1945
1945 The Song of the Fading Years
2017 SOLD for HK$ 205M including premium
Bai Juyi's long poem is a masterpiece of realistic song, admired for its intense emotion, recited and illustrated by the Chinese since it was composed 1200 years ago under the Tang Dynasty. A fallen politician drifts away in a chilly autumn night until he hears the lute and the wonderful song of an aging woman who has lost her appeal and has been fired from the court.
This poem inspires Fu Baoshi, certainly from his years of training in Japan. In his innovative style that combines tradition and modernism, Fu considers that the artist must be completely imbued with the literary model to recreate the atmosphere.
In 1944 and 1945 in trials of increasing complication, Fu composed his visual interpretation of the poem of Bai, bringing all the significant elements : the man and the woman, the colors of autumn in the moonlight. At the same time he works on the expression of Qu Yuan's political poems which immerse him with the symbolic role of ghosts in Taoism.
On November 28 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells as lot 8801 a 113 x 66 cm hanging scroll made in 1945 from the Song of the Pipa Player. This artwork had been sold in the same auction room on November 30, 2010 for HK $ 70M including premium.
The composition is one of the most complex made by Fu on this theme. It shows at the ends of the diagonal two well separated groups of three people each. The foreground group consists of servants with a saddled horse. The main group consisting of the politician-poet, a friend and the musician woman appears through the big tree, reminding the location in the sky of the gods of Taoism.
Fu expresses his own emotional encounter with Bai's poem. The figures are finely drawn in the tradition of Japanese figuration, enabling to display the sadness in the face of the woman and the tears in the eyes of the men.
This poem inspires Fu Baoshi, certainly from his years of training in Japan. In his innovative style that combines tradition and modernism, Fu considers that the artist must be completely imbued with the literary model to recreate the atmosphere.
In 1944 and 1945 in trials of increasing complication, Fu composed his visual interpretation of the poem of Bai, bringing all the significant elements : the man and the woman, the colors of autumn in the moonlight. At the same time he works on the expression of Qu Yuan's political poems which immerse him with the symbolic role of ghosts in Taoism.
On November 28 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells as lot 8801 a 113 x 66 cm hanging scroll made in 1945 from the Song of the Pipa Player. This artwork had been sold in the same auction room on November 30, 2010 for HK $ 70M including premium.
The composition is one of the most complex made by Fu on this theme. It shows at the ends of the diagonal two well separated groups of three people each. The foreground group consists of servants with a saddled horse. The main group consisting of the politician-poet, a friend and the musician woman appears through the big tree, reminding the location in the sky of the gods of Taoism.
Fu expresses his own emotional encounter with Bai's poem. The figures are finely drawn in the tradition of Japanese figuration, enabling to display the sadness in the face of the woman and the tears in the eyes of the men.
1945 Lady under Willow Shade by Fu Baoshi
2021 SOLD for RMB 98M by Poly
Link to lot 3555. December 3
1945 Hope in the Night
2018 SOLD for $ 22.6M including premium
From 1934 to 1945 Miro appears as a hypersensitive witness to the tragedies of his time : the social crisis followed by the Spanish Civil war and by the Franco regime, and the Second World War.
In January 1945 it becomes legitimate to imagine that the end of the horrors is coming. Miro accompanies this hope in a series of oils on canvas, a technique that he had not used during the darkest hours.
The first installment of this series is dated January 26 and titled Femme et Oiseau dans la Nuit. The outlines of the woman are painted in thin black lines, much easier to read over the bright white background than the extraterrestrial characters of the 1940 Constellations. The eyes and the sex form colorful figures inside this body.
This dreamlike image is neither realistic nor cubist. The position of the eyes in the circle of the head responds only to a geometric balance. The composition is completed by musical notes and by stars.
As expected, the situation is improving. On February 1 with a Femme rêvant de l'Evasion, the wicked birds have already disappeared. This oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm was sold for £ 8.4M including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2013.
