1920
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Furniture Modern furniture Art Deco Chairs and seats Picasso 1907-1931 Qi Baishi
See also : Furniture Modern furniture Art Deco Chairs and seats Picasso 1907-1931 Qi Baishi
masterpiece
1920 Rotes Oval by Kandinsky
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
From 1918 to 1921 Kandinsky collaborated in Russian art education and museum reform. He managed to develop a teaching program based on the psychological effects of the association between forms and colors, resolutely promoting non-objective art and accepting intuition in the process of composition.
Painted in 1920, Rotes Oval is centered with nearly biomorphic forms in full opposition with the Suprematism of Malevich.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Painted in 1920, Rotes Oval is centered with nearly biomorphic forms in full opposition with the Suprematism of Malevich.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
(1917)-1920 Olga by Picasso
2017 SOLD for $ 30.5M by Christie's
Times are hard. Pablo Picasso had provided a formidable boost to modern art with the Demoiselles and then with the analytical Cubism using or imitating collages. Competitors follow with enthusiasm but customers are rare for this art that is too intellectual, especially in that period of war. A return to classicism becomes vital but Picasso can not get rid of his avant-garde ambition.
Around 1916 he attempts a new approach by simplifying the geometric shapes and by reducing the number of elements. The readability remains difficult except perhaps in the still life. To convince his audience Picasso indeed needs to convince himself.
He realizes two portraits of Olga in the same format, based on the same photograph. One of them is realistic in the style of Ingres, the other is Cubist. The artist wants to demonstrate that the impression offered to the viewer by a work of art does not depend on the style.
Zervos considers that both paintings were started simultaneously in 1917. The Ingresque portrait is finished early. The Cubist portrait is continually reworked until 1920. The result is as luminous as a stained glass window with its solid colors enclosed in outlines of white stripes bordered by a black line. The woman maintains an identical attitude on both images.
The use of the Cubist portrait like a piece of laboratory for the development of a new style is at no doubt. Picasso kept this work throughout his life, certainly not in memory of Olga but as a demonstrator of the evolution of his art in that difficult period of his career.
The Cubist portrait, oil on canvas 130 x 89 cm, was sold for $ 30.5M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 7 A offered along with seven other major artworks for the benefit of the Cleveland Clinic Heart and Vascular Institute. Please watch the video in which Christie's introduces the whole set.
Around 1916 he attempts a new approach by simplifying the geometric shapes and by reducing the number of elements. The readability remains difficult except perhaps in the still life. To convince his audience Picasso indeed needs to convince himself.
He realizes two portraits of Olga in the same format, based on the same photograph. One of them is realistic in the style of Ingres, the other is Cubist. The artist wants to demonstrate that the impression offered to the viewer by a work of art does not depend on the style.
Zervos considers that both paintings were started simultaneously in 1917. The Ingresque portrait is finished early. The Cubist portrait is continually reworked until 1920. The result is as luminous as a stained glass window with its solid colors enclosed in outlines of white stripes bordered by a black line. The woman maintains an identical attitude on both images.
The use of the Cubist portrait like a piece of laboratory for the development of a new style is at no doubt. Picasso kept this work throughout his life, certainly not in memory of Olga but as a demonstrator of the evolution of his art in that difficult period of his career.
The Cubist portrait, oil on canvas 130 x 89 cm, was sold for $ 30.5M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 7 A offered along with seven other major artworks for the benefit of the Cleveland Clinic Heart and Vascular Institute. Please watch the video in which Christie's introduces the whole set.
1917-1920 Fauteuil aux Dragons by Gray
2009 SOLD for € 22M by Christie's
The estate sale of the collection of the fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent was jointly organized by Christie's and Pierre Bergé et Associés from 23 to 25 February, 2009. The furniture of the 20th century was led by an armchair made by Eileen Gray around 1920-1922, sold for € 22M from a lower estimate of € 2.5M.
This seat is only 61 cm high. The sitting height is normal, but the back is small. It is large (91 cm), making it a comfortable chair. It is named the Fauteuil aux Dragons for the sculptures of its armrests.
