Music and Dance in Art
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Art on paper Self portrait Self portrait II Groups Children Tabletop France Paris Degas Renoir French sculpture Sculpture by painters Kandinsky Gris Picasso < 1907 Picasso 1907-31 Lichtenstein Lichtenstein > 1965 Fu Baoshi Cities
Chronology : 19th century 1870-1879 1879 1905 1913 1914 1919 1920-1929 1927 1937 1945 1990-1999 1994
See also : Art on paper Self portrait Self portrait II Groups Children Tabletop France Paris Degas Renoir French sculpture Sculpture by painters Kandinsky Gris Picasso < 1907 Picasso 1907-31 Lichtenstein Lichtenstein > 1965 Fu Baoshi Cities
Chronology : 19th century 1870-1879 1879 1905 1913 1914 1919 1920-1929 1927 1937 1945 1990-1999 1994
masterpiece
1862 Le Bain Turc by Ingres
Louvre
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1876 Bal du Moulin de la Galette by RENOIR
1
masterpiece
Musée d'Orsay
In 1863 Charles Gleyre admonishes Monet because he does not follow the model of the antique. Bringing with him three friends, Sisley, Renoir and Bazille, Monet slams the door and manages to paint outdoors.
Their temperaments are different. They are young and tempted by the good life of dancing balls. While Monet is overtaken by his wife, Renoir expresses the carefree joie de vivre of the groups to which he applies the impressionist style. Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette in 1876 and Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, exhibited in 1882, are among the most important masterpieces of painting.
Renoir painted two identical versions of the Moulin de la Galette. The largest, 131 x 175 cm, became the property of the French State through the Caillebotte bequest and is currently at the Musée d'Orsay. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Their temperaments are different. They are young and tempted by the good life of dancing balls. While Monet is overtaken by his wife, Renoir expresses the carefree joie de vivre of the groups to which he applies the impressionist style. Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette in 1876 and Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, exhibited in 1882, are among the most important masterpieces of painting.
Renoir painted two identical versions of the Moulin de la Galette. The largest, 131 x 175 cm, became the property of the French State through the Caillebotte bequest and is currently at the Musée d'Orsay. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1 bis
1990 SOLD for $ 78 M by Sotheby's
The other version is an oil on canvas 78 x 114 cm damaged by folding. Coming from the Whitney collection, it was sold for $ 78M by Sotheby's on May 17, 1990. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The buyer was a Japanese collector named Ryoei Saito, who had acquired the Portrait of Dr Gachet by Van Gogh two days earlier at Christies for $ 82M. Saito creates some terror in the art world by announcing that at his death he will be cremated with the two paintings to avoid that enormous inheritance rights are required to his heirs.
Saito died in 1996. His threat was not carried out because his wealth had turned down and the artworks were sequestered by his creditors, but the two paintings were never seen again. The Van Gogh was reportedly located in 2007 in the collection of an Austrian financier who has since gone bankrupt.
The buyer was a Japanese collector named Ryoei Saito, who had acquired the Portrait of Dr Gachet by Van Gogh two days earlier at Christies for $ 82M. Saito creates some terror in the art world by announcing that at his death he will be cremated with the two paintings to avoid that enormous inheritance rights are required to his heirs.
Saito died in 1996. His threat was not carried out because his wealth had turned down and the artworks were sequestered by his creditors, but the two paintings were never seen again. The Van Gogh was reportedly located in 2007 in the collection of an Austrian financier who has since gone bankrupt.
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1879 Danseuse au Repos by Degas
2008 SOLD for $ 37M by Sotheby's
Degas became interested in the world of dance at the instigation of his friend Ludovic Halévy. In 1875 the inauguration of the Paris Opera at the Palais Garnier opened a new phase in his life and in his art. He attends the performances that take place three times a week, and his subscription allows an unlimited access behind the scenes.
The "petits rats" are of great interest to him. These very young women do not have that need for sexual activity which masks the psychological authenticity of the prostitutes. Their lives are exhausting, in training and on stage, but the glory may reward their efforts.
