1918
See also : Austria Modigliani Northern Europe Munch Matisse Children Far West Horse Stamps Babe Ruth Sport document
1918 A Post Mortem Portrait by Klimt
2010 SOLD 18.8 M£ including premium
In the last century, the proliferation of images has fortunately removed the need of post-mortem portrait. The sudden death of a loved one made aware that his image would disappear, and the family had recourse to a painter or a photographer to preserve his look.
In 1911, the niece of a patron of Klimt makes a love suicide at the age of 24, and the painter gets the order of a portrait of the deceased. This is not an easy job, and the first two trials are rejected by the family.
At his death in 1918, Klimt left unfinished the portrait of Ria Munk III. The oil and charcoal on canvas, 181 x 90 cm, is for sale by Christie's in London on June 23. It is illustrated in the press release shared by Art Knowledge News.
By its composition, it resembles the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907). Ria is life size. The face is sharp, and the gown and the background blend into a luxurious color scheme inspired by both Orientalism and Jugendstil.
Stop here the comparison. Adele I was decorated with gold and silver. This masterpiece was sold $ 135 million in 2006 to Ronald Lauder. Ria III, which does not have this quality of materials, is estimated £ 14 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was well targeted for this work that had the qualities of composition of the best portraits of Klimt without the sumptuous materials. It was sold £ 18.8 million including premium.
In 1911, the niece of a patron of Klimt makes a love suicide at the age of 24, and the painter gets the order of a portrait of the deceased. This is not an easy job, and the first two trials are rejected by the family.
At his death in 1918, Klimt left unfinished the portrait of Ria Munk III. The oil and charcoal on canvas, 181 x 90 cm, is for sale by Christie's in London on June 23. It is illustrated in the press release shared by Art Knowledge News.
By its composition, it resembles the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907). Ria is life size. The face is sharp, and the gown and the background blend into a luxurious color scheme inspired by both Orientalism and Jugendstil.
Stop here the comparison. Adele I was decorated with gold and silver. This masterpiece was sold $ 135 million in 2006 to Ronald Lauder. Ria III, which does not have this quality of materials, is estimated £ 14 million.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was well targeted for this work that had the qualities of composition of the best portraits of Klimt without the sumptuous materials. It was sold £ 18.8 million including premium.
1918 A Mannerist Fellow in Montparnasse
2017 SOLD for £ 16M including premium
The portrait by Modigliani of a young man from the circle of Zborowski went unsold at Christie's on November 5, 2013 where it had been offered with a very high estimate. It comes now for sale at Sotheby's in London on March 1, lot 10 estimated £ 10M.
I discussed it as follows in 2013 :
Leopold Zborowski was a Polish exile in Paris during the war. This very young student wanted to become an art dealer and joined the artistic community of Montparnasse.
Modigliani knows everyone and loves to paint portraits of his fellow artists. Zborowski, who himself does not yet live in ease, captures his confidence by promising to supply him with an unlimited amount of drink.
Zborowski is now controling the artistic output of the best portrait painter of their time, and he organizes his career. He pushes Amedeo to specialize in those female nudes whose exhibition made a scandal at Berthe Weill gallery in December 1917 and provided a deserved fame to the painter.
The purpose of Zborowski is commercial. He now directs Amedeo towards achieving more mundane portraits for appealing the customers. Painted in 1918, probably early in the year, the oil on canvas titled Monsieur Baranowski, 112 x 56 cm, is one from that series.
Baranowski is very young. Elegantly dressed, he wants to make a career as an artist. With his pale skin, too long hair, charming mouth and an attitude mannered to the extreme, he appears as an androgynous.
The too formal title, Monsieur Baranowski, not providing the first name nor the abbreviated 'Bara', shows that this young esthete wanted to be seriously considered, and certainly indicates that Baranowski was in the circle of Zborowski without being intimate with Amedeo. This artwork is a wonderful psychological portrait of one of those weird people who constituted the bohemian life of Montparnasse.
I discussed it as follows in 2013 :
Leopold Zborowski was a Polish exile in Paris during the war. This very young student wanted to become an art dealer and joined the artistic community of Montparnasse.
Modigliani knows everyone and loves to paint portraits of his fellow artists. Zborowski, who himself does not yet live in ease, captures his confidence by promising to supply him with an unlimited amount of drink.
Zborowski is now controling the artistic output of the best portrait painter of their time, and he organizes his career. He pushes Amedeo to specialize in those female nudes whose exhibition made a scandal at Berthe Weill gallery in December 1917 and provided a deserved fame to the painter.
