1939
Except otherwise stated, all results below include the premium.
See also : Picasso later 1930s Cars 1930s Cars 1938-39 Alfa Romeo Kandinsky Chagall
See also : Picasso later 1930s Cars 1930s Cars 1938-39 Alfa Romeo Kandinsky Chagall
masterpiece
1939 Lobster Trap and Fish Tail by Calder
MoMA
Son of an artist, Alexander Calder is a mechanical engineer. To rebuild the world, he tries to create carousels of toys, before introducing the movement in sculpture.
The story of his visit to Mondrian in 1930 is probably true. He would like the little artworks to fly away from the wall and occupy the space. Back from Europe in 1933, he set up his workshop in Roxbury, Connecticut. He had developed in Paris his new forms of art, the figurative wire sculpture and then the abstract mobile inspired by nature.
His desire is to occupy space, as nature does. The leaves of his tree do not shade each other. In his so called mobiles, he hangs his art at the ceiling through a wire so that it moves in the air stream.
His experience accumulates over the years. In order for his hanging mobiles to be spectacular, he increases the number of plaques and enlarges the span, proportionally reducing the visibility on the single wire which links the piece to the ceiling. He sometimes gives the opus a title inspired by nature and adds poetry through the choice of colors.
Built around a stem or suspended from the ceiling by a string, these works of art move with the air flow. They are appealing by their humor but their balance that may seem precarious meets the design accuracy of the engineer. The materials are commonplace.
Alfred H. Barr Jr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, is a pioneer for the artistic relations between Europe and America. In 1939, he commissions a monumental work to Calder for the staircase of a new MoMA building. Made of steel wire and painted aluminum sheets, Lobster Trap and Fish Tail is a mobile in which the basket is made of steel wire.
The story of his visit to Mondrian in 1930 is probably true. He would like the little artworks to fly away from the wall and occupy the space. Back from Europe in 1933, he set up his workshop in Roxbury, Connecticut. He had developed in Paris his new forms of art, the figurative wire sculpture and then the abstract mobile inspired by nature.
His desire is to occupy space, as nature does. The leaves of his tree do not shade each other. In his so called mobiles, he hangs his art at the ceiling through a wire so that it moves in the air stream.
His experience accumulates over the years. In order for his hanging mobiles to be spectacular, he increases the number of plaques and enlarges the span, proportionally reducing the visibility on the single wire which links the piece to the ceiling. He sometimes gives the opus a title inspired by nature and adds poetry through the choice of colors.
Built around a stem or suspended from the ceiling by a string, these works of art move with the air flow. They are appealing by their humor but their balance that may seem precarious meets the design accuracy of the engineer. The materials are commonplace.
Alfred H. Barr Jr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, is a pioneer for the artistic relations between Europe and America. In 1939, he commissions a monumental work to Calder for the staircase of a new MoMA building. Made of steel wire and painted aluminum sheets, Lobster Trap and Fish Tail is a mobile in which the basket is made of steel wire.
PICASSO
1
March 1939 Dora Maar
2022 SOLD for HK$ 170M by Sotheby's
Throughout 1938 Picasso managed the fancy of mingling the features of his two mistresses in his Portraits de femme. When he dissociated them on two separate canvases in January 1939, it was already clear that his preference was for Dora.
A portrait of Dora Maar dated March 27, 1939, oil and Ripolin on panel 60 x 45 cm, was sold for HK $ 170M by Sotheby's on April 27, 2022, lot 1030. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The colors are bright, as usual for Picasso. The face of the selected dark haired mistress is pretty in the signature Picasso's double angle, here without an additional distorsion. She is elegantly dressed. Her gaze and lips are contemplative.
Another portrait with the same figure interchanging the colors of dress and background was made in the same day on the same format.
A portrait of Dora Maar dated March 27, 1939, oil and Ripolin on panel 60 x 45 cm, was sold for HK $ 170M by Sotheby's on April 27, 2022, lot 1030. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The colors are bright, as usual for Picasso. The face of the selected dark haired mistress is pretty in the signature Picasso's double angle, here without an additional distorsion. She is elegantly dressed. Her gaze and lips are contemplative.