On June 1, 2005, Camard had separated a suite of six armchairs à la Sirène. They had belonged from 1923 to Damia, the music hall singer woman with whom Eileen had a love affair. From a very different model from the fauteuil aux dragons, their sculpture of the women fish was enhanced by an open back. The highest result was € 1.75M.
Fauteuil aux dragons by Eileen Gray, sold by Christie's in February 2009, Saint-Laurent - Bergé sale : significance in Gray's career, history of the armchair including best estimate of date and location of the execution.
The Fauteuil aux Dragons (Dragons Armchair) is an iconic piece by Irish designer and architect Eileen Gray (1878–1976), featuring a rounded form upholstered in brown leather with a wooden structure lacquered in brownish-orange, incorporating silver leaf inclusions and sculpted stylized dragons forming the armrests and base.
History and Provenance
Gray created the armchair between 1917 and 1919 in Paris, where she had settled in 1902 and mastered lacquer techniques under Japanese artisan Seizo Sugawara. Experts widely accept this dating, as confirmed by Christie's auction catalog and scholarly sources.
Her patron, fashion milliner Suzanne Talbot (Madame Mathieu-Lévy), acquired it directly from Gray. Talbot commissioned Gray's first full interior design project (an apartment at 9 rue de Lota, Paris, completed around 1920–1922), where the chair was likely intended, though it may have been purchased separately.
The piece remained in Talbot's circle until 1971, when Parisian dealer Cheska Vallois bought it for about $2,700. Vallois sold it in 1973 to fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé, who displayed it prominently in their apartment.
In February 2009, during the landmark Christie's auction of the Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé collection in Paris (often called the "sale of the century"), the chair sold for €21,905,000 (approximately $28–31 million USD at the time), far exceeding its €2–3 million estimate. Vallois repurchased it on behalf of an anonymous client.
Significance in Gray's Career
This armchair exemplifies Gray's early, highly personal and expressive phase (pre-1920s), blending Art Deco influences with Asian-inspired lacquer work, symbolism (dragons representing strength and protection in Chinese iconography), and imaginative sculpture.
Christie's described it as a "masterpiece of invention and execution" that "distills all that was so personal and so magical" in her initial career period.
It marks her breakthrough in lacquer furniture and her first major commission context with Talbot, establishing her as a leading decorative artist in 1920s Paris.
Later, Gray distanced herself from this ornate style, transitioning to modernist works (e.g., E-1027 house, Bibendum chair), and reportedly called such early pieces "monsters."
The 2009 record-breaking sale (highest ever for 20th-century decorative art or furniture at the time) revived global interest in Gray, who had been underrecognized during her lifetime due to gender biases and modernist historiography favoring figures like Le Corbusier.
It cemented her legacy as a pioneer bridging decorative arts and modernism.
Chat with Grok :
The date when Gray went back from London to Paris is a terminus post quem of the Fauteuil aux Dragons if it has been executed in Paris as reported above.
The Fauteuil aux Dragons was indeed executed in Paris between 1917 and 1919, as consistently documented in auction records (e.g., Christie's 2009 catalog), scholarly sources, and biographies.Relevant Return to ParisEileen Gray's relevant return to Paris—that serving as a terminus post quem (earliest possible date) for the armchair's creation—was after World War I, specifically in 1917 (or late 1916/early 1917 in some accounts).Timeline Context
This seat is only 61 cm high. The sitting height is normal, but the back is small. It is large (91 cm), making it a comfortable chair. It is named the Fauteuil aux Dragons for the sculptures of its armrests.
On June 1, 2005, Camard had separated a suite of six armchairs à la Sirène. They had belonged from 1923 to Damia, the music hall singer woman with whom Eileen had a love affair. From a very different model from the fauteuil aux dragons, their sculpture of the women fish was enhanced by an open back. The highest result was € 1.75M.
Fauteuil aux dragons by Eileen Gray, sold by Christie's in February 2009, Saint-Laurent - Bergé sale : significance in Gray's career, history of the armchair including best estimate of date and location of the execution.
