Children
Not including Madonna and Child
See also : Top 10 Painting Ancient French painting Art on paper Illustrators Groups France Louis XVIII to 2nd Empire French sculpture Van Gogh Spain Picasso Picasso 1900-1930 Picasso from 1940 Italy Modigliani Eastern Europe New Chinese painting Music and dance
Chronology : 1600-1619 1810-1819 1870-1879 1880-1889 20th century 1900-1909 1905 1910-1919 1918 1920-1929 1927 1950-1959 1950
See also : Top 10 Painting Ancient French painting Art on paper Illustrators Groups France Louis XVIII to 2nd Empire French sculpture Van Gogh Spain Picasso Picasso 1900-1930 Picasso from 1940 Italy Modigliani Eastern Europe New Chinese painting Music and dance
Chronology : 1600-1619 1810-1819 1870-1879 1880-1889 20th century 1900-1909 1905 1910-1919 1918 1920-1929 1927 1950-1959 1950
1618 A Little Praying Girl
2017 SOLD for € 9.7M including premium
An oil on canvas 58 x 44 cm attributed to Diego Velazquez, undated and unsigned, has just surfaced in Spain. Although it has been inspected by only one expert, it is already being offered at auction. It will be sold by Abalarte in Madrid on April 25, lot 41.
It is a beautiful portrait of a little girl in half-length, her hands joined for prayer, her eyes wide open in a rather sad expression. The chiaroscuro on a black background and the realism of this child's portrait without any moving intent plead for an autograph work by Velazquez.
During the X-Ray inspection several white dots forming a halo were discovered, in conformance with a traditional iconography of Mary's childhood. This painting could have been conceived as an Inmaculada before being transformed by the artist in a modello portrait.
If this is the case it is probably prior to an Inmaculada preserved at the Fundacion Focus Abengoa in Sevilla, dated around 1618 and attributed by some experts to Velazquez and by others to Alonso Cano. Velazquez and his younger colleague Cano were both students in Sevilla to Francisco Pacheco, a painter and theoretician who had met El Greco and specialized in religious art for the local ecclesiastical clientele.
The high skill of Velazquez was precocious : barely 18 years old in 1617, he was received in the corporation of the painters of Sevilla and his first masterpiece mixing genre and still life, Vieja friendo hiejos, was painted in the following year. He was remaining at that time in the entourage of Pacheco whose daughter he married in 1618.
It is a beautiful portrait of a little girl in half-length, her hands joined for prayer, her eyes wide open in a rather sad expression. The chiaroscuro on a black background and the realism of this child's portrait without any moving intent plead for an autograph work by Velazquez.
During the X-Ray inspection several white dots forming a halo were discovered, in conformance with a traditional iconography of Mary's childhood. This painting could have been conceived as an Inmaculada before being transformed by the artist in a modello portrait.
If this is the case it is probably prior to an Inmaculada preserved at the Fundacion Focus Abengoa in Sevilla, dated around 1618 and attributed by some experts to Velazquez and by others to Alonso Cano. Velazquez and his younger colleague Cano were both students in Sevilla to Francisco Pacheco, a painter and theoretician who had met El Greco and specialized in religious art for the local ecclesiastical clientele.
The high skill of Velazquez was precocious : barely 18 years old in 1617, he was received in the corporation of the painters of Sevilla and his first masterpiece mixing genre and still life, Vieja friendo hiejos, was painted in the following year. He was remaining at that time in the entourage of Pacheco whose daughter he married in 1618.
@Abalarte presenta un #Velázquez inédito que se subastará el próximo 25 de abril □https://t.co/27rtaAvXhY vía @ArtMarketAgency pic.twitter.com/voIHKJghfg
— Canalpatrimonio (@canalpatrimonio) April 3, 2017
1818 Portrait of the DeDreux Children by Géricault
2009 SOLD 9 M€ including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
Liliane Bettencourt’s Art Collection May Rival YSL’s https://t.co/iyJx6cqnxb pic.twitter.com/ESwxTX4PZE
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) September 21, 2017
1879 Danseuse au Repos, pastel by Degas
2008 SOLD 37 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
1883-1884 Study for a Bather by Seurat
2015 SOLD for £ 7.8M including premium
Georges Seurat was a great experimenter of the artistic language and the first post-impressionist. During his short career, he produced six great paintings, beginning with La Baignade à Asnières (Bathers at Asnières) in 1884.