Another portrait with the same figure interchanging the colors of dress and background was made in the same day on the same format.
2
May 1939 Buste de Femme au Chapeau (Marie-Thérèse)
2017 SOLD for $ 21.7M by Sotheby's
After Guernica, Pablo Picasso cannot make his choice between his two mistresses, despite or rather because their opposite physical and temperamental features. One is a sculptural and sensual blonde and her antithesis a brunette with a committed personality.
Buste de Femme au Chapeau, painted on May 27, 1939, is a sweet portrait in a two angle view of Marie-Thérèse gently dressed as a young mother but wearing an extravagant pointed hat of Dora. There is a striking contrast between the garish gold of the stylized hat with a blue feather and the soft hues of the portrait and background.
This oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm was sold for $ 21.7M from a lower estimate of $ 18M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2017, lot 21.
Buste de Femme au Chapeau, painted on May 27, 1939, is a sweet portrait in a two angle view of Marie-Thérèse gently dressed as a young mother but wearing an extravagant pointed hat of Dora. There is a striking contrast between the garish gold of the stylized hat with a blue feather and the soft hues of the portrait and background.
This oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm was sold for $ 21.7M from a lower estimate of $ 18M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2017, lot 21.
3
October 1939 Femme assise, robe bleue
2017 SOLD for $ 45M by Christie's
While Dora Maar was doing the photographic survey of his creation of Guernica, Picasso observed her feminine hypersensitivity and conceptualized his new muse as a prophetess of the political catastrophes.
This artist's vision was incomplete and even unfair for this activist woman who loved surrealism and eccentric attires. It certainly did not help to preserve her fragile mental balance. They will terminate their affair in 1943.
Another catastrophe occured. In September 1939 Picasso in fear of the aerial attacks left Paris and established his small circle at Royan in two different places so that his two rival mistresses shall not meet.
In the cyclothymia of this anxious artist the date of 25 October 1939 was a short period of lull. Pablo was celebrating his birthday in Royan with Dora. He painted Femme assise, robe bleue.
This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold by Christie's for £ 18M on June 21, 2011 and for $ 45M on May 15, 2017, lot 12 A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
On that day Pablo's mistress is no longer an allegory but a young woman loved by him. The colors are bright and cheerful and the hat is exuberant. The face in multiple perspectives according to the taste of the artist at that time reinforces the expression of a wide and friendly smile close to laughter.
This artist's vision was incomplete and even unfair for this activist woman who loved surrealism and eccentric attires. It certainly did not help to preserve her fragile mental balance. They will terminate their affair in 1943.
Another catastrophe occured. In September 1939 Picasso in fear of the aerial attacks left Paris and established his small circle at Royan in two different places so that his two rival mistresses shall not meet.
In the cyclothymia of this anxious artist the date of 25 October 1939 was a short period of lull. Pablo was celebrating his birthday in Royan with Dora. He painted Femme assise, robe bleue.
This oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm was sold by Christie's for £ 18M on June 21, 2011 and for $ 45M on May 15, 2017, lot 12 A. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
On that day Pablo's mistress is no longer an allegory but a young woman loved by him. The colors are bright and cheerful and the hat is exuberant. The face in multiple perspectives according to the taste of the artist at that time reinforces the expression of a wide and friendly smile close to laughter.
4
December 1939 Femme au Chapeau Jaune
2023 SOLD for $ 15.8M by Sotheby's
On May 27, 1939, Picasso maliciously head-dressed the ever docile Marie-Thérèse with an extravagant pointed hat. There was nevertheless no doubt for anybody that the lover of stylish hats in his life was not Marie-Thérèse but Dora. This oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm was sold for $ 21.7M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2017, lot 21.
On December 2 in war time Royan, the gold colored pointed hat is restituted to the brunette Dora in a seated portrait at bust length. Nevertheless the pastel tones would better fit Marie-Thérèse's sensuality.
This picture has a dominance of Dora. Indeed in Royan Pablo lived with Dora in a hotel, accompanied with secretary Sabartes and dog Kazbek while Marie-Thérèse and Maya were installed nearby in a villa.
