later coded M101 series edited in 1916 is the first to show Babe Ruth since his debut in Major League and is appreciated in the hobby as his Rookie card. The nickname Babe replaces for ever the first name. The attitude of the player is in full swing to fire the ball. The picture is sharp and pleasing.
The M101 series, comprising 200 views partly modified in a second edition during the year, was mainly intended for distribution. The back identifies the sponsor. One of them is the weekly paper The Sporting News 'the paper baseball of the world' owned by C. C. Spink and Son in St. Louis MO. I guess that he was also the publisher of the cards.
On August 27 in Dallas, Heritage sells two rookie cards of Babe Ruth.
Lot 80001 has an unprinted back. It was graded NM 7 by PSA and its centering, while not perfect, is better than usual for this series. The population certified by PSA is six in that grade and four in the next higher grade. Its guide value is $ 600K.
Lot 80002's back is advertising the Standard Biscuit Company. The text indicates that a photograph is offered in each package of their products. This card graded Good 2 by PSA is announced with a guide value of $ 40K which is already far exceeded 24 days before the sale.
The rookie card of Babe Ruth was preceded in 1914 by another card from his time in the Minor League. Aesthetically unappealing, this rare first card of "Ruth, pitcher" is almost always in poor condition.
Results including premium :
NM 7 : $ 720K
Good 2 : $ 130K
Find out more about this stunning #BabeRuth rookie card https://t.co/mlWAYwRr8U pic.twitter.com/c0t4QiSh8A
— Paul Fraser (@PFCollectibles) August 2, 2016
This 1916 Standard Biscuit Babe Ruth rookie card is one of only two in a PSA holder https://t.co/4vAajvKN1h pic.twitter.com/GzT9fcP9Bw
— Heritage Sports (@Heritage_Sport) August 3, 2016