On November 15 in New York, Phillips sells a Femme dans la Nuit dated March 22, oil on canvas 130 x 163 cm, lot 4 estimated $ 12M. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house.
The 14th and last opus of this war series is dated May 7, 1945, the day of the unconditional surrender of Germany. Normal life has restarted. Miro makes two optimistic paintings on a black background, Femme entendant de la musique on May 11 and Danseuse entendant jouer de l'orgue dans une cathédrale gothique on May 26.
In January 1945 it becomes legitimate to imagine that the end of the horrors is coming. Miro accompanies this hope in a series of oils on canvas, a technique that he had not used during the darkest hours.
The first installment of this series is dated January 26 and titled Femme et Oiseau dans la Nuit. The outlines of the woman are painted in thin black lines, much easier to read over the bright white background than the extraterrestrial characters of the 1940 Constellations. The eyes and the sex form colorful figures inside this body.
This dreamlike image is neither realistic nor cubist. The position of the eyes in the circle of the head responds only to a geometric balance. The composition is completed by musical notes and by stars.
As expected, the situation is improving. On February 1 with a Femme rêvant de l'Evasion, the wicked birds have already disappeared. This oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm was sold for £ 8.4M including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2013.
On November 15 in New York, Phillips sells a Femme dans la Nuit dated March 22, oil on canvas 130 x 163 cm, lot 4 estimated $ 12M. Please watch the video prepared by the auction house.
The 14th and last opus of this war series is dated May 7, 1945, the day of the unconditional surrender of Germany. Normal life has restarted. Miro makes two optimistic paintings on a black background, Femme entendant de la musique on May 11 and Danseuse entendant jouer de l'orgue dans une cathédrale gothique on May 26.
1945 The Sound of Victory
2018 SOLD for $ 21.7M including premium
The war in Europe and the political situation in Spain deeply disturbed Joan Miro. Escaping in the contemplation of the stars, he had made his Constellations series and had hidden them. He then devotes his creativity to the entanglement of three themes : woman, star, bird.
In July 1944 Miro managed to send the Constellations to the United States. Pierre Matisse bought the series which he exhibited in his gallery in New York in January 1945. In his studio in Barcelona, Miro is encouraged by this success and restarts painting on large canvas.
On February 1, 1945 Miro paints an oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm under the revealing title Femme rêvant de l'évasion. The forms that appear at the top of the image and inside the face look like musical notes. This artwork was sold for £ 8.4M including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2013.
On May 11, 1945, three days after the surrender of Germany, Miro paints a 130 x 162 cm oil on canvas titled Femme entendant de la musique. Five reserves on a black background are each inhabited by a hybrid calligraphy that is both a musician and a musical note. The dark background, scarce in that year in Miro's art, is a dynamic evocation of the atmosphere of a cabaret.
Femme entendant de la musique is estimated $ 10M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 5 A. It had been sold for $ 3.5M by Christie's on November 14, 1990.
In July 1944 Miro managed to send the Constellations to the United States. Pierre Matisse bought the series which he exhibited in his gallery in New York in January 1945. In his studio in Barcelona, Miro is encouraged by this success and restarts painting on large canvas.
On February 1, 1945 Miro paints an oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm under the revealing title Femme rêvant de l'évasion. The forms that appear at the top of the image and inside the face look like musical notes. This artwork was sold for £ 8.4M including premium by Sotheby's on February 5, 2013.
On May 11, 1945, three days after the surrender of Germany, Miro paints a 130 x 162 cm oil on canvas titled Femme entendant de la musique. Five reserves on a black background are each inhabited by a hybrid calligraphy that is both a musician and a musical note. The dark background, scarce in that year in Miro's art, is a dynamic evocation of the atmosphere of a cabaret.
Femme entendant de la musique is estimated $ 10M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 15, lot 5 A. It had been sold for $ 3.5M by Christie's on November 14, 1990.
1945 Consider the Lilies
2012 SOLD 18.5 M$ including premium
"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of them." (Luke 12:27).