This small oil on canvas 46 x 38 cm was sold for $ 15.8M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 144.
On December 2 in war time Royan, the gold colored pointed hat is restituted to the brunette Dora in a seated portrait at bust length. Nevertheless the pastel tones would better fit Marie-Thérèse's sensuality.
This picture has a dominance of Dora. Indeed in Royan Pablo lived with Dora in a hotel, accompanied with secretary Sabartes and dog Kazbek while Marie-Thérèse and Maya were installed nearby in a villa.
This small oil on canvas 46 x 38 cm was sold for $ 15.8M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 144.
1939 Le Rond Rouge by Kandinsky
2018 SOLD for $ 20.6M by Sotheby's
From 1922 to 1933, Wassily Kandinsky sought with his colleagues from the Bauhaus the basic elements of the pictorial creation. Nothing remains of his figurative inspiration, replaced by a balanced arrangement of geometric shapes and colors. The musical influence, triggered in 1911 by Schönberg, will never leave him.
His exile in Paris frees him from teaching, and consequently from his subjugation to geometry. The forms observed in embryology and microbiology generate an unprecedented variant of his pantheism. He admires these flexible organisms invented by nature, which move under the microscope in a harmony that had escaped human eyes.
On November 12, 2018, Sotheby's sold for $ 20.6M Le Rond Rouge, oil on canvas 89 x 116 cm painted in 1939, lot 4. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
On the top right, the picture is dominated by an intense red orb in a thick black circle. This figure is the vital source, which nourishes the rest of the surface through thick black filaments. On the bottom left, a ground in deep perspective is littered with geometric elements. An influence of Kandinsky's dodecaphonism on Mondrian's boogie-woogie deserves to be analyzed.
His exile in Paris frees him from teaching, and consequently from his subjugation to geometry. The forms observed in embryology and microbiology generate an unprecedented variant of his pantheism. He admires these flexible organisms invented by nature, which move under the microscope in a harmony that had escaped human eyes.
On November 12, 2018, Sotheby's sold for $ 20.6M Le Rond Rouge, oil on canvas 89 x 116 cm painted in 1939, lot 4. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
On the top right, the picture is dominated by an intense red orb in a thick black circle. This figure is the vital source, which nourishes the rest of the surface through thick black filaments. On the bottom left, a ground in deep perspective is littered with geometric elements. An influence of Kandinsky's dodecaphonism on Mondrian's boogie-woogie deserves to be analyzed.
1939 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B
2016 SOLD for $ 19.8M by RM Sotheby's
Under the direct control of the Italian government, Alfa Romeo improves the performance of its luxury and sports cars throughout the 1930s. The 6-cylinder version (6C) grows in several stages from 1750 to 2500 cc. Aimed at the high end, the 8-cylinder version (8C), created in 1931 with 2300 cc, is fitted with 2900 cc from 1935. The 8C 2900B is available in two lengths from 1937 : Corto and Lungo.
In Milan, Carrozzeria Touring patented in 1936 the Superleggera technology. Alfa Romeo actively supports this development that must enable its Lungo variant to compete advantageously with the too massive Mercedes-Benz 540K. The war interrupted this activity. Note however that in 1939 Alfa Romeo is already offering the features that will make the success of sports cars after the war : the spider from as early as 1931, and the berlinetta.
On August 20, 2016, RM Sotheby's sold as lot 234 for $ 19.8M the culmination of this evolution : an 8C 2900B Lungo bodied in spider superleggera by Touring.
The authenticity of this car is the result of patient and painstaking work by the best specialists of the brand. The oldest traces of its eventful existence date back to the early 1950s in South America. As often, this car had been dismantled by owners seeking the best combination for their cars in competition.
In 1994, convinced that chassis 412041 and body 2027 may come from the same original car, the collector Sam Mann, passionate about automotive engineering, acquires both. The reassembly proves him right : the positions of the bolt holes are consistent, resulting from the work done by Touring workmen around 1939. Despite the extreme rarity of this model, Mann was able to complete this work by assembling an engine and a fuel pump from the original 8C 2900B series.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's and another video shared by RM introducing five vehicles from the Mann collection.
