1928
See also : US painting < 1940 O'Keeffe Eastern Europe Chagall Soutine Lempicka Man and woman Self portrait II
1928 Wonderful Love
2017 SOLD for $ 28.5M including premium
Marc and Bella are charming in their total empathy for one another. On November 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Les Amoureux, oil on canvas 117 x 90 cm painted in 1928 by Chagall, lot 8 estimated $ 12M.
The theme of lovers portraying his own couple is recurrent in the art of Chagall but this work is especially touching by the attitudes, the realism of the very recognizable faces and some discretion of the surrealist attributes.
In their beatitude the lovers are floating. The young man with closed eyes is resting his head between the cheek and the shoulder of the woman. She gently welcomes this enthusiastic impulse but her eyes wide open indicate the lucidity with which she guides in real life this innocent husband.
Paris is their nest. In that same year Marc painted Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel where their dear little Ida is disguised as a floating angel to present the bouquet. This oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm was sold for £ 7M including premium by Christie's on February 2, 2016.
Let's go back to our Amoureux. Marc does not miss to express his gratitude to his host country. The tricolor dress of Bella ends with a blue in which is transposed the sky centered by a dazzling sun. In this sky a tiny bird comes to offer its auspices to the embraced couple. Leaves and flowers bring their frame to this ethereal scene.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in which the love of Marc and Bella is commented by one of their granddaughters.
The theme of lovers portraying his own couple is recurrent in the art of Chagall but this work is especially touching by the attitudes, the realism of the very recognizable faces and some discretion of the surrealist attributes.
In their beatitude the lovers are floating. The young man with closed eyes is resting his head between the cheek and the shoulder of the woman. She gently welcomes this enthusiastic impulse but her eyes wide open indicate the lucidity with which she guides in real life this innocent husband.
Paris is their nest. In that same year Marc painted Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel where their dear little Ida is disguised as a floating angel to present the bouquet. This oil on canvas 90 x 117 cm was sold for £ 7M including premium by Christie's on February 2, 2016.
Let's go back to our Amoureux. Marc does not miss to express his gratitude to his host country. The tricolor dress of Bella ends with a blue in which is transposed the sky centered by a dazzling sun. In this sky a tiny bird comes to offer its auspices to the embraced couple. Leaves and flowers bring their frame to this ethereal scene.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in which the love of Marc and Bella is commented by one of their granddaughters.
1928 View of New York by Edward Hopper
2013 SOLD 19 M$ including premium
Hopper does not want to be blinded by the foils of America, but he loves his country and New York. In reaction against his time, he developed a passion for anonymous houses in front of which he goes his way by road, rail or river. He does not know whether they are used or abandoned, but their menace of ruins are the symbol of the past that he does not wish to leave.
On May 23 in New York, Christie's sells Blackwell's Island, an oil on canvas painted in 1928, 88 x 151 cm, estimated $ 15M. It is a very good example showing the independence of Hopper against any art trend.
Blackwell's is part of Manhattan, but this district without skyscrapers chosen by Hopper to symbolize New York was known for its prison and penitentiary hospital. Always in search of the past, the artist pretends to ignore that its name was Welfare Island since 1921 (to become Roosevelt Island later).
On East River shore, buildings align with factory chimneys. A small motor boat, single direct example of a human activity, is almost out of field going to a future that does not concern us.
This is a very geometric composition with sharp colors. The sky is crossed by radiant tracks. All front sides of the buildings shine under the sun excepted one of them. The river is too blue, voluntarily, to capture all the attention. This landscape is not classical and is the opposite of impressionism. It is not far from surrealism. It is a Hopper.
SELECTED TWEET
Sunlight on the side of Hopper's houses is as artificial as stage lighting & sets the scene for the drama called American Loneliness.
— Lee Mamunes (@HopperAtoZ) May 18, 2013
POST SALE COMMENT
Hopper is always fascinating, and this painting is outstanding. It was sold $ 19M including premium.