As Constable, Seurat built his composition in successive stages, with many preparatory drawings and paintings. He was the most innovative draughtsman of his time, mixing the subject and the background by blurring the edges. Like the Impressionists, he removes the line while strictly maintaining shapes, proportions and perspectives.
On February 3 in London, Sotheby's sells a drawing for the nude of a young boy which is one of the earliest studies for La Baignade. This drawing in conté pencil on paper, 32 x 24 cm, may have been executed as early as 1883. It is estimated £ 5M, lot 13.
The boy is viewed in profile with a detailed anatomy. His attitude of cry for echo was kept unchanged in the full size version where he is the bather in the foreground with shorts. The drawing offered a chiaroscuro effect that has not been used in the painting.
As Constable, Seurat built his composition in successive stages, with many preparatory drawings and paintings. He was the most innovative draughtsman of his time, mixing the subject and the background by blurring the edges. Like the Impressionists, he removes the line while strictly maintaining shapes, proportions and perspectives.
On February 3 in London, Sotheby's sells a drawing for the nude of a young boy which is one of the earliest studies for La Baignade. This drawing in conté pencil on paper, 32 x 24 cm, may have been executed as early as 1883. It is estimated £ 5M, lot 13.
The boy is viewed in profile with a detailed anatomy. His attitude of cry for echo was kept unchanged in the full size version where he is the bather in the foreground with shorts. The drawing offered a chiaroscuro effect that has not been used in the painting.
Record for a work on paper by #Seurat: study for @Nationalgallery’s iconic ‘Une baignade, Asnières’ sells for £7.8m pic.twitter.com/jGAMQtKJ0Z
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) February 3, 20151889 Asylum and Sea
2014 SOLD 17 M£ including premium
Vincent Van Gogh is interned in the asylum at Saint-Rémy from May 1889. Between crises of madness, he maintains his ambition of being better than all the other painters.
He copies in his own style the pictures that Theo sends to him. His idea is pedagogic : assembling a wide variety of subjects in order to demonstrate the possibilities of figurative art.
In October, Vincent copies L'homme est en mer of Virginie Demont-Breton. His oil on canvas 66 x 51 cm is estimated £ 6M, lot 39 in the catalog of Sotheby's in London on February 5.
Daughter of the peasant painter Jules Breton, Virginie specialized in scenes of marine life. L'homme est en mer shows a languid young woman sitting by the fire with her baby, powerless against the dangers faced by her husband.
Vincent accurately reflects the composition but is not simply a follower of Demont-Breton. The colors are gorgeous, reinforced by the lines typical of his style through which his paintings go beyond the emotional load of impressionists and pointillists.
The outside world is prohibited to the enclosed artist. The parallel between his own distress and the anguish of the woman is probably a psychological reason that guided his choice. The reference to the sea symbolizes both freedom and danger, and the sleeping baby is leading to the future.
POST SALE COMMENT
This surprising painting by Van Gogh inspired by Demont-Breton was sold for £ 17M including premium.
The image is shared by Wikimedia :
He copies in his own style the pictures that Theo sends to him. His idea is pedagogic : assembling a wide variety of subjects in order to demonstrate the possibilities of figurative art.
In October, Vincent copies L'homme est en mer of Virginie Demont-Breton. His oil on canvas 66 x 51 cm is estimated £ 6M, lot 39 in the catalog of Sotheby's in London on February 5.
Daughter of the peasant painter Jules Breton, Virginie specialized in scenes of marine life. L'homme est en mer shows a languid young woman sitting by the fire with her baby, powerless against the dangers faced by her husband.
Vincent accurately reflects the composition but is not simply a follower of Demont-Breton. The colors are gorgeous, reinforced by the lines typical of his style through which his paintings go beyond the emotional load of impressionists and pointillists.
The outside world is prohibited to the enclosed artist. The parallel between his own distress and the anguish of the woman is probably a psychological reason that guided his choice. The reference to the sea symbolizes both freedom and danger, and the sleeping baby is leading to the future.
POST SALE COMMENT
This surprising painting by Van Gogh inspired by Demont-Breton was sold for £ 17M including premium.
