1930
1930 Mondrian reaches the Infinity
2014 SOLD 12.4 M£ including premium
Mondrian's quest is mystical. The colors are reduced to blue, yellow or red in a purity without shade, painted with high care to ensure the removal of any inhomogeneity.
By studying the parallel lines, Euclid invited to consider the infinite through a figure executed on a small surface. In 1930, it becomes clear that Mondrian endeavours to implement a similar vision in art: the pattern of strictly horizontal and vertical lines is important, color is secondary.
On February 4 in London, Christie's sells an oil on canvas, estimated £ 8M.
At that time, two colors are now sufficient on the condirion that they appear at opposite corners of the canvas. The lowest line is very close to the edge, opening a mysterious area. Under such conditions, a small picture is sufficient to express rhe deletion of the limits : the size of this square canvas is only 50 cm.
There is no fantasy in an abstract painting by Mondrian. The thicker horizontal line at the top of the yellow zone is so short on the canvas that it is indeed the visible part of an endless journey.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's. It masterfully demonstrates that this painting is just one element in a series of different colors, put in a comparable manner on a similar pattern. In another artwork, yellow and blue are reversed compared with the painting that comes for sale.
In a less dogmatic way than Malevich, Mondrian also eliminates any emotional value of color. The only impression that remains is infinity.
POST SALE COMMENT
This small painting enables to appreciate Mondrian's quest. It was sold for £ 12.4 million including premium.
By studying the parallel lines, Euclid invited to consider the infinite through a figure executed on a small surface. In 1930, it becomes clear that Mondrian endeavours to implement a similar vision in art: the pattern of strictly horizontal and vertical lines is important, color is secondary.
On February 4 in London, Christie's sells an oil on canvas, estimated £ 8M.
At that time, two colors are now sufficient on the condirion that they appear at opposite corners of the canvas. The lowest line is very close to the edge, opening a mysterious area. Under such conditions, a small picture is sufficient to express rhe deletion of the limits : the size of this square canvas is only 50 cm.
There is no fantasy in an abstract painting by Mondrian. The thicker horizontal line at the top of the yellow zone is so short on the canvas that it is indeed the visible part of an endless journey.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's. It masterfully demonstrates that this painting is just one element in a series of different colors, put in a comparable manner on a similar pattern. In another artwork, yellow and blue are reversed compared with the painting that comes for sale.
In a less dogmatic way than Malevich, Mondrian also eliminates any emotional value of color. The only impression that remains is infinity.
POST SALE COMMENT
This small painting enables to appreciate Mondrian's quest. It was sold for £ 12.4 million including premium.
1930 Bones by PICASSO
1
Profil
2021 SOLD for $ 7.3M by Christie's
After the 1920s Picasso needed to move forward, artistically and emotionally. As most often in his career he looks for influences.
The wrought iron sculptures of his childhood friend Julio Gonzalez encourage him to assemble forms featuring human organs. Watching from various angles creates the composition of his paintings as Matisse had done in his early days. When a rocky architecture posed on a beach evokes a woman whose hollows appeal for eroticism, it is unclear between Picasso and Dali who influenced the other.
Picasso defined this ephemeral surrealist period as the series of Bones, supported by some craze for the skeletons. Do not believe what artists say.
In fact Pablo is frustrated. He had chosen Marie-Thérèse as a muse but she is still a minor and he hides her in an apartment close to his. Olga certainly has doubts about Pablo's loyalty, and acrimony begins to settle in the couple.
Picasso's Bones are indeed women. The painter will later say that they are showing Olga, perhaps because he can no longer accept his frustration at not being legally able to display Marie-Thérèse.
On January 18, 1930 he was still painting L'Acrobate, a poor imitation of La Musique by Matisse, 162 x 130 cm. At the end of January in the same size the Baigneuse is Olga seated at the seaside. In a surrealist construction she has the overall morphology of a naked woman.
Profil, oil and charcoal on panel 66 x 50 cm painted on January 27, 1930, was sold for $ 7.3M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 47C. The human features are ambiguous, with a fully distorted face over the background of the head and neck with a blonde ponytail.