The Fauteuil aux Dragons (Dragons Armchair) is an iconic piece by Irish designer and architect Eileen Gray (1878–1976), featuring a rounded form upholstered in brown leather with a wooden structure lacquered in brownish-orange, incorporating silver leaf inclusions and sculpted stylized dragons forming the armrests and base.
History and Provenance
Gray created the armchair between 1917 and 1919 in Paris, where she had settled in 1902 and mastered lacquer techniques under Japanese artisan Seizo Sugawara. Experts widely accept this dating, as confirmed by Christie's auction catalog and scholarly sources.
Her patron, fashion milliner Suzanne Talbot (Madame Mathieu-Lévy), acquired it directly from Gray. Talbot commissioned Gray's first full interior design project (an apartment at 9 rue de Lota, Paris, completed around 1920–1922), where the chair was likely intended, though it may have been purchased separately.
The piece remained in Talbot's circle until 1971, when Parisian dealer Cheska Vallois bought it for about $2,700. Vallois sold it in 1973 to fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé, who displayed it prominently in their apartment.
In February 2009, during the landmark Christie's auction of the Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé collection in Paris (often called the "sale of the century"), the chair sold for €21,905,000 (approximately $28–31 million USD at the time), far exceeding its €2–3 million estimate. Vallois repurchased it on behalf of an anonymous client.
Significance in Gray's Career
This armchair exemplifies Gray's early, highly personal and expressive phase (pre-1920s), blending Art Deco influences with Asian-inspired lacquer work, symbolism (dragons representing strength and protection in Chinese iconography), and imaginative sculpture.
Christie's described it as a "masterpiece of invention and execution" that "distills all that was so personal and so magical" in her initial career period.
It marks her breakthrough in lacquer furniture and her first major commission context with Talbot, establishing her as a leading decorative artist in 1920s Paris.
Later, Gray distanced herself from this ornate style, transitioning to modernist works (e.g., E-1027 house, Bibendum chair), and reportedly called such early pieces "monsters."
The 2009 record-breaking sale (highest ever for 20th-century decorative art or furniture at the time) revived global interest in Gray, who had been underrecognized during her lifetime due to gender biases and modernist historiography favoring figures like Le Corbusier.
It cemented her legacy as a pioneer bridging decorative arts and modernism.
Chat with Grok :
The date when Gray went back from London to Paris is a terminus post quem of the Fauteuil aux Dragons if it has been executed in Paris as reported above.
The Fauteuil aux Dragons was indeed executed in Paris between 1917 and 1919, as consistently documented in auction records (e.g., Christie's 2009 catalog), scholarly sources, and biographies.Relevant Return to ParisEileen Gray's relevant return to Paris—that serving as a terminus post quem (earliest possible date) for the armchair's creation—was after World War I, specifically in 1917 (or late 1916/early 1917 in some accounts).Timeline Context
- Gray first moved to Paris in 1902 for art studies.
- She briefly returned to London in 1905 due to her mother's illness but was back in Paris by around 1906–1907, mastering lacquer under Seizo Sugawara.
- With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, she returned to London (taking unfinished work and accompanied by Sugawara in many sources), where she carried out war-related work and waited out much of the conflict.
- She (and often Sugawara) returned to Paris post-war, around 1917, reopening her workshop and receiving the major commission from Suzanne Talbot (Madame Mathieu-Lévy) for the rue de Lota apartment interior (completed ~1919–1922).
- The Fauteuil aux Dragons was created in this immediate post-return period, likely for or in association with Talbot, requiring her presence in Paris for its labor-intensive lacquer execution.
1920 Ja Was? Bild by Schwitters
2014 SOLD for £ 14M by Christie's
The art of Kurt Schwitters is a direct consequence of the horrors of war. Along with Arp, he understands that the world has changed and that only a completely new vision may accompany the necessary rebirth.
Technically, Schwitters is very close to the Dada movement in which he had friends. In that defeated Germany promised to decadence, he built his art with fragments of everyday found objects nailed and glued on wood such as torn newspapers, posters, papier mâché, leather. However, he opted for a positive message that is the opposite of the Dada destruction. Unsurprisingly, Schwitters was later persecuted by the Nazis chasing the decadent art.