In Milan, Carrozzeria Touring patented in 1936 the Superleggera technology. Alfa Romeo actively supports this development that must enable its Lungo variant to compete advantageously with the too massive Mercedes-Benz 540K. The war interrupted this activity. Note however that in 1939 Alfa Romeo is already offering the features that will make the success of sports cars after the war : the spider from as early as 1931, and the berlinetta.
On August 20, 2016, RM Sotheby's sold as lot 234 for $ 19.8M the culmination of this evolution : an 8C 2900B Lungo bodied in spider superleggera by Touring.
The authenticity of this car is the result of patient and painstaking work by the best specialists of the brand. The oldest traces of its eventful existence date back to the early 1950s in South America. As often, this car had been dismantled by owners seeking the best combination for their cars in competition.
In 1994, convinced that chassis 412041 and body 2027 may come from the same original car, the collector Sam Mann, passionate about automotive engineering, acquires both. The reassembly proves him right : the positions of the bolt holes are consistent, resulting from the work done by Touring workmen around 1939. Despite the extreme rarity of this model, Mann was able to complete this work by assembling an engine and a fuel pump from the original 8C 2900B series.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's and another video shared by RM introducing five vehicles from the Mann collection.
1939 Thérèse by Balthus
2019 SOLD for $ 19M by Christie's
The Klossowski brothers grew up in an intellectual atmosphere. Their father was an art historian. Their mother, a pupil of Pierre Bonnard, became the lover of Rainer Maria Rilke after the first world war. Gide encourages the two boys. Pierre will seek to reconcile surrealism and pornography. Balthasar will become Balthus.
In 1935 the self-portrait of Balthus as king of cats inaugurates the weird universe of the artist. The young man appears normal except for too long legs to which a cat comes to rub. Balthus will always let the observer identify the meaning of his art. The cat came for a hug, or to rid its fur from its fleas, or to worship its self-proclaimed lord.
In the following year the artist observes the children of his neighbors. Thérèse is 11 years old and Hubert is two years older. The girl wears the gloomy expression of pre-adolescence, that phase during which the body is still unfinished. From 1936 to 1939 Balthus executes ten portraits of this young sitter.
Modern influence groups vigorously protested in 2017 against the eroticism of these images of children. They looked at the bare thighs and the skirt sometimes raised up to glimpse the underwear. The girl performs a writhing that suits her age. If we put on the index the portraits of Thérèse by Balthus we must join to them the ballerinas by Degas. The perversity lies essentially in the perception made by the observer who must be protected against himself. Balthus was right.
Thérèse sur une banquette, oil on board 73 x 92 cm painted in 1939, was sold for $ 19M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 8A.
At the age of 14 Thérèse is still a slender child. Carefree of her own attitude, she is slumped on the bench, one hand on the floor and the other hand raised to swing a string. She looks downward. Once is not customary, another work painted in the same year provides an additional information : a kitten jumps to catch the ball hanging from the string.
In 1935 the self-portrait of Balthus as king of cats inaugurates the weird universe of the artist. The young man appears normal except for too long legs to which a cat comes to rub. Balthus will always let the observer identify the meaning of his art. The cat came for a hug, or to rid its fur from its fleas, or to worship its self-proclaimed lord.
In the following year the artist observes the children of his neighbors. Thérèse is 11 years old and Hubert is two years older. The girl wears the gloomy expression of pre-adolescence, that phase during which the body is still unfinished. From 1936 to 1939 Balthus executes ten portraits of this young sitter.
Modern influence groups vigorously protested in 2017 against the eroticism of these images of children. They looked at the bare thighs and the skirt sometimes raised up to glimpse the underwear. The girl performs a writhing that suits her age. If we put on the index the portraits of Thérèse by Balthus we must join to them the ballerinas by Degas. The perversity lies essentially in the perception made by the observer who must be protected against himself. Balthus was right.
Thérèse sur une banquette, oil on board 73 x 92 cm painted in 1939, was sold for $ 19M from a lower estimate of $ 12M by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 8A.