The wrought iron sculptures of his childhood friend Julio Gonzalez encourage him to assemble forms featuring human organs. Watching from various angles creates the composition of his paintings as Matisse had done in his early days. When a rocky architecture posed on a beach evokes a woman whose hollows appeal for eroticism, it is unclear between Picasso and Dali who influenced the other.
Picasso defined this ephemeral surrealist period as the series of Bones, supported by some craze for the skeletons. Do not believe what artists say.
In fact Pablo is frustrated. He had chosen Marie-Thérèse as a muse but she is still a minor and he hides her in an apartment close to his. Olga certainly has doubts about Pablo's loyalty, and acrimony begins to settle in the couple.
Picasso's Bones are indeed women. The painter will later say that they are showing Olga, perhaps because he can no longer accept his frustration at not being legally able to display Marie-Thérèse.
On January 18, 1930 he was still painting L'Acrobate, a poor imitation of La Musique by Matisse, 162 x 130 cm. At the end of January in the same size the Baigneuse is Olga seated at the seaside. In a surrealist construction she has the overall morphology of a naked woman.
Profil, oil and charcoal on panel 66 x 50 cm painted on January 27, 1930, was sold for $ 7.3M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 47C. The human features are ambiguous, with a fully distorted face over the background of the head and neck with a blonde ponytail.
2
Femme
2011 SOLD for $ 7.9M by Sotheby's
On February 1, 1930, Picasso's Femme is a hollowed head that has retained the triangular beak and vertical jaws of the previous Baigneuse. This 64 x 47 cm oil on panel was sold for $ 7.9M by Sotheby's on May 3, 2011 from a lower estimate of $ 3M, lot 17.
3
Figure
2018 SOLD for £ 8.3M by Christie's
On February 2, 1930, Figure foils the attempts to interpret the organic features, even in comparison with the Femme from the day before, as if Picasso had wanted to ensure an abstract jump of his fantasies from Olga to Marie-Thérèse.
This oil and charcoal on panel 66 x 49 cm was sold for £ 8.3M from a lower estimate of £ 3M for sale by Christie's on February 27, 2018, lot 106.
This oil and charcoal on panel 66 x 49 cm was sold for £ 8.3M from a lower estimate of £ 3M for sale by Christie's on February 27, 2018, lot 106.
1930 Nu Allongé by Matisse
2001 SOLD for $ 10.5M by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg
During Matisse's lifetime only eleven bronzes of the Nu allongé I (L'Aurore) were cast, the last one being an artist's proof. They are distributed from 1908 to 1951 in no less than five different casts.
The first three bronzes were edited in Paris around 1908. One of them was sold for £ 15M by Phillips on March 8, 2018, lot 9.
Two later copies had been sold : for $ 8.4M by Christie's on November 9, 1999 for one of the two 1912 bronzes and for $ 10.5M by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg on May 7, 2001 for one of the three 1930 bronzes, lot 17.
The first three bronzes were edited in Paris around 1908. One of them was sold for £ 15M by Phillips on March 8, 2018, lot 9.
Two later copies had been sold : for $ 8.4M by Christie's on November 9, 1999 for one of the two 1912 bronzes and for $ 10.5M by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg on May 7, 2001 for one of the three 1930 bronzes, lot 17.
1930 Pretty Women in the Roaring Twenties
2020 SOLD for $ 9.4M including premium
Tamara de Lempicka knew how to propel herself into Parisian high society through her talents as a portrait painter. She resolutely expresses the desire of good life in the Roaring Twenties, when women's skins begin to be revealed. The women in his paintings are neat and healthy, in warm colors and pleasing curves that appeal to partners. They are well in their time even when they are naked, by the bob hairstyle, the lipstick and the nails, and also by the proud assurance of their attitude.
She has no sexual taboos and is a pretty woman herself whom her admirers like to compare to Garbo. Beside her social portraits, she paints anonymous women who are often self-portraits or pictures of her favorite lovers, Ira and Rafaela.