His creed is summed up in a few cleverly chosen statements.
Pioneer of installations nearly half a century ahead of his time, he introduces himself to his colleagues as a painter who nails his pictures together.
He promotes his Merz revolution, a word that appeared perhaps by chance in one of his works after he tore a paper of the Kommerz und Privatbank. Merz is in only four letters a remarkable anticapitalist and anti-industrial motto.
On June 24, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 14M from a lower estimate of £ 4M a 1920 Merzbild in large size, 109 x 80 cm including the artist's frame. Positively titled Ja Was? Bild, it anticipates the paintings-poems by Miro. The reverse side covered by newspaper fragments must be considered as a full part of the Bild.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Technically, Schwitters is very close to the Dada movement in which he had friends. In that defeated Germany promised to decadence, he built his art with fragments of everyday found objects nailed and glued on wood such as torn newspapers, posters, papier mâché, leather. However, he opted for a positive message that is the opposite of the Dada destruction. Unsurprisingly, Schwitters was later persecuted by the Nazis chasing the decadent art.
His creed is summed up in a few cleverly chosen statements.
Pioneer of installations nearly half a century ahead of his time, he introduces himself to his colleagues as a painter who nails his pictures together.
He promotes his Merz revolution, a word that appeared perhaps by chance in one of his works after he tore a paper of the Kommerz und Privatbank. Merz is in only four letters a remarkable anticapitalist and anti-industrial motto.
On June 24, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 14M from a lower estimate of £ 4M a 1920 Merzbild in large size, 109 x 80 cm including the artist's frame. Positively titled Ja Was? Bild, it anticipates the paintings-poems by Miro. The reverse side covered by newspaper fragments must be considered as a full part of the Bild.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1918-1924 Le Pont Japonais by MONET
1
W 1921a
2014 SOLD for $ 15.8M by Sotheby's
The series of the Nymphéas was acclaimed by the connoisseurs and Claude Monet was already famous. In 1918, aged 78, he innovates once more by returning to the theme of the Japanese bridge. He did not need an addendum to his glory, and this confidential series was used to satisfy his desire to create.
These 24 oils on canvas made up to 1924 cannot be dated with accuracy, excepted one example sold in 1919 to Bernheim-Jeune. None other was exhibited in Monet's lifetime. He certainly reworked most of them in parallel, especially after 1923 when his cataract had been corrected by three surgery operations and a new pair of glasses, amending his vision of the colors. L'Allée de Rosiers is a series of 6 from the same period.
The curved bridge over the water lilies is an idea of the artist, inspired by Japanese prints and realized in 1893 in the development phase of the pond. Monet enjoyed to be photographed at this place of his garden and made an interesting series of 18 Impressionist paintings in 1899.
The art of Monet is a continuous learning of artistic creation that spans over half a century. In this last series of the Japanese Bridges, we find the subtle variations of light from a work to another, from flaming to night. There are also the loss of the horizon, as in the Nymphéas, or the sketch of a fading bridge like Waterloo's in London.
However, this series is not a synthesis but a new evolution, once again too ahead of its time to be understood by his contemporaries. The figurative line disappears almost completely in favor of the exploding colors.
The technique also is new. The material is thick, worked by the addition of new layers on still wet surfaces. The result of this sublime magma is an environment in which the viewer can be wrapped. These ultimate Japanese bridges by Monet merging sky, land and water anticipate Rothko's abstract expressionism by three decades with a practice of progressive mixing of colors that is close to what Richter will do much later.
A Pont Japonais from this series, oil on canvas 90 x 116 cm, was sold for $ 15.8M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 7, 2014, lot 28. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Seen from afar, this work is a nice figurative sketch. Seen at any distance, it is a very good demonstration of the essential role of color in the expressionist art of the twentieth century.