The purpose of Zborowski is commercial. He now directs Amedeo towards achieving more mundane portraits for appealing the customers. Painted in 1918, probably early in the year, the oil on canvas titled Monsieur Baranowski, 112 x 56 cm, is one from that series.
Baranowski is very young. Elegantly dressed, he wants to make a career as an artist. With his pale skin, too long hair, charming mouth and an attitude mannered to the extreme, he appears as an androgynous.
The too formal title, Monsieur Baranowski, not providing the first name nor the abbreviated 'Bara', shows that this young esthete wanted to be seriously considered, and certainly indicates that Baranowski was in the circle of Zborowski without being intimate with Amedeo. This artwork is a wonderful psychological portrait of one of those weird people who constituted the bohemian life of Montparnasse.
#AuctionUpdate Modigliani’s elegant depiction of an androgynous young man with fragile good looks, Portrait de Baranowski, soars to £16.1m pic.twitter.com/ubzOb6Mhcl
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) March 1, 2017
1918 The Gears of Abstract Art
2014 SOLD 12 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Back from Front, Fernand Léger restarts his career. Avant-garde artist, he had been one of the main proponents of Cubism.
The great theme of modern civilization is mechanical. The Futurists are interested in its application to speed. Léger is inspired by the assembly and even the machining of its components: cylinders, wheels, discs, gears.
In 1917, he took the cylinders as a basis to build a Partie de cartes which is one of his many tributes to Cézanne. He uses this new grammar of the cylinder to oscillate between a reconstruction of a figurative Cubist theme and total abstraction. Unlike Malevich, Mondrian and Kandinsky but same as Miro later, Léger does not fall into an exclusive abstraction.
On February 4 in London, Christie's sells Les cylindres colorés, oil on canvas 54 x 50 cm painted in 1918, estimated £ 5M.
Viewed from afar, the work could display an engine and gears. However its elements are pointing in all directions without visible support and a closer inspection will consider this composition as completely abstract. Another novelty, shared with Mondrian, is the use of pure colors.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This highly rare and early abstract painting by Fernand Léger was sold for £ 12M including premium.
Back from Front, Fernand Léger restarts his career. Avant-garde artist, he had been one of the main proponents of Cubism.
The great theme of modern civilization is mechanical. The Futurists are interested in its application to speed. Léger is inspired by the assembly and even the machining of its components: cylinders, wheels, discs, gears.
In 1917, he took the cylinders as a basis to build a Partie de cartes which is one of his many tributes to Cézanne. He uses this new grammar of the cylinder to oscillate between a reconstruction of a figurative Cubist theme and total abstraction. Unlike Malevich, Mondrian and Kandinsky but same as Miro later, Léger does not fall into an exclusive abstraction.
On February 4 in London, Christie's sells Les cylindres colorés, oil on canvas 54 x 50 cm painted in 1918, estimated £ 5M.
Viewed from afar, the work could display an engine and gears. However its elements are pointing in all directions without visible support and a closer inspection will consider this composition as completely abstract. Another novelty, shared with Mondrian, is the use of pure colors.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This highly rare and early abstract painting by Fernand Léger was sold for £ 12M including premium.
1918 Mlle Matisse en manteau écossais by Matisse
2015 SOLD for $ 13.7M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to Artvalue.
1918 Under the Weeping Willow
2017 SOLD for £ 8.9M including premium
The war was a period of great concern for Claude Monet, a patriot and friend of Clemenceau. Too old for active engagement he takes refuge with some feeling of shame within his artistic occupation. With his series of paintings of water lilies that will become Les Grandes Décorations he wants to express that the beauty of nature is immutable unlike the events created by men.
Each water lily painting is a technical feat in increasingly panoramic formats. Monet also observes the shores of his pond in search of vertical themes that will bring an impression of vitality and power. The 200 x 100 cm picture of a group of mauve irises in close-up was sold for £ 10.8M including premium by Christie's on June 23, 2015.
In March 1918 the German counter-offensive threatens Amiens. After some hesitation Monet decides to remain at all costs in Giverny. He immediately begins his paintings on the theme of the weeping willows of his garden. This series will include ten artworks made in 1918 and 1919.
The weeping willow is an ornamental tree with dense and enveloping foliage. Under his tree Monet observes the subtlety of colors. The trunk and a small corner of the ground at the edge of the pond are sufficient to identify the theme. The low angle follows the trunk in bottom-up in its whole height. The leaves provide a mingling of colors treated in a heavy impasto by gestural brush strikes that deliberately ignore the perspective.