On May 23 in New York, Christie's sells Blackwell's Island, an oil on canvas painted in 1928, 88 x 151 cm, estimated $ 15M. It is a very good example showing the independence of Hopper against any art trend.
Blackwell's is part of Manhattan, but this district without skyscrapers chosen by Hopper to symbolize New York was known for its prison and penitentiary hospital. Always in search of the past, the artist pretends to ignore that its name was Welfare Island since 1921 (to become Roosevelt Island later).
On East River shore, buildings align with factory chimneys. A small motor boat, single direct example of a human activity, is almost out of field going to a future that does not concern us.
This is a very geometric composition with sharp colors. The sky is crossed by radiant tracks. All front sides of the buildings shine under the sun excepted one of them. The river is too blue, voluntarily, to capture all the attention. This landscape is not classical and is the opposite of impressionism. It is not far from surrealism. It is a Hopper.
SELECTED TWEET
Sunlight on the side of Hopper's houses is as artificial as stage lighting & sets the scene for the drama called American Loneliness.
— Lee Mamunes (@HopperAtoZ) May 18, 2013
POST SALE COMMENT
Hopper is always fascinating, and this painting is outstanding. It was sold $ 19M including premium.
1928 Red Poppy by O'Keeffe
2024 SOLD for $ 16.5M by Christie's
In the art of Georgia O'Keeffe the shape precedes the color which she considers as the achievement of the work. She once said : "What is my experience of the flower if not color ?".
In full frontal view the red poppy blossom is perfect and its bright red often delighted the painters. She only executed six oil paintings of that species, three of them in large size. A 1927 example displays two blossoms pressed against one another.
Painted in 1928, the final opus is a striking oversized portrait of the flower in vertical format with a superb gradation of each petal from orange to red with a few yellow elements. The deep red center is the focal point. Three edges are trimmed by the frame. A neutral background highlights the flower.
This oil on canvas 92 x 76 cm was sold for $ 16.5M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 6 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In 1996 another example from that series was selected by the US Postal Service for editing a stamp representing Georgia's art.
She always used to comment her art with a rare self understanding. She once explained as follows her extreme close up series of flowers : "Nobody sees a flower, really - It is so small - We haven't time, and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time."
In full frontal view the red poppy blossom is perfect and its bright red often delighted the painters. She only executed six oil paintings of that species, three of them in large size. A 1927 example displays two blossoms pressed against one another.
Painted in 1928, the final opus is a striking oversized portrait of the flower in vertical format with a superb gradation of each petal from orange to red with a few yellow elements. The deep red center is the focal point. Three edges are trimmed by the frame. A neutral background highlights the flower.
This oil on canvas 92 x 76 cm was sold for $ 16.5M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 6 B. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In 1996 another example from that series was selected by the US Postal Service for editing a stamp representing Georgia's art.
She always used to comment her art with a rare self understanding. She once explained as follows her extreme close up series of flowers : "Nobody sees a flower, really - It is so small - We haven't time, and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time."
1928 Odalisques jouant aux Dames by Matisse
2010 SOLD for £ 11.8M by Sotheby's
Henri Matisse is throughout his career a lover of color. When he settles in Nice after the First World War, his themes change. He now considers Orientalist scenes as a pretext for the most colorful arrangements.
Odalisques jouant aux dames, painted in 1928, features two women in a lush interior that could be a room in a harem. One of them is reclining in the nude on a sofa, with a small cloth over the hips. The other woman is seated barefoot on the floor, in a vibrant garment inspired from the collection of Moroccan textiles of the artist. The background is richly decorated with ornate patterns from models that were probably installed in the studio for the purpose of that painting.
An empty checkerboard is placed on the floor in front of them. The women do not look at it and no play is running. This board provides a contrast by its square black and white geometry against the roundnesses of its vivid surrounding. The title proposed for this work may have a double meaning of playing checkers and behaving like Ladies.