Degas did not rule out any technique. In 1875 he was seduced by the use of pastel enhanced with gouache on paper. Unlike oil and watercolor, this opaque material very easily allows the many reworks desired by the artist throughout the execution of an artwork.
In 1880 at the 5th impressionist exhibition, Degas displays a pastel and gouache 46 x 67 cm titled Deux danseuses, probably made in 1879. After an exhausting exercise, two ballerinas in tutu are seated side by side on a bench. They ignore each other, only trying to catch their breath, the body leaning forward.
The artist painted in the same technique another work, 59 x 64 cm, titled Danseuse au repos. It was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on November 3, 2008, lot 14. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The girl on the right side in Deux Danseuses is in exactly the same attitude as before, with the left hand massaging the painful ankle and the other hand resting on the other knee. With her frail limbs and her upturned nose, this young woman has a resemblance to Marie, the model of the sculpture titled Petite danseuse de quatorze ans made by Degas around the same time. In a bold composition as Degas liked, her partner is almost entirely out of field.
The "petits rats" are of great interest to him. These very young women do not have that need for sexual activity which masks the psychological authenticity of the prostitutes. Their lives are exhausting, in training and on stage, but the glory may reward their efforts.
Degas did not rule out any technique. In 1875 he was seduced by the use of pastel enhanced with gouache on paper. Unlike oil and watercolor, this opaque material very easily allows the many reworks desired by the artist throughout the execution of an artwork.
In 1880 at the 5th impressionist exhibition, Degas displays a pastel and gouache 46 x 67 cm titled Deux danseuses, probably made in 1879. After an exhausting exercise, two ballerinas in tutu are seated side by side on a bench. They ignore each other, only trying to catch their breath, the body leaning forward.
The artist painted in the same technique another work, 59 x 64 cm, titled Danseuse au repos. It was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on November 3, 2008, lot 14. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The girl on the right side in Deux Danseuses is in exactly the same attitude as before, with the left hand massaging the painful ankle and the other hand resting on the other knee. With her frail limbs and her upturned nose, this young woman has a resemblance to Marie, the model of the sculpture titled Petite danseuse de quatorze ans made by Degas around the same time. In a bold composition as Degas liked, her partner is almost entirely out of field.
masterpiece
1889-1890 Le Chahut by Seurat
Musée Kröller-Müller
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1905 Au Lapin Agile by Picasso
1989 SOLD for $ 41M by Sotheby's
Cabarets had a preponderant place in Picasso's youth. It is indeed at the 4 Gats in Barcelona that he feels the desire to have a bohemian life in Montmartre.
Le Lapin Agile is perfectly located in the heart of Montmartre, rue des Saules. Before 1900 its reputation had been sordid. Its name is a pun on the sign created by the cartoonist André Gill showing a happy rabbit jumping out of a pan.
Picasso arrives in Paris at the time when a new steward nicknamed Frédé organizes evenings in this cabaret during which poets, comedians and artists from Montmartre play music, sing, recite poems, chat with conviviality. Frédé plays guitar and cello.
Au Lapin Agile is an oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm painted by Picasso in 1905 on a commission from Frédé. Pablo prepares it in the graphic style of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters, without any style link either with the blue period or with the pink period. It was sold for $ 41M by Sotheby's on November 27, 1989.
The couple in the foreground, seated in front of glasses of wine, is made up of Picasso dressed as a Harlequin and of Germaine, the woman who had rejected Casagemas but was probably Pablo's mistress throughout the blue period. Behind them, Frédé plays the guitar.
Picasso's painting hung on the wall of the cabaret until 1912. It was therefore a silent witness of the most famous hoax in the history of art.
In 1910 on the cabaret terrace, the writer Roland Dorgelès accompanied by an accomplice attaches brushes to the tail of Lolo, Frédé's donkey. In the presence of a bailiff, they dip the brushes in pots of orange, yellow, red and blue paint and offer the animal a carrot. The frantic movement of the tail creates on a 54 x 81 cm canvas the masterpiece titled Et le Soleil s'endormit sur l'Adriatique, signed J.R. Boronali, an anagram of Buridan's famous donkey, Aliboron.