The image is shared by Wikimedia :
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1905 Garçon à la Pipe by Picasso
2004 SOLD 104 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
Page Garçon à la pipe in Wikipedia, including a higher resolution image.
The previous low resolution image is shared for fair use.
The previous low resolution image is shared for fair use.
1917 Brancusi at the Genesis of Art
2011 SOLD 14.9 M$ including premium
Brancusi, like many others, seeks the meaning and origin of world and life. In 1913, inspired by African art, he makes a wooden sculpture titled "le premier pas" (the first step). A baby makes his debut in the active life by trying to walk.
It is amusing to note that the great creative act of the metaphysical work of Brancusi is destructive. He breaks his wooden statue, keeping only the head. This new piece is ovoid, which is the perfect shape to symbolize the creation. Neither hair nor ears, nor neck.
With just the outline of an eye, of the nose and of the mouth, the egg becomes the head of a wailing baby, slightly larger than life, 26 cm long. It is entitled "le premier cri" and edited in 1917.
The copy for sale at Christie's in New York on November 1 is a polished bronze, with a high reflective effect. For such an outstanding work, the estimate, $ 8M, is conservative.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This bronze of a seminal sculpture by Brancusi was of course more outstanding than its estimate. It was sold $ 14.9 million including premium.
It is amusing to note that the great creative act of the metaphysical work of Brancusi is destructive. He breaks his wooden statue, keeping only the head. This new piece is ovoid, which is the perfect shape to symbolize the creation. Neither hair nor ears, nor neck.
With just the outline of an eye, of the nose and of the mouth, the egg becomes the head of a wailing baby, slightly larger than life, 26 cm long. It is entitled "le premier cri" and edited in 1917.
The copy for sale at Christie's in New York on November 1 is a polished bronze, with a high reflective effect. For such an outstanding work, the estimate, $ 8M, is conservative.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This bronze of a seminal sculpture by Brancusi was of course more outstanding than its estimate. It was sold $ 14.9 million including premium.
1918 Two Children with Modigliani
2015 SOLD for £ 7.6M including premium
Amedeo Modigliani, as Francis Bacon later, is an empathetic portrait artist who feels the need to understand his sitters. On February 4 in London, Christie's sells Les deux filles, a double portrait of children which is very rare and perhaps unique of that theme in the art of Amedeo.
This oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm is estimated £ 6M, lot 15. It was sold for £ 6.5 million including premium by Christie's on 4 February 2009 over a lower estimate of £ 3.5 million, at the time of the crisis of the art market.
This artwork whose first owner was Zborowski was painted in 1917 or 1918, while experts are now preferring the latter date.
The end of 1917 was rough, with the scandal of the public exhibition of the nudes at the Berthe Weill gallery. In the following year, his long stay in Nice is organized by Zborowski. Far from the war, Amedeo is hoping to recover his health but he has also lost the contact with the professional models who had provided the bulk of his art.
These two girls who remain unidentified are a study of childhood, reinforcing the idea that the painting could have been done during the pregnancy of Jeanne who gave birth to their daughter on 29 November 1918. The serious brunette in careful hair style will soon emerge from childhood. She protects the younger blonde whose slightly deformed face assesses that Amedeo was attentive to the solutions of cubism.
This oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm is estimated £ 6M, lot 15. It was sold for £ 6.5 million including premium by Christie's on 4 February 2009 over a lower estimate of £ 3.5 million, at the time of the crisis of the art market.
This artwork whose first owner was Zborowski was painted in 1917 or 1918, while experts are now preferring the latter date.
The end of 1917 was rough, with the scandal of the public exhibition of the nudes at the Berthe Weill gallery. In the following year, his long stay in Nice is organized by Zborowski. Far from the war, Amedeo is hoping to recover his health but he has also lost the contact with the professional models who had provided the bulk of his art.
These two girls who remain unidentified are a study of childhood, reinforcing the idea that the painting could have been done during the pregnancy of Jeanne who gave birth to their daughter on 29 November 1918. The serious brunette in careful hair style will soon emerge from childhood. She protects the younger blonde whose slightly deformed face assesses that Amedeo was attentive to the solutions of cubism.