Grok thought from an ArtHitParade tweet :
These 24 oils on canvas made up to 1924 cannot be dated with accuracy, excepted one example sold in 1919 to Bernheim-Jeune. None other was exhibited in Monet's lifetime. He certainly reworked most of them in parallel, especially after 1923 when his cataract had been corrected by three surgery operations and a new pair of glasses, amending his vision of the colors. L'Allée de Rosiers is a series of 6 from the same period.
The curved bridge over the water lilies is an idea of the artist, inspired by Japanese prints and realized in 1893 in the development phase of the pond. Monet enjoyed to be photographed at this place of his garden and made an interesting series of 18 Impressionist paintings in 1899.
The art of Monet is a continuous learning of artistic creation that spans over half a century. In this last series of the Japanese Bridges, we find the subtle variations of light from a work to another, from flaming to night. There are also the loss of the horizon, as in the Nymphéas, or the sketch of a fading bridge like Waterloo's in London.
However, this series is not a synthesis but a new evolution, once again too ahead of its time to be understood by his contemporaries. The figurative line disappears almost completely in favor of the exploding colors.
The technique also is new. The material is thick, worked by the addition of new layers on still wet surfaces. The result of this sublime magma is an environment in which the viewer can be wrapped. These ultimate Japanese bridges by Monet merging sky, land and water anticipate Rothko's abstract expressionism by three decades with a practice of progressive mixing of colors that is close to what Richter will do much later.
A Pont Japonais from this series, oil on canvas 90 x 116 cm, was sold for $ 15.8M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 7, 2014, lot 28. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Seen from afar, this work is a nice figurative sketch. Seen at any distance, it is a very good demonstration of the essential role of color in the expressionist art of the twentieth century.
Grok thought from an ArtHitParade tweet :
- This 2014 X post by @ArtHitParade reports the $15.8 million sale at Sotheby's of Claude Monet's "Le Pont Japonais," a circa-1920 oil painting depicting the Japanese footbridge in his Giverny garden, part of a late-series exploring light and water lilies amid his declining eyesight.
- The painting captures Monet's impressionist evolution into abstracted forms, influenced by cataracts that shifted his palette toward blues and purples, as documented in art historical analyses like those in the Journal of the History of Collections.
- In auction context, the price marked strong demand for Monet's late works; comparable sales, such as a 2019 "Water Lilies" for $20.4 million (adjusted to ~$24 million today), highlight sustained appreciation, with the 2014 result signaling post-recession market recovery in impressionism.
2
W 1915
2019 SOLD for $ 12.8M by Christie's
A smaller Pont Japonais, oil on canvas 73 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 12.8M by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 36A. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The blue-green foliage with touches of violet interprets the early morning while a white mist had settled on the pond. Another viewpoint was operated for the afternoon views.
The blue-green foliage with touches of violet interprets the early morning while a white mist had settled on the pond. Another viewpoint was operated for the afternoon views.
1920 Flowers and fruits by QI BAISHI
1
ex Hu Egong
2018 SOLD for RMB 92M by China Guardian
Qi Baishi settled in Beijing in 1917, aged 53. His art based on his travels and on his observation of nature reached a new maturity, encouraged by Wu Changshuo. A Ming predecessor was Xu Wei. Under the guidance of Chen Shizeng, he developed his vigorous style of red flowers and ink leaves.
Keen to protect his art, Qi Baishi was remaining away from politics, but he also managed to have republican leaders as patrons.
He dedicated in 1920 a set of four 178 x 49 cm hanging scrolls to Rong Ming, also known as Hu Egong, on the theme of flowers and fruits.
These four screens reportedly took four days of effort to paint the flowers and fruits of the four seasons. Loquats, lychees, beans, peonies, hibiscus, osmanthus, golden chrysanthemums and other auspicious flowers and fruits were included one by one. The branches are spreading, the flowers and leaves overcome one another. The colors are gorgeous, dense and thick.
This ink and color on paper was sold for RMB 92M by China Guardian on November 20, 2018, lot 312.
Keen to protect his art, Qi Baishi was remaining away from politics, but he also managed to have republican leaders as patrons.