This oil on canvas 50 x 65 cm was sold for £ 11.8M fby Sotheby's on June 22, 2010, lot 14.
Odalisques jouant aux dames, painted in 1928, features two women in a lush interior that could be a room in a harem. One of them is reclining in the nude on a sofa, with a small cloth over the hips. The other woman is seated barefoot on the floor, in a vibrant garment inspired from the collection of Moroccan textiles of the artist. The background is richly decorated with ornate patterns from models that were probably installed in the studio for the purpose of that painting.
An empty checkerboard is placed on the floor in front of them. The women do not look at it and no play is running. This board provides a contrast by its square black and white geometry against the roundnesses of its vivid surrounding. The title proposed for this work may have a double meaning of playing checkers and behaving like Ladies.
This oil on canvas 50 x 65 cm was sold for £ 11.8M fby Sotheby's on June 22, 2010, lot 14.
LEMPICKA
1
1928-1930 Kizette en Rose
2023 SOLD for $ 14.8M by Christie's
Born in 1916 in Saint-Petersburg, Marie-Christine later known as Kizette was the unique child of Tadeusz and Tamara Lempicki. The pretty blue eyed blonde was as a little girl a logical model for the paintings of her mother.
Painted in 1927, Kizette au balcon features the 11 year old girl with a childish face. A schematized city is viewed behind the balcony.
In the same year Kizette en rose, oil on canvas 116 x 73 cm, features the same girl in a time projection from the real early teenage to a fashionable pre adolescent with an elongated body. She is seated on a balcony with an angular harbor and ships in the background. Cleanly dressed in a pale pink attire and white socks and shoes nicely contrasting over her summer suntan, she looks upwards with a book in her hand. A missing shoe increases the intimacy.
This painting was purchased in 1928 by the Musée d'Arts de Nantes. Tamara de Lempicka painted a replica in the same size and technique between 1928 and 1930. Kizette en rose II was sold for $ 14.8M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Christie's on November 9, 2023, lot 10 B.
Painted in 1927, Kizette au balcon features the 11 year old girl with a childish face. A schematized city is viewed behind the balcony.
In the same year Kizette en rose, oil on canvas 116 x 73 cm, features the same girl in a time projection from the real early teenage to a fashionable pre adolescent with an elongated body. She is seated on a balcony with an angular harbor and ships in the background. Cleanly dressed in a pale pink attire and white socks and shoes nicely contrasting over her summer suntan, she looks upwards with a book in her hand. A missing shoe increases the intimacy.
This painting was purchased in 1928 by the Musée d'Arts de Nantes. Tamara de Lempicka painted a replica in the same size and technique between 1928 and 1930. Kizette en rose II was sold for $ 14.8M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Christie's on November 9, 2023, lot 10 B.
2
1928 Romana de la Salle
2022 SOLD for $ 14M by Sotheby's
In the roaring twenties (in French the années folles), Tamara de Lempicka is the illustrator of dandies and of what was called the new woman.
While cultivating her own glamour, the artist appreciated the grand life that daring women managed to live in full visibility and exuberance. Her portrait of the Duchesse de la Salle dressed for horse riding in a masculine fashion with an open collar, oil on canvas 162 x 97 cm painted in 1925, is typical. It was sold for $ 4.45M by Sotheby's on May 5, 2009, lot 26.
That 38 year old Greek born androgynous Lady was not a fancy aristocrat but a former duchess, having divorced in 1911 from the duc de la Salle de Rochemaure. Her full length portrait is both inspired from 16th or 17th Mannerism in her attitude and staging and of Cubism in the stylized nocturnal cityscape.