At the age of 14 Thérèse is still a slender child. Carefree of her own attitude, she is slumped on the bench, one hand on the floor and the other hand raised to swing a string. She looks downward. Once is not customary, another work painted in the same year provides an additional information : a kitten jumps to catch the ball hanging from the string.
1939 Les Trois Cierges by Chagall
2017 SOLD for $ 14.6M by Christie's
At the end of the 1930s the Nazis made themselves increasingly involved in French affairs. As early as 1937 they criticized the poetic art of the Belorussian immigrant Marc Chagall with his continuous evocations of Judaism and his characters floating in the air.
In 1939 Marc and Bella are worried but do not yet perceive that the Nazis will manage to physically eradicate the French Jews. They remember Vitebsk where they married in 1916 and express their roots with their skills : Bella by her stories in Yiddish and Mark by his painting.
Les Trois Cierges, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted in 1939, was sold for $ 14.6M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 6 A.
As ever with Marc's surrealist style, the scenes are juxtaposed in various scales according to their importance conceived by the artist.
On the right side the levitating newlyweds are back to the happy time of Vitebsk. On the left, three tall candles are lit, marking the hope of the small family circle formed by Marc, Bella and their daughter Ida : the torments of the moment will be annihilated by melting in the wax. Secondary animation on the smaller scale includes flying angels, musicians and a view of the village.
In 1940 the persecution reached the whole French territory. Marc and Bella left France hurriedly. A few months later Ida and her husband joined them in the United States : in their crossing of the Atlantic that was made extremely dangerous by the war, they succeeded in transporting a large crate of artworks painted by Marc, including Les Trois Cierges which were thus saved from an inescapable destruction.
In the following year Les Trois Cierges is a major piece in the exhibition devoted to Chagall's art by Pierre Matisse in New York, one of the most important initiatives within this transitional period in which the Americans discover the European and Russian modern art.
In 1939 Marc and Bella are worried but do not yet perceive that the Nazis will manage to physically eradicate the French Jews. They remember Vitebsk where they married in 1916 and express their roots with their skills : Bella by her stories in Yiddish and Mark by his painting.
Les Trois Cierges, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted in 1939, was sold for $ 14.6M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 6 A.
As ever with Marc's surrealist style, the scenes are juxtaposed in various scales according to their importance conceived by the artist.
On the right side the levitating newlyweds are back to the happy time of Vitebsk. On the left, three tall candles are lit, marking the hope of the small family circle formed by Marc, Bella and their daughter Ida : the torments of the moment will be annihilated by melting in the wax. Secondary animation on the smaller scale includes flying angels, musicians and a view of the village.
In 1940 the persecution reached the whole French territory. Marc and Bella left France hurriedly. A few months later Ida and her husband joined them in the United States : in their crossing of the Atlantic that was made extremely dangerous by the war, they succeeded in transporting a large crate of artworks painted by Marc, including Les Trois Cierges which were thus saved from an inescapable destruction.
In the following year Les Trois Cierges is a major piece in the exhibition devoted to Chagall's art by Pierre Matisse in New York, one of the most important initiatives within this transitional period in which the Americans discover the European and Russian modern art.
1939 Bridle Path by Hopper
2012 SOLD for $ 10.4M by Sotheby's
Edward Hopper was a misanthropist who expressed in his art what words could not say. He was however a keen observer of the society of his time, whose developments he did not necessarily approve : he preferred the artificial world of the theater. He was looking for inspiration around him, in New York City and on the road to his summer residence at Cape Cod.
His characters are frozen in their psychological solitude, even when they are in a group. Their attitude is bored, often without any movement. Bridle Path, oil on canvas 59 x 107 cm painted in 1939, is an exception, and also a very rare example of surrealism at that time in his work.
The scene shows three riders in full action, on a wide path that leads straight to a dark tunnel. The place is recognizable : we see in the background the Dakota building, recognizable by its incongruous neo-Renaissance architecture on the edge of Central Park.