The weeping willows of Monet renew the modern art. He is aware and proud of that and wishes to present one of these paintings to France at the time of the armistice. This series opens the path to the experiments close to abstraction of his latest years.
On June 27 in London, Christie's sells a Saule pleureur by Monet, oil on canvas 130 x 110 cm, lot 14 estimated £ 15M.
Each water lily painting is a technical feat in increasingly panoramic formats. Monet also observes the shores of his pond in search of vertical themes that will bring an impression of vitality and power. The 200 x 100 cm picture of a group of mauve irises in close-up was sold for £ 10.8M including premium by Christie's on June 23, 2015.
In March 1918 the German counter-offensive threatens Amiens. After some hesitation Monet decides to remain at all costs in Giverny. He immediately begins his paintings on the theme of the weeping willows of his garden. This series will include ten artworks made in 1918 and 1919.
The weeping willow is an ornamental tree with dense and enveloping foliage. Under his tree Monet observes the subtlety of colors. The trunk and a small corner of the ground at the edge of the pond are sufficient to identify the theme. The low angle follows the trunk in bottom-up in its whole height. The leaves provide a mingling of colors treated in a heavy impasto by gestural brush strikes that deliberately ignore the perspective.
The weeping willows of Monet renew the modern art. He is aware and proud of that and wishes to present one of these paintings to France at the time of the armistice. This series opens the path to the experiments close to abstraction of his latest years.
On June 27 in London, Christie's sells a Saule pleureur by Monet, oil on canvas 130 x 110 cm, lot 14 estimated £ 15M.
Saule pleureur de #Monet : une peinture chargée d’histoire exécutée à l’aube de la fin de la 1ère GM https://t.co/v9exCXAJkq pic.twitter.com/yG83YVjden
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) June 14, 2017
1918 Two Children with Modigliani
2015 SOLD for £ 7.6M including premium
Amedeo Modigliani, as Francis Bacon later, is an empathetic portrait artist who feels the need to understand his sitters. On February 4 in London, Christie's sells Les deux filles, a double portrait of children which is very rare and perhaps unique of that theme in the art of Amedeo.
This oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm is estimated £ 6M, lot 15. It was sold for £ 6.5 million including premium by Christie's on 4 February 2009 over a lower estimate of £ 3.5 million, at the time of the crisis of the art market.
This artwork whose first owner was Zborowski was painted in 1917 or 1918, while experts are now preferring the latter date.
The end of 1917 was rough, with the scandal of the public exhibition of the nudes at the Berthe Weill gallery. In the following year, his long stay in Nice is organized by Zborowski. Far from the war, Amedeo is hoping to recover his health but he has also lost the contact with the professional models who had provided the bulk of his art.
These two girls who remain unidentified are a study of childhood, reinforcing the idea that the painting could have been done during the pregnancy of Jeanne who gave birth to their daughter on 29 November 1918. The serious brunette in careful hair style will soon emerge from childhood. She protects the younger blonde whose slightly deformed face assesses that Amedeo was attentive to the solutions of cubism.
This oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm is estimated £ 6M, lot 15. It was sold for £ 6.5 million including premium by Christie's on 4 February 2009 over a lower estimate of £ 3.5 million, at the time of the crisis of the art market.
This artwork whose first owner was Zborowski was painted in 1917 or 1918, while experts are now preferring the latter date.
The end of 1917 was rough, with the scandal of the public exhibition of the nudes at the Berthe Weill gallery. In the following year, his long stay in Nice is organized by Zborowski. Far from the war, Amedeo is hoping to recover his health but he has also lost the contact with the professional models who had provided the bulk of his art.
These two girls who remain unidentified are a study of childhood, reinforcing the idea that the painting could have been done during the pregnancy of Jeanne who gave birth to their daughter on 29 November 1918. The serious brunette in careful hair style will soon emerge from childhood. She protects the younger blonde whose slightly deformed face assesses that Amedeo was attentive to the solutions of cubism.
1918 Piegans by CM Russell
2005 SOLD for $ 5.6M including premium by The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction
1918 Block of four Inverted Jenny US error stamp
2005 SOLD for $ 2.97M including premium by Robert A. Siegel
Shared by Wikimedia :
1918 Vallotton in the Naked Sun
2010 SOLD 2.4 MCHF including premium
The Côte de Grâce is overlooking the Seine estuary. Beyond to the west, there is nothing else than the sea. This promontory attracts the lovers of sunsets.