On October 6 in New York, Christie's sells Les Jeunes femmes, oil on panel 73 x 38 cm painted in 1930, lot 29 estimated $ 6M. This work is also titled Les Deux amies in an assimilation with the couples of women by Toulouse-Lautrec.
They are naked. The slight chiaroscuro shows that they are outside. The brunette is leaning on a railing on which the blonde is seated in a dominant position. Despite their physical proximity, their intimacy is not sexual in this picture. They are both looking at something happening under their balcony.
The blonde's resemblance to Tamara seems obvious. The brunette, whose face is not visible, may be Ira.
She has no sexual taboos and is a pretty woman herself whom her admirers like to compare to Garbo. Beside her social portraits, she paints anonymous women who are often self-portraits or pictures of her favorite lovers, Ira and Rafaela.
On October 6 in New York, Christie's sells Les Jeunes femmes, oil on panel 73 x 38 cm painted in 1930, lot 29 estimated $ 6M. This work is also titled Les Deux amies in an assimilation with the couples of women by Toulouse-Lautrec.
They are naked. The slight chiaroscuro shows that they are outside. The brunette is leaning on a railing on which the blonde is seated in a dominant position. Despite their physical proximity, their intimacy is not sexual in this picture. They are both looking at something happening under their balcony.
The blonde's resemblance to Tamara seems obvious. The brunette, whose face is not visible, may be Ira.
1930 Gary Cooper as The Texan by Norman Rockwell
2007 SOLD for $ 5.9M including premium by Sotheby's
1930 An Emerald in New York City
2017 SOLD for $ 5.5M including premium
John D. Rockefeller was the first American billionaire. His last child and single son John D. Jr continued his philanthropic work and financed the construction of the Rockefeller Center in New York City from 1928 to 1930. Abby Rockefeller, the wife of John D. Jr. since 1901, was one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art in 1929.
In 1930 John D. Jr. presented to Abby a brooch adorned with several emeralds. The jewel was dismantled in the division of Abby's deceased estate in 1948 and the biggest emerald was brought to Raymond Yard, the favorite jeweler of the Rockefeller family. This superb step cut stone weighing 18.04 carats offers the typical characteristics of the best Colombian emeralds by its intense color and saturation.
The jewel created in 1948 by Yard on a platinum ring has not been modified. The emerald is flanked on both sides by small diamonds. It will be sold by Christie's on June 20 in their usual auction room at the Rockefeller Center in New York, lot 126 estimated $ 4M.
An emerald of similar quality was in the collection of Elizabeth Taylor. It had been assembled by Bvlgari on a brooch in a surrounding of diamonds. Sold by Christie's on December 13, 2011 for $ 6.6M including premium, this emerald weighing 23.46 carats reached the record price of $ 280K per carat.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
In 1930 John D. Jr. presented to Abby a brooch adorned with several emeralds. The jewel was dismantled in the division of Abby's deceased estate in 1948 and the biggest emerald was brought to Raymond Yard, the favorite jeweler of the Rockefeller family. This superb step cut stone weighing 18.04 carats offers the typical characteristics of the best Colombian emeralds by its intense color and saturation.
The jewel created in 1948 by Yard on a platinum ring has not been modified. The emerald is flanked on both sides by small diamonds. It will be sold by Christie's on June 20 in their usual auction room at the Rockefeller Center in New York, lot 126 estimated $ 4M.
An emerald of similar quality was in the collection of Elizabeth Taylor. It had been assembled by Bvlgari on a brooch in a surrounding of diamonds. Sold by Christie's on December 13, 2011 for $ 6.6M including premium, this emerald weighing 23.46 carats reached the record price of $ 280K per carat.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
1930 La Dormeuse by Lempicka
2011 SOLD for £ 4.1M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
1930 Les Jeunes Filles by Lempicka
2019 SOLD for $ 5.3M including pemium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1930-1931 On the Old Santa Fe Road by O'Keeffe
2014 SOLD for $ 5.1M by Sotheby's
The art by Georgia O'Keeffe explores new paths. She begins by being a pioneer of abstract art but that does not satisfy her. This daughter of a dairy farmer from Wisconsin wants to be close to nature. She develops two opposing themes during her stays in Lake George, both in architectural compositions : the grand landscape and the intimate detail of the flower.