In 1928 Lempicka painted the portrait of the Duchesse's daughter Romana de la Salle de Rochemaure, a sculptural 22 year old woman. This oil on canvas 116 x 73 cm was sold for $ 14M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2022, lot 115. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Its style is inspired by Renaisssance and Mannerism in the follow of the portrait of her mother. The bright lipstick is in the style of the period Hollywood stars. The dark gaze and severe mouth are commanding. The flying drape of her dress appeals for a new female freedom.
While cultivating her own glamour, the artist appreciated the grand life that daring women managed to live in full visibility and exuberance. Her portrait of the Duchesse de la Salle dressed for horse riding in a masculine fashion with an open collar, oil on canvas 162 x 97 cm painted in 1925, is typical. It was sold for $ 4.45M by Sotheby's on May 5, 2009, lot 26.
That 38 year old Greek born androgynous Lady was not a fancy aristocrat but a former duchess, having divorced in 1911 from the duc de la Salle de Rochemaure. Her full length portrait is both inspired from 16th or 17th Mannerism in her attitude and staging and of Cubism in the stylized nocturnal cityscape.
In 1928 Lempicka painted the portrait of the Duchesse's daughter Romana de la Salle de Rochemaure, a sculptural 22 year old woman. This oil on canvas 116 x 73 cm was sold for $ 14M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2022, lot 115. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Its style is inspired by Renaisssance and Mannerism in the follow of the portrait of her mother. The bright lipstick is in the style of the period Hollywood stars. The dark gaze and severe mouth are commanding. The flying drape of her dress appeals for a new female freedom.
Le Valet de Chambre by SOUTINE
1
1927-1928
2010 SOLD for £ 7.9M by Sotheby's
Painted ca 1927-1928, Le Valet de Chambre by Soutine features a boy in the uniform of a hotel valet, in dark red with black sleeves and trousers. He is posing frontally with crossed arms, quietly seated in near full length on a wooden stool.
This oil on canvas 110 x 64 cm was sold for £ 7.9M by Sotheby's on June 22, 2010, lot 24. It had been previously owned by the communist billionaire Armand Hammer.
This oil on canvas 110 x 64 cm was sold for £ 7.9M by Sotheby's on June 22, 2010, lot 24. It had been previously owned by the communist billionaire Armand Hammer.
2
1928
2015 SOLD for £ 10.8M by Sotheby's
Painted ca 1928, a Valet de Chambre features the same boy in the same uniform as the example above. This closer view in three quarter length is more detailed in terms of facial lines, large ears and waiting expression. He bears a bow tie over his white shirt.
This oil on canvas 73 x 46 cm was sold for £ 10.8M from a lower estimate of £ 6.5M by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015, lot 31.
On November 16, 2016, Christie's sold for $ 6.5M Le Garçon d'étage (the floor groom), oil on canvas 78 x 67 cm painted ca 1928, lot 21 B. This character is decidedly unfriendly with too little eyes under thick eyebrows, prominent ears and the flattened nose of a boxer or brawler. He is no longer an apprentice but his age is indefinable. He is uncomfortable in his coat and his collar is crumpled.
This oil on canvas 73 x 46 cm was sold for £ 10.8M from a lower estimate of £ 6.5M by Sotheby's on June 24, 2015, lot 31.
On November 16, 2016, Christie's sold for $ 6.5M Le Garçon d'étage (the floor groom), oil on canvas 78 x 67 cm painted ca 1928, lot 21 B. This character is decidedly unfriendly with too little eyes under thick eyebrows, prominent ears and the flattened nose of a boxer or brawler. He is no longer an apprentice but his age is indefinable. He is uncomfortable in his coat and his collar is crumpled.
1928 Le Penseur by Rodin (posthumous)
2022 SOLD for € 10.7M by Christie's
The central figure of the Porte de l'Enfer commissioned to Rodin in 1880, Le Penseur is the representation of introspection embedded in a colossal male human body at rest in the nude.
The 71 cm high prototype is made in clay in 1882. The highly popular monumental version 1.85 m high is revealed in 1904. Small versions are also prepared.