The artist plays on a confusion between bridle (the rein) and bridal (relating to the bride). The three riders are not on the same level. The man and one of the women are almost in the entrance to the tunnel, somehow a hole to hell. The man, most certainly a self-portrait, reacts to the imminent danger by pulling on the bridle, which rears up his beautiful white horse.
For once, Jo Hopper's notebooks do not help to decode although she indicates her enthusiasm for this work. The theme of the danger of marriage was perhaps still sensitive in this atypical couple. The gallop of the two women towards hell and the ultimate attempt of the man to escape it are undoubtedly also a reference to the anxiogenic international events of April 1939.
Bridle Path was sold for $ 10.4M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2012 from a lower estimate of $ 5M, lot 10.
His characters are frozen in their psychological solitude, even when they are in a group. Their attitude is bored, often without any movement. Bridle Path, oil on canvas 59 x 107 cm painted in 1939, is an exception, and also a very rare example of surrealism at that time in his work.
The scene shows three riders in full action, on a wide path that leads straight to a dark tunnel. The place is recognizable : we see in the background the Dakota building, recognizable by its incongruous neo-Renaissance architecture on the edge of Central Park.
The artist plays on a confusion between bridle (the rein) and bridal (relating to the bride). The three riders are not on the same level. The man and one of the women are almost in the entrance to the tunnel, somehow a hole to hell. The man, most certainly a self-portrait, reacts to the imminent danger by pulling on the bridle, which rears up his beautiful white horse.
For once, Jo Hopper's notebooks do not help to decode although she indicates her enthusiasm for this work. The theme of the danger of marriage was perhaps still sensitive in this atypical couple. The gallop of the two women towards hell and the ultimate attempt of the man to escape it are undoubtedly also a reference to the anxiogenic international events of April 1939.
Bridle Path was sold for $ 10.4M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2012 from a lower estimate of $ 5M, lot 10.
1939 Put Down your Whip by Xu Beihong
2007 SOLD for HK$ 72M by Sotheby's
Trained in Western art from 1919, Xu Beihong was back in China in 1927, from where he endeavored exporting to Europe an understanding of the Chinese culture.
From 1937 China and Japan went in total war in what was considered by the Chinese as a resistance against the Japanese aggression. Xu decided to travel the Southeast Asia where he managed exhibitions of his art to benefit the Chinese people suffering from the war.
He arrived in Singapore from Hong Kong in January 1939 with a thousand of his works and his collection of Western and Chinese paintings and antiques. He was also highly prolific to create new paintings and drawings for the same purpose.
The actress Wang Ying arrived in Singapore in September with a similar charity purpose by playing an anti-government street drama modified to become anti-Japanese, titled Put down your Whip.
Xu spent 10 days for executing a portrait of the smiling Wang stretching the red whip. The hyperrealistic life size image of the 26 year old kneeling actress is focused in front of a blurred back with street listeners looking at her.
This oil on canvas 144 x 90 cm was sold for HK $ 72M by Sotheby's on April 7, 2007, lot 29. In the public domain in China, this image is shared by Wikimedia.
Xu left Singapore for India shortly after. Wang played an English version of the same play in the White House for President Roosevelt.
From 1937 China and Japan went in total war in what was considered by the Chinese as a resistance against the Japanese aggression. Xu decided to travel the Southeast Asia where he managed exhibitions of his art to benefit the Chinese people suffering from the war.
He arrived in Singapore from Hong Kong in January 1939 with a thousand of his works and his collection of Western and Chinese paintings and antiques. He was also highly prolific to create new paintings and drawings for the same purpose.
The actress Wang Ying arrived in Singapore in September with a similar charity purpose by playing an anti-government street drama modified to become anti-Japanese, titled Put down your Whip.
Xu spent 10 days for executing a portrait of the smiling Wang stretching the red whip. The hyperrealistic life size image of the 26 year old kneeling actress is focused in front of a blurred back with street listeners looking at her.
This oil on canvas 144 x 90 cm was sold for HK $ 72M by Sotheby's on April 7, 2007, lot 29. In the public domain in China, this image is shared by Wikimedia.
Xu left Singapore for India shortly after. Wang played an English version of the same play in the White House for President Roosevelt.