During a tour of the west Rebecca Strand has an intuition : her friend Georgia will be able to express the wild power of the rolling hills of New Mexico. In 1929 the two women leave New York City and their husbands for a first long stay in Taos where they will return for several consecutive summers.
Georgia is immediately seduced by these pure landscapes that are not soiled by vegetation. In a spontaneously Humboldtian vision, she finds the biomorphic dimension of these dry lands flooded by sunlight.
Her first paintings in Taos highlight this formal discovery without altering the colors. On the Old Santa Fe Road, oil on canvas 41 x 76 cm painted in 1930-1931, was sold for $ 5.1M including premium by Sotheby's on November 20, 2014 over a lower estimate of $ 2M.
During a tour of the west Rebecca Strand has an intuition : her friend Georgia will be able to express the wild power of the rolling hills of New Mexico. In 1929 the two women leave New York City and their husbands for a first long stay in Taos where they will return for several consecutive summers.
Georgia is immediately seduced by these pure landscapes that are not soiled by vegetation. In a spontaneously Humboldtian vision, she finds the biomorphic dimension of these dry lands flooded by sunlight.
Her first paintings in Taos highlight this formal discovery without altering the colors. On the Old Santa Fe Road, oil on canvas 41 x 76 cm painted in 1930-1931, was sold for $ 5.1M including premium by Sotheby's on November 20, 2014 over a lower estimate of $ 2M.
1930 Youki the Snowy Woman
2016 SOLD for HK$ 39M including premium
Tsuguharu Foujita arrives in 1913 in Montparnasse. He brings into the community of painters his Japanese sensitivity that will harmoniously mingle with the effectiveness of the lines of the Art Déco drawings.
Like the other artists, Foujita seeks and finds the ideal woman in Montparnasse. He marries Fernande and paints nudes of Kiki. The whiteness of Lucienne's skin brings to him a new artistic impulse. He nicknames her Youki which means Little snow.
Now his paintings must present the expressionist effect of the perfect woman. He covers the canvas with white or ivory paint on which he draws the nude in ink by a thin and sharp line before completing the work by the transparent color of skin and hair.
The hedonistic life of Montparnasse does not invite to fidelity. In 1930 Youki leaves Foujita for loving Desnos. The painter nevertheless continues his aesthetic quest and copies a 1924 modello showing Youki sleeping naked on a bed with her arm and her long hair carelessly flowing to the floor.
The ideal and diaphanous woman occupies the upper part of the picture. In the foreground, the strong point is a reclining cat bringing a high contrast in density along with the opposition of his bright gaze with the inactive attitude of the sleeping goddess.
This large size artwork 98 x 163 cm was sold for £ 1.2 million including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014. It is estimated HK $ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 3, lot 1035.
Like the other artists, Foujita seeks and finds the ideal woman in Montparnasse. He marries Fernande and paints nudes of Kiki. The whiteness of Lucienne's skin brings to him a new artistic impulse. He nicknames her Youki which means Little snow.
Now his paintings must present the expressionist effect of the perfect woman. He covers the canvas with white or ivory paint on which he draws the nude in ink by a thin and sharp line before completing the work by the transparent color of skin and hair.
The hedonistic life of Montparnasse does not invite to fidelity. In 1930 Youki leaves Foujita for loving Desnos. The painter nevertheless continues his aesthetic quest and copies a 1924 modello showing Youki sleeping naked on a bed with her arm and her long hair carelessly flowing to the floor.
The ideal and diaphanous woman occupies the upper part of the picture. In the foreground, the strong point is a reclining cat bringing a high contrast in density along with the opposition of his bright gaze with the inactive attitude of the sleeping goddess.
This large size artwork 98 x 163 cm was sold for £ 1.2 million including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2014. It is estimated HK $ 20M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 3, lot 1035.