1919 Portraits in Montparnasse
2015 SOLD for $ 43M including premium
Amedeo Modigliani came back from Nice to Paris in May 1919 with Jeanne and their baby Giovanna. Helped by Zborowski, he set up his studio rue de la Grande Chaumière. Peace had returned and a period of great creativity begins for the artist.
Since he had to give up sculpture because of his failing health, Amedeo is primarily a portrait painter. His models are the people around him in the art world of Montparnasse and humble fellows who cannot be his customers. His paintings are difficult to sell.
The portraits of seated models at the Grande Chaumière are set up similarly with small variations in the position of the hands and the orientation of the head. The format of the canvas increases, close to life size. Amedeo also works on the harmony of rare colors.
When Paulette Jourdain arrives at Montparnasse, she is a still a child at only 15 years old. She obtains to work for Zborowski. She is the last model of Amedeo in 1919. Her portrait, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm, is for sale at Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 12T. The estimate beyond $ 25M was announced in the press release of 4 September.
The search for expression is dominant over realism with two signature innovations in Amedeo's art : a tall neck creating a neat distance between head and body and the eyes completely filled in blue that announce surrealism and are certainly a proof of kindness of the artist for his model. A blue eyed portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne with Hat, oil on canvas 92 x 54 cm, was sold for £ 27M including premium by Christie's on February 6, 2013.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's. The image is shared by WikiArt.
Since he had to give up sculpture because of his failing health, Amedeo is primarily a portrait painter. His models are the people around him in the art world of Montparnasse and humble fellows who cannot be his customers. His paintings are difficult to sell.
The portraits of seated models at the Grande Chaumière are set up similarly with small variations in the position of the hands and the orientation of the head. The format of the canvas increases, close to life size. Amedeo also works on the harmony of rare colors.
When Paulette Jourdain arrives at Montparnasse, she is a still a child at only 15 years old. She obtains to work for Zborowski. She is the last model of Amedeo in 1919. Her portrait, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm, is for sale at Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 12T. The estimate beyond $ 25M was announced in the press release of 4 September.
The search for expression is dominant over realism with two signature innovations in Amedeo's art : a tall neck creating a neat distance between head and body and the eyes completely filled in blue that announce surrealism and are certainly a proof of kindness of the artist for his model. A blue eyed portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne with Hat, oil on canvas 92 x 54 cm, was sold for £ 27M including premium by Christie's on February 6, 2013.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's. The image is shared by WikiArt.
(1879-1881) > 1922 Study for a Rat d'Opéra
2015 SOLD for £ 15.8M including premium
Petite danseuse de quatorze ans is a sculpture by Degas edited posthumously by Hébrard in bronze with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon.
A copy from this edition was sold for £ 13.3M including premium by Sotheby's on February 3, 2009.
Another copy was sold for £ 7M before fees by Sotheby's on June 27, 2000. It was a star lot at Christie's on November 1, 2011 but could not reach its very expensive estimate. It comes back to Sotheby's in London on June 24, lot 14 more reasonably estimated £ 10M.
I republish below my 2011 discussion :
Original artist with an uneasy temper, Edgar Degas was one of the most innovative graphic artists of the nineteenth century. He knew that he was close to the Impressionists and appreciated their rejection of classicism. His own creative process was very complex, as shown in the example below.
In 1879, Marie draws the attention of the artist. Aged 14, this "petit rat d'Opéra" is an ungrateful teenager, far from physiological maturity, with awkward gestures, but already attracted to her future career as a dancer (which ended before it was to start when she was fired from the dance school for repeated absences).
Degas was a painter, draftsman, sculptor, photographer, printer, but his great art was oil and pastel. He used drawing and sculpture like sketches.
On his first sculpture of Marie, 74 cm high, the girl is naked. This makes sense since the artist wants to study the movements of her body. This is not enough for him. He realized another larger statue in painted wax, a little over 1 m, in the same position, with the unconventional idea to equip it with a dancing dress in cloth.
After much hesitation, Degas shows his Petite danseuse de quatorze ans at the Impressionist exhibition of 1881. After this unique event and until his death in 1917, no sculpture of the master will be exhibited.
Degas considered that his waxes were too fragile for preparing bronze casts. From 1922 to 1938, Hébrard can now publish the sculptures found in Degas's studio. By its realism that does not reject ugliness, the Petite danseuse will be considered as a key work of modern sculpture.