An oil painting by Félix Vallotton, 54 x 73 cm, dated 1918, shows that landscape. The Sun is seen from the front, round, orange, violent. The artist had attended the Nabis group, and painted his best landscapes to the extreme limits of the possibilities of color. In this example, the sky, orange and violet, is magnificent.
Vallotton's landscapes are sometimes impersonal. This one is uninhabited, indeed dehumanized. In the darkness, a discreet barrier is the only witness from the civilization. The atmosphere is definitely romantic.
The lot is estimated CHF 1.8 million, for sale by Sotheby's in Zurich on December 6. It is shown in the press release shared by Artdaily.
POST SALE COMMENT
This beautiful sunset is a masterpiece of the artist. It was sold CHF 2.4 million including premium.
An oil painting by Félix Vallotton, 54 x 73 cm, dated 1918, shows that landscape. The Sun is seen from the front, round, orange, violent. The artist had attended the Nabis group, and painted his best landscapes to the extreme limits of the possibilities of color. In this example, the sky, orange and violet, is magnificent.
Vallotton's landscapes are sometimes impersonal. This one is uninhabited, indeed dehumanized. In the darkness, a discreet barrier is the only witness from the civilization. The atmosphere is definitely romantic.
The lot is estimated CHF 1.8 million, for sale by Sotheby's in Zurich on December 6. It is shown in the press release shared by Artdaily.
POST SALE COMMENT
This beautiful sunset is a masterpiece of the artist. It was sold CHF 2.4 million including premium.
1918 Self Portrait with Spanish Flu by Edvard Munch
2006 SOLD for £ 1.7M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to Artvalue.
1918 Watch Rivalries
2011 SOLD 1.76 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Inventor, industrialist, founder and owner of the car brand that bore his name, James Ward Packard had a hobby. Amateur of complication watches, he specified unprecedented combinations for his personal use.
Two pocket watches from his collection are on sale on June 15 at Christie's in New York. Each piece is a unique model. Made in the same year, 1918, they enable comparing technical performances of the two Swiss brands to whom Packard had provided his requirements. Kept in a bank, they are in perfect condition.
The advantage is on Vacheron Constantin, if one relies on the estimate, $ 250K. This chronograph clockwatch delivered in 1919 represented a technical breakthrough for the time.
Delivered in 1920, the Patek Philippe minute repeating watch is estimated $ 200K.
Both pieces are illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
The Swiss rivalry quickly turned to the advantage of Patek Philippe. In the early 1920s, the banker Henry Graves Jr. began lining up to get the most complicated watch in the world, and Patek Philippe was the referee and the prime contractor of the rivalry between the two clients.
After the death of Packard (1928), Graves continued. His supercomplication watch, delivered in 1933 after five years of development studies by Patek Philippe, was sold for $ 11M including premium by Sotheby's on December 2, 1999.
POST SALE COMMENT
These two watches were worth much more than the estimate which had been announced, of course. The Vacheron Constantin, really exceptional, was sold for $ 1.76 million including premium. The PatekPhilippe was sold for $ 987K including premium.
Inventor, industrialist, founder and owner of the car brand that bore his name, James Ward Packard had a hobby. Amateur of complication watches, he specified unprecedented combinations for his personal use.
Two pocket watches from his collection are on sale on June 15 at Christie's in New York. Each piece is a unique model. Made in the same year, 1918, they enable comparing technical performances of the two Swiss brands to whom Packard had provided his requirements. Kept in a bank, they are in perfect condition.
The advantage is on Vacheron Constantin, if one relies on the estimate, $ 250K. This chronograph clockwatch delivered in 1919 represented a technical breakthrough for the time.
Delivered in 1920, the Patek Philippe minute repeating watch is estimated $ 200K.
Both pieces are illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
The Swiss rivalry quickly turned to the advantage of Patek Philippe. In the early 1920s, the banker Henry Graves Jr. began lining up to get the most complicated watch in the world, and Patek Philippe was the referee and the prime contractor of the rivalry between the two clients.
After the death of Packard (1928), Graves continued. His supercomplication watch, delivered in 1933 after five years of development studies by Patek Philippe, was sold for $ 11M including premium by Sotheby's on December 2, 1999.