1930-1937 La Suite Vollard by Picasso
2019 SOLD for $ 4.8M by Christie's
When Vollard agrees with Picasso for the edition of one hundred original etchings, he defines the final quantity to print : 50 deluxe copies with wide margins 51 x 39 cm and 260 copies with small margins 44 x 34 cm. It should be consistent with Vollard's practice that the purpose of the smaller format was to publish a livre d'artiste but it has not been made for that series.
97 images were engraved by Picasso between 1930 and 1934. While admiring the gentle Marie-Thérèse, Pablo finds back the fiery impulses of his youth. Far away from Cubism, minotaurs and fauns approach with brutality or delicacy the snoozing women with appealing curves. The theme of the sculptor's studio is also abundant. The supplement up to the requested figure of 100 is assured in 1937 with three portraits of Vollard by Picasso.
At some time before 1934 the meeting of Picasso with Roger Lacourière changes the quality of graphics and printing. The drawings are getting richer. Picasso loves to experiment and he follows the instructions from his new printer who teaches to him the varied possibilities of chisel, aquatint and drypoint.
On November 14, 2016, Sotheby's sold at lot 11 for $ 2.53M the full wide margin set owned by Lacourière. The printer had retained proofs with beautiful tones executed before and during his participation. It is the rare case of a set that was not owned by Petiet but the plates are not signed.
Vollard died in 1939 in the same death as Aeschylus, reportedly because a jolt unbalanced a statue that fell on his neck in the back seat of a car in which he was sleeping. The series of the hundred pictures had no title and will never have one. It will be known as La Suite Vollard.
Vollard had just started dealing with the Suite. In the 1940s the dealer Henri M. Petiet acquires the stock. Picasso then signed prints for cash as and when Petiet got orders for full sets, from his first sale in 1950 until the artist withdraw from that process in 1969. These Petiet sets were not serialized. Petiet also offered single prints for sale.
A complete set with wide margins, fully signed by Picasso for Petiet, was sold for $ 4.8M from a lower estimate of $ 3M on November 11, 2019 by Christie's, lot 55 A.
Petiet was a competent dealer but also a demanding collector. Curiously the Vollard Suite he had kept for his own collection is with small margins. It has been entirely signed by Picasso. It was sold for € 1.94M by Ader-Nordmann on November 25, 2017, lot 317.
97 images were engraved by Picasso between 1930 and 1934. While admiring the gentle Marie-Thérèse, Pablo finds back the fiery impulses of his youth. Far away from Cubism, minotaurs and fauns approach with brutality or delicacy the snoozing women with appealing curves. The theme of the sculptor's studio is also abundant. The supplement up to the requested figure of 100 is assured in 1937 with three portraits of Vollard by Picasso.
At some time before 1934 the meeting of Picasso with Roger Lacourière changes the quality of graphics and printing. The drawings are getting richer. Picasso loves to experiment and he follows the instructions from his new printer who teaches to him the varied possibilities of chisel, aquatint and drypoint.
On November 14, 2016, Sotheby's sold at lot 11 for $ 2.53M the full wide margin set owned by Lacourière. The printer had retained proofs with beautiful tones executed before and during his participation. It is the rare case of a set that was not owned by Petiet but the plates are not signed.
Vollard died in 1939 in the same death as Aeschylus, reportedly because a jolt unbalanced a statue that fell on his neck in the back seat of a car in which he was sleeping. The series of the hundred pictures had no title and will never have one. It will be known as La Suite Vollard.
Vollard had just started dealing with the Suite. In the 1940s the dealer Henri M. Petiet acquires the stock. Picasso then signed prints for cash as and when Petiet got orders for full sets, from his first sale in 1950 until the artist withdraw from that process in 1969. These Petiet sets were not serialized. Petiet also offered single prints for sale.
A complete set with wide margins, fully signed by Picasso for Petiet, was sold for $ 4.8M from a lower estimate of $ 3M on November 11, 2019 by Christie's, lot 55 A.
Petiet was a competent dealer but also a demanding collector. Curiously the Vollard Suite he had kept for his own collection is with small margins. It has been entirely signed by Picasso. It was sold for € 1.94M by Ader-Nordmann on November 25, 2017, lot 317.