The bronzes from the original size are identified as 'taille de la Porte' or 'Moyen modèle'. They were cast from 1884 to 1969 by the foundries Griffoul, François Rudier, Alexis Rudier and Georges Rudier.
A Moyen modèle made by the company of Alexis Rudier ca 1928 with a dark brown patina was sold for € 10.7M by Christie's on June 30, 2022, lot 41. Its wooden plinth had been commissioned by the interior designer Alberto Pinto for the use of a 'grand style' apartment on the Quai d'Orsay.
The 71 cm high prototype is made in clay in 1882. The highly popular monumental version 1.85 m high is revealed in 1904. Small versions are also prepared.
The bronzes from the original size are identified as 'taille de la Porte' or 'Moyen modèle'. They were cast from 1884 to 1969 by the foundries Griffoul, François Rudier, Alexis Rudier and Georges Rudier.
A Moyen modèle made by the company of Alexis Rudier ca 1928 with a dark brown patina was sold for € 10.7M by Christie's on June 30, 2022, lot 41. Its wooden plinth had been commissioned by the interior designer Alberto Pinto for the use of a 'grand style' apartment on the Quai d'Orsay.
1928 Still Life with Lilac by Petrov-Vodkin
2019 SOLD for £ 9.3M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin devotes most of his career to artistic education while looking for new solutions. His paintings often have a didactic purpose. He is also a theater decorator and a portrait painter.
He is influenced by Matisse's La Danse, with its pure colors and also with the suppression of the perspective which creates a new poetry by eliminating the information of the dimension of the subject and its distance. After the October Revolution, he is one of the main organizers of art education in the Soviet Union.
Cézanne and Matisse had used still life to experiment with bold staging. Petrov-Vodkin chose as early as 1918 to display his tabletops in an almost vertical angle.
His works are very rare in private hands. On June 3, 2019, Christie's sold for £ 9.3M including premium over a lower estimate of £ 1M a Still Life with Lilac, lot 84. This painting had been bought around 1932 by an Italian art critic.
This oil on canvas 80 x 65 cm painted in 1928 is a synthesis of the artist's studies on this theme. The angle is bold and only the primary colors are used. The freshly cut branch of lilac is placed in a transparent glass, and the absence of perspective allows a lush vision on its blossoms. The rest of the composition is populated by various objects that are symbols of the artist's personal life.
At the end of 1928 Petrov-Vodkin is infected with tuberculosis. He considerably slows down his work as a painter for medical reasons and begins to write his memoirs. He will not give up teaching and becomes in 1932 the very first president of the Leningrad Association of Painters, just created to put a termination to all previous literary and artistic groups of the post-revolutionary period.
He is influenced by Matisse's La Danse, with its pure colors and also with the suppression of the perspective which creates a new poetry by eliminating the information of the dimension of the subject and its distance. After the October Revolution, he is one of the main organizers of art education in the Soviet Union.
Cézanne and Matisse had used still life to experiment with bold staging. Petrov-Vodkin chose as early as 1918 to display his tabletops in an almost vertical angle.
His works are very rare in private hands. On June 3, 2019, Christie's sold for £ 9.3M including premium over a lower estimate of £ 1M a Still Life with Lilac, lot 84. This painting had been bought around 1932 by an Italian art critic.
This oil on canvas 80 x 65 cm painted in 1928 is a synthesis of the artist's studies on this theme. The angle is bold and only the primary colors are used. The freshly cut branch of lilac is placed in a transparent glass, and the absence of perspective allows a lush vision on its blossoms. The rest of the composition is populated by various objects that are symbols of the artist's personal life.
At the end of 1928 Petrov-Vodkin is infected with tuberculosis. He considerably slows down his work as a painter for medical reasons and begins to write his memoirs. He will not give up teaching and becomes in 1932 the very first president of the Leningrad Association of Painters, just created to put a termination to all previous literary and artistic groups of the post-revolutionary period.