In 1945, Alexander Calder looked at the lilies. Not only Lily of Force is one of his most successful mobiles, but it provides the key to the inspiration of the artist.
Son of an artist, Calder is an engineer. To rebuild the world, he tries to create carousels of toys, before introducing the movement in sculpture in 1932.
Lily of Force is a complex wire structure, over 2 meters high, perfectly balanced despite its delicate features. The lilies have found their way up. The movement of the mobile reminds the passage of sunlight in the foliage, with the wonderful effect of nature when leaves never shadow one another.
It is also a bridge between abstraction and figuration in the art of Calder. For another reason, this artwork is extremely important. Calder loved Europe and its avant-gardes, Mondrian, Miro. Fleeing the war, he is in the United States in 1945. Lily of Force is a link between Europe slowed by the war and the sudden restart of American creativity: Pollock, Still, Rothko.
Lily of force is estimated $ 8M. for sale by Christie's in New York on May 8. I invite you to play the video shared by the auction house.
POST SALE COMMENT
In the weeks before the sale, the interest of the art market for Calder was the subject of several comments. They finally discovered that the strong personality of Calder enabled him to develop a valid and original art.
Lily of Force arrived at auction at the right time. This mobile has been sold $ 18.5 million including premium.
In 1945, Alexander Calder looked at the lilies. Not only Lily of Force is one of his most successful mobiles, but it provides the key to the inspiration of the artist.
Son of an artist, Calder is an engineer. To rebuild the world, he tries to create carousels of toys, before introducing the movement in sculpture in 1932.
Lily of Force is a complex wire structure, over 2 meters high, perfectly balanced despite its delicate features. The lilies have found their way up. The movement of the mobile reminds the passage of sunlight in the foliage, with the wonderful effect of nature when leaves never shadow one another.
It is also a bridge between abstraction and figuration in the art of Calder. For another reason, this artwork is extremely important. Calder loved Europe and its avant-gardes, Mondrian, Miro. Fleeing the war, he is in the United States in 1945. Lily of Force is a link between Europe slowed by the war and the sudden restart of American creativity: Pollock, Still, Rothko.
Lily of force is estimated $ 8M. for sale by Christie's in New York on May 8. I invite you to play the video shared by the auction house.
POST SALE COMMENT
In the weeks before the sale, the interest of the art market for Calder was the subject of several comments. They finally discovered that the strong personality of Calder enabled him to develop a valid and original art.
Lily of Force arrived at auction at the right time. This mobile has been sold $ 18.5 million including premium.
1945 Two Puritans by Hopper
2021 SOLD for $ 11.6M by Christie's
The world is changing too fast. Peggy Guggenheim is introducing in New York the European modern art. The art critic Guy Pène du Bois applauds his friend Edward Hopper as the guarantor of tradition. According to Pène du Bois, Hopper "turned the Puritan in him into a purist, turned moral rigors into stylistic precisions".
Edward and Jo are married since 1924. They live in New York but since 1930 they spend half the year in Cape Cod. Edward does not like the paintings made by Jo but she plays a valuable role by commenting in her notebook the symptoms of the creativity of her surprising and hermetic husband.
Edward does not paint much in 1945 but he is flattered by the opinion of Pène du Bois and takes his pencils again. Like the ancient travelers, he uses to paint in his studio from drawings made on the field.
On November 11, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 11.6M an oil on canvas 76 x 102 cm resulting from this new creative fervor, lot 39C estimated $ 10M. It features two small houses side by side and separated from a grassy alley by a unique white fence. They are of the same pattern except that the nearest has an additional floor. The immaculate white walls and fence express the purity.
The artist titled this work Two Puritans, in a direct link with the statement by Pène du Bois. Jo notes that only one house had served as a model for both. There is no doubt that the two houses symbolize the weightier Edward and his petite wife although Jo's notebooks do not reveal Edward's intimate intentions. The windows are lit like in a wink. The intimacy of the couple is preserved by the absence of doorknobs and of opening in the fence. The alley and trees are the dirty external world.