POST SALE COMMENT
These two watches were worth much more than the estimate which had been announced, of course. The Vacheron Constantin, really exceptional, was sold for $ 1.76 million including premium. The PatekPhilippe was sold for $ 987K including premium.
1918 Trials and Errors of the Airmail
2016 SOLD for $ 1.35M including premium
May 15, 1918 is a historic date for the civil aviation: the first regular airmail service is inaugurated in Washington DC by President Wilson. It connects New York to Washington and return, with a change of plane in Philadelphia.
Shipping was set at 24c and the two-color stamp was available since the day before. The blue center displays the biplane model selected for this service, a Jenny, nickname for the Curtiss JN-4. The preparation of the stamp was made in a hurry. The die for printing the plane had been completed only six days earlier. The engraver added in the picture the serial number of the aircraft scheduled for the official inaugural flight, 38262.
We are still in the heroic time of aviation. The President is upset : he is wasting his precious time. 38262 takes off southward instead of going toward Philadelphia. The pilot tried to land in the countryside and bogged down in a swamp this plane carrying the first mailbag of the new service. Fortunately in the opposite way on the same day the first north-south transfer is successful.
Philatelists rush. One of them acquires for $ 24 a complete sheet of 100 stamps in which the blue print of the image is inverted by reference with its rose carmine frame. He does not know it yet : this error is unique.
The pieces from this Inverted Jenny sheet were dispersed shortly afterwards. Two of them can be rightly considered as the gems of US philately.
The block of four nicely centered stamps, positions 87-88-97-98, has been sold for $ 2,97M including premium by Robert A. Siegel on October 19, 2005.
The same auction house sold the best single stamp, position 58, for $ 577K including premium on June 3, 2005. It is graded by PSE XF-Sup 95 Mint OG, meaning between extremely fine and superb, not canceled, keeping its original gum (with minor hinging traces). Its centering with wide full margins contributes to its grading at 95.
Position 58 comes back at Robert A. Siegel for sale in New York on May 31, lot 275.
Shipping was set at 24c and the two-color stamp was available since the day before. The blue center displays the biplane model selected for this service, a Jenny, nickname for the Curtiss JN-4. The preparation of the stamp was made in a hurry. The die for printing the plane had been completed only six days earlier. The engraver added in the picture the serial number of the aircraft scheduled for the official inaugural flight, 38262.
We are still in the heroic time of aviation. The President is upset : he is wasting his precious time. 38262 takes off southward instead of going toward Philadelphia. The pilot tried to land in the countryside and bogged down in a swamp this plane carrying the first mailbag of the new service. Fortunately in the opposite way on the same day the first north-south transfer is successful.
Philatelists rush. One of them acquires for $ 24 a complete sheet of 100 stamps in which the blue print of the image is inverted by reference with its rose carmine frame. He does not know it yet : this error is unique.
The pieces from this Inverted Jenny sheet were dispersed shortly afterwards. Two of them can be rightly considered as the gems of US philately.
The block of four nicely centered stamps, positions 87-88-97-98, has been sold for $ 2,97M including premium by Robert A. Siegel on October 19, 2005.
The same auction house sold the best single stamp, position 58, for $ 577K including premium on June 3, 2005. It is graded by PSE XF-Sup 95 Mint OG, meaning between extremely fine and superb, not canceled, keeping its original gum (with minor hinging traces). Its centering with wide full margins contributes to its grading at 95.
Position 58 comes back at Robert A. Siegel for sale in New York on May 31, lot 275.
This #InvertedJenny stamp is the highest graded in the worldhttps://t.co/XYoBeb3YQG pic.twitter.com/Y4xTSUEfVX
— Paul Fraser (@PFCollectibles) May 12, 2016
1918 Salary Increase for George H. Ruth
2014 SOLD 1.02 M$ including premium
Since 1914, Babe Ruth made the happiness of his bosses in the Boston American League Baseball Club better known as the Red Sox. Originally a pitcher, the lefty has improved his batting skill for a more interesting and prestigious position on the field.
He knows that he can demand a salary increase for 1918. He will earn $ 5,000 for the new season, compared with the $ 3,500 of his paycheck from the previous year. The debate is not difficult because the employer knows the actual value of the player. This contract is considered as a bargain for the club.
The contract was signed in triplicate on January 16, 1918 by the player, the club owner and president of the American League in the official format. The copy for Babe Ruth is the oldest surviving contractual document concerning the champion. It is for sale by Goldin Auctions in Baltimore on July 12. Here is the link to the site of the auction house.