I invite you to watch the video shared in 2015 by Sotheby's :
A copy from this edition was sold for £ 13.3M including premium by Sotheby's on February 3, 2009.
Another copy was sold for £ 7M before fees by Sotheby's on June 27, 2000. It was a star lot at Christie's on November 1, 2011 but could not reach its very expensive estimate. It comes back to Sotheby's in London on June 24, lot 14 more reasonably estimated £ 10M.
I republish below my 2011 discussion :
Original artist with an uneasy temper, Edgar Degas was one of the most innovative graphic artists of the nineteenth century. He knew that he was close to the Impressionists and appreciated their rejection of classicism. His own creative process was very complex, as shown in the example below.
In 1879, Marie draws the attention of the artist. Aged 14, this "petit rat d'Opéra" is an ungrateful teenager, far from physiological maturity, with awkward gestures, but already attracted to her future career as a dancer (which ended before it was to start when she was fired from the dance school for repeated absences).
Degas was a painter, draftsman, sculptor, photographer, printer, but his great art was oil and pastel. He used drawing and sculpture like sketches.
On his first sculpture of Marie, 74 cm high, the girl is naked. This makes sense since the artist wants to study the movements of her body. This is not enough for him. He realized another larger statue in painted wax, a little over 1 m, in the same position, with the unconventional idea to equip it with a dancing dress in cloth.
After much hesitation, Degas shows his Petite danseuse de quatorze ans at the Impressionist exhibition of 1881. After this unique event and until his death in 1917, no sculpture of the master will be exhibited.
Degas considered that his waxes were too fragile for preparing bronze casts. From 1922 to 1938, Hébrard can now publish the sculptures found in Degas's studio. By its realism that does not reject ugliness, the Petite danseuse will be considered as a key work of modern sculpture.
I invite you to watch the video shared in 2015 by Sotheby's :
1927 The Glory of the Pastry Cook
2013 SOLD 18 M$ including premium
The portrait of apprentice pastry cooks is a recurring theme for Soutine. These boys engaged in a job that they have not chosen are a mirror of the difficulties of his own life. These young people are already ugly and sad. Their uniform reveals their lower class profession for the service of the rich.
One of the first versions astonishes Paul Guillaume and Dr. Barnes, ensuring the lasting fame of the artist, a fame of which he so rarely profited because of his ever dissatisfied nature.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells the sixth and final portrait of pastry cooks, painted circa 1927. This oil on canvas, 76 x 70 cm, is extraordinary for its emotional intensity and technical quality.
The malaise of the boy is visible from his sickly eye, pouting mouth and clumsy hands clutching the hips.
The artwork is at the intersection of Modigliani's ideal compositions, Picasso's pauperism in the blue period and Monet's chromatic subtlety within the white, and of course the nervousness of the brushwork is proper to Soutine. This masterpiece is estimated $ 16M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This engaging work is probably one of the best paintings by Soutine available on the art market. It was sold $ 18M including premium.
One of the first versions astonishes Paul Guillaume and Dr. Barnes, ensuring the lasting fame of the artist, a fame of which he so rarely profited because of his ever dissatisfied nature.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells the sixth and final portrait of pastry cooks, painted circa 1927. This oil on canvas, 76 x 70 cm, is extraordinary for its emotional intensity and technical quality.
The malaise of the boy is visible from his sickly eye, pouting mouth and clumsy hands clutching the hips.
The artwork is at the intersection of Modigliani's ideal compositions, Picasso's pauperism in the blue period and Monet's chromatic subtlety within the white, and of course the nervousness of the brushwork is proper to Soutine. This masterpiece is estimated $ 16M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This engaging work is probably one of the best paintings by Soutine available on the art market. It was sold $ 18M including premium.
1950 Claude et Paloma by Picasso
2013 SOLD for $ 28M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1951 The Best Cover of the Saturday Evening Post
2013 SOLD 46 M$ including premium
The Second World War is over but it will not be the last war. American people wish to be comforted. Their favorite artist is not an intellectual of the big city but Norman Rockwell who since 1916 draws with humor the varied themes of everyday life for the covers of the Saturday Evening Post.