On November 28, 2012, Christie's sold for $ 9.6M a painting made in the following year, showing a house flanked by a barn in the countryside, titled October on Cape Cod. The house is the same as the "Jo" house of the Puritans.
Edward and Jo are married since 1924. They live in New York but since 1930 they spend half the year in Cape Cod. Edward does not like the paintings made by Jo but she plays a valuable role by commenting in her notebook the symptoms of the creativity of her surprising and hermetic husband.
Edward does not paint much in 1945 but he is flattered by the opinion of Pène du Bois and takes his pencils again. Like the ancient travelers, he uses to paint in his studio from drawings made on the field.
On November 11, 2021, Christie's sold for $ 11.6M an oil on canvas 76 x 102 cm resulting from this new creative fervor, lot 39C estimated $ 10M. It features two small houses side by side and separated from a grassy alley by a unique white fence. They are of the same pattern except that the nearest has an additional floor. The immaculate white walls and fence express the purity.
The artist titled this work Two Puritans, in a direct link with the statement by Pène du Bois. Jo notes that only one house had served as a model for both. There is no doubt that the two houses symbolize the weightier Edward and his petite wife although Jo's notebooks do not reveal Edward's intimate intentions. The windows are lit like in a wink. The intimacy of the couple is preserved by the absence of doorknobs and of opening in the fence. The alley and trees are the dirty external world.
On November 28, 2012, Christie's sold for $ 9.6M a painting made in the following year, showing a house flanked by a barn in the countryside, titled October on Cape Cod. The house is the same as the "Jo" house of the Puritans.
1945 Miro inviting to Escape
2013 SOLD 8.4 M£ including premium
On February 5 in London, Sotheby's sells a painting by Miro, estimated £ 8M.
As so often for this artist, this large oil on canvas, 146 x 114 cm, should be examined by reference to its title, which is here Femme rêvant de l'évasion (woman dreaming of escape). Made in early 1945, it claims that another life than war is possible.
Miro's style continues to move forward, far ahead of his time. The main figure is human, but done in fine lines and patches of color. The symbolic star is present, but clearly apart from the four sensory phylacteries that materialize the dream. The scale of evasion is included or not, it is up to you to decide.
Everything seems naive in this work of the very subtle Miro anticipating the research by Dubuffet and Chaissac on the Art Brut. The composition similar to a comics drawing on a light background is remarkably modern for its time and invites to the pop art of Lichtenstein nearly twenty years later.
Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This dreamlike and strange artwork, certainly political, was sold £ 8.4 million including premium.
As so often for this artist, this large oil on canvas, 146 x 114 cm, should be examined by reference to its title, which is here Femme rêvant de l'évasion (woman dreaming of escape). Made in early 1945, it claims that another life than war is possible.
Miro's style continues to move forward, far ahead of his time. The main figure is human, but done in fine lines and patches of color. The symbolic star is present, but clearly apart from the four sensory phylacteries that materialize the dream. The scale of evasion is included or not, it is up to you to decide.
Everything seems naive in this work of the very subtle Miro anticipating the research by Dubuffet and Chaissac on the Art Brut. The composition similar to a comics drawing on a light background is remarkably modern for its time and invites to the pop art of Lichtenstein nearly twenty years later.
Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This dreamlike and strange artwork, certainly political, was sold £ 8.4 million including premium.
1945 ROCKWELL
1
May - The Homecoming
2019 SOLD for $ 6.5M by Christie's
Young Americans have gone to war. Norman Rockwell anticipates the surrender of Germany and prepares a cover illustration for the Saturday Evening Post. On May 26, 1945, the newspaper publishes The Homecoming. The second world war ended in the middle of spring, but few readers will notice that the tree has no leaves : the wait for the event has been too long.
For this image, Rockwell exercises his talent for stories with a large group, which were notoriously difficult to incorporate on a cover page. His masterpiece in this style, a forge contest scene with more than twenty characters painted in 1940, had been published as a double central page.