He dedicated in 1920 a set of four 178 x 49 cm hanging scrolls to Rong Ming, also known as Hu Egong, on the theme of flowers and fruits.
These four screens reportedly took four days of effort to paint the flowers and fruits of the four seasons. Loquats, lychees, beans, peonies, hibiscus, osmanthus, golden chrysanthemums and other auspicious flowers and fruits were included one by one. The branches are spreading, the flowers and leaves overcome one another. The colors are gorgeous, dense and thick.
This ink and color on paper was sold for RMB 92M by China Guardian on November 20, 2018, lot 312.
2
ex Cao Kun
2022 SOLD for HK$ 79M by Sotheby's
Soon afterward Qi Baishi dedicated a set of flowers and fruits to a Mr Zhongshan who was to be from 1923 to 1924 as Cao Kun the President of the Republic of China.
That latter set is made of four hanging scrolls in ink and color on paper 284 x 64 cm each. The four panels respectively display Peaches, Loquats with plantain lilies, Pomegranates with plumed cockscombs and Grapes, each panel with a critical statement. In the Chinese tradition, these elements symbolize abundance, longevity and family wealth. Qi's unprecedented style is a dense composition in free brushwork and bright colors that nearly fills the whole surface of the paper.
They had possibly constituted a set of eight with a set of four with other plants (chrysanthemums, gourds, hibiscus, pine tree), currently kept at the Boston Museum of Art. This monumental size may be compared with the 1925 set of twelve landscapes 180 x 47 cm each sold for RMB 925M by Poly in 2017.
Flowers and fruits was sold for HK $ 79M from a lower estimate of HK $ 18M by Sotheby's on October 8, 2022, lot 9.
That latter set is made of four hanging scrolls in ink and color on paper 284 x 64 cm each. The four panels respectively display Peaches, Loquats with plantain lilies, Pomegranates with plumed cockscombs and Grapes, each panel with a critical statement. In the Chinese tradition, these elements symbolize abundance, longevity and family wealth. Qi's unprecedented style is a dense composition in free brushwork and bright colors that nearly fills the whole surface of the paper.
They had possibly constituted a set of eight with a set of four with other plants (chrysanthemums, gourds, hibiscus, pine tree), currently kept at the Boston Museum of Art. This monumental size may be compared with the 1925 set of twelve landscapes 180 x 47 cm each sold for RMB 925M by Poly in 2017.
Flowers and fruits was sold for HK $ 79M from a lower estimate of HK $ 18M by Sotheby's on October 8, 2022, lot 9.
1920 LEGER
1
Composition
2022 SOLD for £ 6.2M by Christie's
After the war the avant-garde artists feel a need for a new age. Back to Paris in 1918, Fernand Léger restarts in pure colors his avant-garde creativity. Cubism begins to become out of fashion due to the difficulty of interpretation of its images by the public. He had observed the mechanized warfare while serving as a sapper in the trenches.
He stated having discovered the reality of the objects therein. A full abstraction does not match his artistic conception any more. His mechanical period is a response still imbued with cubism to the craze of the Futurists for the machines as the symbol of modern life. The machine age had begun as a reaction to the destructions of war.
Léger views the poetry of the machine and never tries co copy it. He desires to extract from it a beauty like a landscape painter would do.
Le Moteur, oil on canvas 137 x 118 cm painted in 1918, was sold for $ 16.7M by Christie's on November 6, 2001, lot 9.
A Composition painted in 1920 by Fernand Léger is displaying a flattened interlocking of unrelated mechanical components in red, orange and yellow at the border of a new abstraction dominated by a flattened expression of vertical tubes. The surface is fully filled by these mingled elements.
This oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm was sold for £ 6.2M from a lower estimate of £ 5M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 44.
He stated having discovered the reality of the objects therein. A full abstraction does not match his artistic conception any more. His mechanical period is a response still imbued with cubism to the craze of the Futurists for the machines as the symbol of modern life. The machine age had begun as a reaction to the destructions of war.
Léger views the poetry of the machine and never tries co copy it. He desires to extract from it a beauty like a landscape painter would do.