Babe Ruth continues his prodigious career. After the 1919 season, he was transferred by the Red Sox to the New York Yankees. A copy of the contract signed by both clubs has been sold for $ 1M including premium by Sotheby's on 10 June 2005.
POST SALE COMMENT
The contract signed in January 1918 was sold for $ 1.02 M. The release issued by the sports business reporter Darren Rovell compares this result with the price including premium obtained by Sotheby's in 2005 for the contract between Red Sox and Yankees. This release is linked in the tweet below published by the auction house.
1918 contract sells for $1 million http://t.co/7IGU5SuOoH http://t.co/wunf8W3mwe
— Goldin Auctions (@GoldinAuctions) July 13, 2014
This document is illustrated in the post sale release posted by Auction Report.
He knows that he can demand a salary increase for 1918. He will earn $ 5,000 for the new season, compared with the $ 3,500 of his paycheck from the previous year. The debate is not difficult because the employer knows the actual value of the player. This contract is considered as a bargain for the club.
The contract was signed in triplicate on January 16, 1918 by the player, the club owner and president of the American League in the official format. The copy for Babe Ruth is the oldest surviving contractual document concerning the champion. It is for sale by Goldin Auctions in Baltimore on July 12. Here is the link to the site of the auction house.
Babe Ruth continues his prodigious career. After the 1919 season, he was transferred by the Red Sox to the New York Yankees. A copy of the contract signed by both clubs has been sold for $ 1M including premium by Sotheby's on 10 June 2005.
POST SALE COMMENT
The contract signed in January 1918 was sold for $ 1.02 M. The release issued by the sports business reporter Darren Rovell compares this result with the price including premium obtained by Sotheby's in 2005 for the contract between Red Sox and Yankees. This release is linked in the tweet below published by the auction house.
1918 contract sells for $1 million http://t.co/7IGU5SuOoH http://t.co/wunf8W3mwe
— Goldin Auctions (@GoldinAuctions) July 13, 2014
This document is illustrated in the post sale release posted by Auction Report.
1918 Girls and War
2013 SOLD 845 K$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Edvard Munch, pioneer for the painting of psychological themes, always considered printing as a major art and tried by himself all the techniques. The monochrome image, of which he is one of the best artists, is however only an intermediate step. Two examples provide a glimpse into the creative link between drawing and color.
On 13 July 2010, Bonhams sold for £ 1.25 million including premium an example from the first state of Madonna in 1895 which had been hand-colored by the artist, thus constituting a test version of a multicolored painted or printed image that did not emerge.
Girls on the bridge is one of his regular themes. Despite the peaceful attitudes, this series comes in the following of the Scream, first by its endless pier, then by the group present in that place without knowing why and thus raising once again the question of the meaning of life.
The woodcut made in 1918, 52 x 43 cm, is pessimistic with a too ridged composition and with its three girls too clustered in an otherwise empty space, looking for who knows what beyond the railing.
This image, also hand-colored, is estimated $ 700K, for sale by Christie 's in New York on October 29. Here is the link to the catalog. It is the preparation by the artist of a lithograph to be issued. This print will have a very small release, perhaps because Europe still lived horrors far more practical for the public than the psychological dramas of Munch.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good price for this print from a later period of the artist: $ 845K including premium.
Edvard Munch, pioneer for the painting of psychological themes, always considered printing as a major art and tried by himself all the techniques. The monochrome image, of which he is one of the best artists, is however only an intermediate step. Two examples provide a glimpse into the creative link between drawing and color.
On 13 July 2010, Bonhams sold for £ 1.25 million including premium an example from the first state of Madonna in 1895 which had been hand-colored by the artist, thus constituting a test version of a multicolored painted or printed image that did not emerge.
Girls on the bridge is one of his regular themes. Despite the peaceful attitudes, this series comes in the following of the Scream, first by its endless pier, then by the group present in that place without knowing why and thus raising once again the question of the meaning of life.
The woodcut made in 1918, 52 x 43 cm, is pessimistic with a too ridged composition and with its three girls too clustered in an otherwise empty space, looking for who knows what beyond the railing.
This image, also hand-colored, is estimated $ 700K, for sale by Christie 's in New York on October 29. Here is the link to the catalog. It is the preparation by the artist of a lithograph to be issued. This print will have a very small release, perhaps because Europe still lived horrors far more practical for the public than the psychological dramas of Munch.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good price for this print from a later period of the artist: $ 845K including premium.