The Homecoming shows the exuberant and communicative joy of the family, the neighbors and the dog on the return of a soldier. Rockwell likes to show life and emotions in the village. The soldier standing from behind is a pretext for this legitimate enthusiasm. No matter what his military actions have been, he is indeed a man loved by all at the moment when his return rebuilds his family. The artist did not omit the Service flags that symbolize the wait of the families.
The 71 x 56 cm oil on canvas preparing The Homecoming was sold for $ 6.5M from a lower estimate of $ 4.5M by Christie's on May 22, 2019, lot 60.
For this image, Rockwell exercises his talent for stories with a large group, which were notoriously difficult to incorporate on a cover page. His masterpiece in this style, a forge contest scene with more than twenty characters painted in 1940, had been published as a double central page.
The Homecoming shows the exuberant and communicative joy of the family, the neighbors and the dog on the return of a soldier. Rockwell likes to show life and emotions in the village. The soldier standing from behind is a pretext for this legitimate enthusiasm. No matter what his military actions have been, he is indeed a man loved by all at the moment when his return rebuilds his family. The artist did not omit the Service flags that symbolize the wait of the families.
The 71 x 56 cm oil on canvas preparing The Homecoming was sold for $ 6.5M from a lower estimate of $ 4.5M by Christie's on May 22, 2019, lot 60.
2
October - Homecoming Marine
2006 SOLD for $ 9.2M by Sotheby's
After the moment of intense emotion of the homecoming of the soldier boy, the end of the war remains a very good theme for this popular magazine. On October 13, 1945, the cover illustration is a Rockwell work with another group effect, titled Homecoming Marine. The hero tells his stories to an audience of all ages.
The 117 x 107 cm oil on canvas was sold for $ 9.2M by Sotheby's on May 24, 2006. It is illustrated in the post sale report shared by Artnet.
The 117 x 107 cm oil on canvas was sold for $ 9.2M by Sotheby's on May 24, 2006. It is illustrated in the post sale report shared by Artnet.
1945 The Mystery of the Mountain
2017 SOLD for RMB 64M including premium
Fu Baoshi made his career in Nanjing, the capital of the South. Wanting to join his own emotions to the oldest traditions of China, he is one of the most subtle artists of his time. His art studies in Tokyo brought an undeniable Japanese influence to his figuration of faces.
Fu Baoshi is his artist's name taken at the age of 18 to express his admiration for Shitao, the visionary artist of early Qing time who positioned the tiny human activity within the unfathomable immensity of nature.
Fu's meeting with the eminent scholar Guo Moruo in 1943 draws the artist's attention to the poems of Qu Yuan, collected under the Han. This semi-legendary poet from the dark period of the Warring States is an equivalent of Homer. He provides an invaluable link with ancient mythologies, posing mystical questions without seeking to provide answers.
On June 5 in Beijing, Poly Auction sells as lot 2250 Mountain Ghost, a scenery including and illustrating a poem by Qu Yuan. Made in 1945 this ink and colors 133 x 66 cm is resolutely original by its entanglement of the lines and by the striking contrast between the actions on the ground and in the clouds.
The young woman in the foreground is a symbol of beauty which already inspired the artists of the Song dynasty interpreting the same poem. She seems standing but the lower part of her gown does not touch the ground. The stormy sky releases for the careful observer two divinities harnessed behind the red leopard.
On May 15, 2016, China Guardian sold for RMB 52M including premium a scroll of same size made in 1946 starring the same characters. The features of the dress blend into the landscape and the seated attitude of this ghost is therefore another illusion.
In 1949 Guo becomes one of the top leaders of the new People's Republic. Using the story of Qu Yuan's suicide protesting against the invasion of his country by the Qin, he makes the old poet an exemplary martyr of the Chinese patriotism. Fu continues to illustrate the gods and clouds of Qu Yuan. A large 223 x 133 cm picture painted in 1954 remained unsold at Poly in June 2013.