Rockwell's images are the result of a lengthy preparation in consultation with the editor. He imagines the action, finds photos that he cut and assembles, and performs sketches before the final oil on canvas.
On November 24, 1951, Thanksgiving Day, when the magazine publishes Saying Grace, its publishers are aware that it is the masterpiece of the artist. The accompanying text clearly indicates that this grandmother who prays with her five year old grandson expresses the best that life can bring to the Americans.
Rockwell has placed the group in a restaurant with tight tables, from a low point of view inviting the observer to feel that he is sitting at the next table. Two young men complete this family, watching with sympathy the two main characters.
Four years later, the Saturday Evening Post asked its readers to identify what was the best cover by Rockwell. They praised Saying Grace.
In 1953, the oil on canvas 109 x 104 cm was given by Rockwell to the art editor of the magazine, Kenneth Stuart. The artwork remained in the Stuart family. It is estimated $ 15M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on December 4. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This image was considered sixty years ago as the masterpiece of Rockwell. It is still the case. The original oil painting was sold for $ 46M including premium.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
Rockwell's images are the result of a lengthy preparation in consultation with the editor. He imagines the action, finds photos that he cut and assembles, and performs sketches before the final oil on canvas.
On November 24, 1951, Thanksgiving Day, when the magazine publishes Saying Grace, its publishers are aware that it is the masterpiece of the artist. The accompanying text clearly indicates that this grandmother who prays with her five year old grandson expresses the best that life can bring to the Americans.
Rockwell has placed the group in a restaurant with tight tables, from a low point of view inviting the observer to feel that he is sitting at the next table. Two young men complete this family, watching with sympathy the two main characters.
Four years later, the Saturday Evening Post asked its readers to identify what was the best cover by Rockwell. They praised Saying Grace.
In 1953, the oil on canvas 109 x 104 cm was given by Rockwell to the art editor of the magazine, Kenneth Stuart. The artwork remained in the Stuart family. It is estimated $ 15M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on December 4. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This image was considered sixty years ago as the masterpiece of Rockwell. It is still the case. The original oil painting was sold for $ 46M including premium.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1995 The Big Family of the Red Guard
2014 SOLD 94 MHK$ including premium
Zhang Xiaogang started in 1993 his great series named Bloodlines - Big Family. Based on the model of ancient family photos, these groups of two, three or four individuals express the contradiction between the political requirement of an undifferentiated behavior and the need for everyone to live his own life.
Zhang groups multiply in 1994, all of them morally similar but physically different.
In 1995, the social revolution brought about by the events of Tiananmen Square is already lasting since six years. Zhang added only five paintings to his series but in very large size, 180 x 230 cm.
The Bloodline - Big Family No. 3 of 1995 displays three characters. The facial lines are the same as if the individuality of the father, mother and unique child required by the authority were crushed by the system. Mao collar tunics are dull and military. The gaze is sad and the mouth is dumb.
The younger is slightly smaller in the middle. For preparing the future, he has been enlisted with the Comrades : he exhibits the Mao badge and the red armband. This family reveals in silence the social and political scream of Zhang: the dehumanized future that is offered to the Chinese is not acceptable.
This oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 47M including premium by Sotheby's on April 9, 2008. It is estimated HK $ 65M, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 5, lot 145 in the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This key artwork of the new Chinese painting was sold for HK$ 94M including premium.
Zhang groups multiply in 1994, all of them morally similar but physically different.
In 1995, the social revolution brought about by the events of Tiananmen Square is already lasting since six years. Zhang added only five paintings to his series but in very large size, 180 x 230 cm.
The Bloodline - Big Family No. 3 of 1995 displays three characters. The facial lines are the same as if the individuality of the father, mother and unique child required by the authority were crushed by the system. Mao collar tunics are dull and military. The gaze is sad and the mouth is dumb.
The younger is slightly smaller in the middle. For preparing the future, he has been enlisted with the Comrades : he exhibits the Mao badge and the red armband. This family reveals in silence the social and political scream of Zhang: the dehumanized future that is offered to the Chinese is not acceptable.
This oil on canvas was sold for HK $ 47M including premium by Sotheby's on April 9, 2008. It is estimated HK $ 65M, for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 5, lot 145 in the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This key artwork of the new Chinese painting was sold for HK$ 94M including premium.