Le Moteur, oil on canvas 137 x 118 cm painted in 1918, was sold for $ 16.7M by Christie's on November 6, 2001, lot 9.
A Composition painted in 1920 by Fernand Léger is displaying a flattened interlocking of unrelated mechanical components in red, orange and yellow at the border of a new abstraction dominated by a flattened expression of vertical tubes. The surface is fully filled by these mingled elements.
This oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm was sold for £ 6.2M from a lower estimate of £ 5M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 44.
2
Les Femmes à la Toilette
2008 SOLD for $ 10.1M by Christie's
After the war Fernand Léger restarts in pure colors his avant-garde creativity. Cubism begins to become out of fashion due to the difficulty of interpretation of its images by the public. His mechanistic phase is a response still imbued with cubism to the craze of the Futurists for the machines.
The human figure returns into his art. His world is now flat : the juxtaposition of mingled figurative forms creates the emotion. In 1920 a series of eight paintings on the theme of the woman seated at the toilette table and looking at herself in the mirror starts that anti-Cubist period of one of the former Cubist pioneers. The Purisme developed in 1918 by Ozenfant and Jeanneret also known as Le Corbusier is a similar rejection of the Cubism.
The first five are titled Femme au miroir. The next two are Les Femmes à la toilette, and the last is a singular Femme à la toilette. The forms made of pictorial elements without femininity are so re-positioned and mingled that counting the characters becomes ineffective.
Les Femmes à la toilette 2ème état, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 10.1M by Christie's on May 6, 2008, lot 37.
The human figure returns into his art. His world is now flat : the juxtaposition of mingled figurative forms creates the emotion. In 1920 a series of eight paintings on the theme of the woman seated at the toilette table and looking at herself in the mirror starts that anti-Cubist period of one of the former Cubist pioneers. The Purisme developed in 1918 by Ozenfant and Jeanneret also known as Le Corbusier is a similar rejection of the Cubism.
The first five are titled Femme au miroir. The next two are Les Femmes à la toilette, and the last is a singular Femme à la toilette. The forms made of pictorial elements without femininity are so re-positioned and mingled that counting the characters becomes ineffective.
Les Femmes à la toilette 2ème état, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 10.1M by Christie's on May 6, 2008, lot 37.
1920 Tennis by Bellows
2012 SOLD for $ 7M by Sotheby's
George "Geo" Bellows is passionate about his country, America. The favorite theme of his art is the crowd, of which he captures the movement. Being himself an athlete, he is interested in sports, and of course in the crowds of the spectators.
On December 1, 1999, Sotheby's sold for $ 27.5M Polo Crowd, oil on canvas 115 x 161 cm, painted in 1910. The buyer, Bill Gates, was identified after the sale.
A tennis scene painted in 1920, oil on canvas 109 x 135 cm, was sold for $ 7M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2012.
On vacation the previous year in Newport RI, the artist had attended a tournament won by Bill Tilden of which he wanted to recreate the atmosphere. The game of tennis is underway, and the crowd is dense around the players. The style is typical of this artist: almost impressionistic in the clothing of the crowd, realistic up to the border of naivety in the anecdotal part of the scene.
This dynamic and colorful work is a very interesting account of the atmosphere of the early Roaring Twenties. The image is shared on Wikiart :
On December 1, 1999, Sotheby's sold for $ 27.5M Polo Crowd, oil on canvas 115 x 161 cm, painted in 1910. The buyer, Bill Gates, was identified after the sale.
A tennis scene painted in 1920, oil on canvas 109 x 135 cm, was sold for $ 7M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2012.
On vacation the previous year in Newport RI, the artist had attended a tournament won by Bill Tilden of which he wanted to recreate the atmosphere. The game of tennis is underway, and the crowd is dense around the players. The style is typical of this artist: almost impressionistic in the clothing of the crowd, realistic up to the border of naivety in the anecdotal part of the scene.
This dynamic and colorful work is a very interesting account of the atmosphere of the early Roaring Twenties. The image is shared on Wikiart :