Fu Baoshi is his artist's name taken at the age of 18 to express his admiration for Shitao, the visionary artist of early Qing time who positioned the tiny human activity within the unfathomable immensity of nature.
Fu's meeting with the eminent scholar Guo Moruo in 1943 draws the artist's attention to the poems of Qu Yuan, collected under the Han. This semi-legendary poet from the dark period of the Warring States is an equivalent of Homer. He provides an invaluable link with ancient mythologies, posing mystical questions without seeking to provide answers.
On June 5 in Beijing, Poly Auction sells as lot 2250 Mountain Ghost, a scenery including and illustrating a poem by Qu Yuan. Made in 1945 this ink and colors 133 x 66 cm is resolutely original by its entanglement of the lines and by the striking contrast between the actions on the ground and in the clouds.
The young woman in the foreground is a symbol of beauty which already inspired the artists of the Song dynasty interpreting the same poem. She seems standing but the lower part of her gown does not touch the ground. The stormy sky releases for the careful observer two divinities harnessed behind the red leopard.
On May 15, 2016, China Guardian sold for RMB 52M including premium a scroll of same size made in 1946 starring the same characters. The features of the dress blend into the landscape and the seated attitude of this ghost is therefore another illusion.
In 1949 Guo becomes one of the top leaders of the new People's Republic. Using the story of Qu Yuan's suicide protesting against the invasion of his country by the Qin, he makes the old poet an exemplary martyr of the Chinese patriotism. Fu continues to illustrate the gods and clouds of Qu Yuan. A large 223 x 133 cm picture painted in 1954 remained unsold at Poly in June 2013.
1945 Trovador by Tamayo
2008 SOLD for $ 7.2M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1945 Arshile Gorky in New York
2012 SOLD 6.8 M$ including premium
Arshile Gorky arrived in New York in 1925. His maturity came early and his artistic language was similar as Miro's. War created a forced link between the two sides of the Atlantic. In exile in New York in 1944, André Breton admired his work.
Gorky the Armenian is very close to de Kooning the Dutch. The involvement between the two artists is intense. In 1944, de Kooning said that Gorky had a powerful influence on his art, and not the contrary.
Indeed, the style of Gorky is gradually changing. The figures are no more symbols, but an abundance of life that turns the heads. Details fade, colors and characters collide to abstraction. He somehow extended the Cubist research for movement of Severini or the Delaunays.
By its apparent spontaneity, its emotional title "Impatience", the oil on canvas dated 1945, 62 x 78 cm, is one that paves the way for abstract expressionism, the fruitful movement that Gorky, dying too soon, will not know.
It is estimated $ 6M, for sale on November 13 at Sotheby's in New York. Here is the link to the catalog.
This work helps to push Gorky to his rightful place in the history of art. Like Calder at the same time, he was able to instill in America the influence of the modernist trends of Europe.
POST SALE COMMENT
This fine example of the transition between surrealism and abstract expressionism was sold for $ 6.8 million including premium.
Gorky the Armenian is very close to de Kooning the Dutch. The involvement between the two artists is intense. In 1944, de Kooning said that Gorky had a powerful influence on his art, and not the contrary.
Indeed, the style of Gorky is gradually changing. The figures are no more symbols, but an abundance of life that turns the heads. Details fade, colors and characters collide to abstraction. He somehow extended the Cubist research for movement of Severini or the Delaunays.
By its apparent spontaneity, its emotional title "Impatience", the oil on canvas dated 1945, 62 x 78 cm, is one that paves the way for abstract expressionism, the fruitful movement that Gorky, dying too soon, will not know.
It is estimated $ 6M, for sale on November 13 at Sotheby's in New York. Here is the link to the catalog.
This work helps to push Gorky to his rightful place in the history of art. Like Calder at the same time, he was able to instill in America the influence of the modernist trends of Europe.
POST SALE COMMENT
This fine example of the transition between surrealism and abstract expressionism was sold for $ 6.8 million including premium.