They exhibit this Sunset at the Salon des Indépendants as a manifesto of the Excessivisme. The fruitful debates that the hoax has aroused about the meaning of art are thus a direct consequence of the artists' meetings at the Lapin Agile. Picasso's painting is a rare rendering of this environment.
Le Lapin Agile is perfectly located in the heart of Montmartre, rue des Saules. Before 1900 its reputation had been sordid. Its name is a pun on the sign created by the cartoonist André Gill showing a happy rabbit jumping out of a pan.
Picasso arrives in Paris at the time when a new steward nicknamed Frédé organizes evenings in this cabaret during which poets, comedians and artists from Montmartre play music, sing, recite poems, chat with conviviality. Frédé plays guitar and cello.
Au Lapin Agile is an oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm painted by Picasso in 1905 on a commission from Frédé. Pablo prepares it in the graphic style of Toulouse-Lautrec's posters, without any style link either with the blue period or with the pink period. It was sold for $ 41M by Sotheby's on November 27, 1989.
The couple in the foreground, seated in front of glasses of wine, is made up of Picasso dressed as a Harlequin and of Germaine, the woman who had rejected Casagemas but was probably Pablo's mistress throughout the blue period. Behind them, Frédé plays the guitar.
Picasso's painting hung on the wall of the cabaret until 1912. It was therefore a silent witness of the most famous hoax in the history of art.
In 1910 on the cabaret terrace, the writer Roland Dorgelès accompanied by an accomplice attaches brushes to the tail of Lolo, Frédé's donkey. In the presence of a bailiff, they dip the brushes in pots of orange, yellow, red and blue paint and offer the animal a carrot. The frantic movement of the tail creates on a 54 x 81 cm canvas the masterpiece titled Et le Soleil s'endormit sur l'Adriatique, signed J.R. Boronali, an anagram of Buridan's famous donkey, Aliboron.
They exhibit this Sunset at the Salon des Indépendants as a manifesto of the Excessivisme. The fruitful debates that the hoax has aroused about the meaning of art are thus a direct consequence of the artists' meetings at the Lapin Agile. Picasso's painting is a rare rendering of this environment.
GRIS
1
1913 Violon et Guitare
2010 SOLD 28.6 M$ by Christie's
Juan Gris is close to the artists who develop Cubism : Braque, Léger, Metzinger. He first earns his living with satirical drawings for magazines. In 1911 he begins to paint in oil. Kahnweiler signs in 1913 a contract by which he buys all the current and future work of this young artist, as he had done previously with Braque, Picasso and Léger.
Juan can now devote himself to his art with a freer spirit. He stays in Céret from August to November 1913, without crossing the border because he had escaped his military service and was considered a deserter in his native country.
The choice of Céret is not by chance : Picasso conceived Cubism in that village with Braque in 1911 and was staying there for the third consecutive summer. Juan declares himself as a disciple of Pablo and tries to claim to anyone all the secrets of Cubism. Very annoyed, Picasso avoids this overly enthusiastic young man.
Yet Juan is also an innovator. His works painted in Céret offer the transition between analytical cubism, defined as a flattening of forms, and synthetic cubism, by which objects receive again identifiable contours and bright colors.
On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 28.6M Violon et Guitare, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm painted by Juan Gris in Céret in September 1913, lot 23.
Kahnweiler is satisfied with Gris's progress and Picasso can no longer ignore his rival, while maintaining his unilateral animosity. Picasso wanted to be seen as the leader of this cubism which indeed could only appeal the theorists. Shortly afterward Picasso, Braque and Gris will try simultaneously but in vain to save the analytical cubism by inserting on their canvases some newspaper clippings, ultimate avatars of the destruction of perspective.
Juan can now devote himself to his art with a freer spirit. He stays in Céret from August to November 1913, without crossing the border because he had escaped his military service and was considered a deserter in his native country.
The choice of Céret is not by chance : Picasso conceived Cubism in that village with Braque in 1911 and was staying there for the third consecutive summer. Juan declares himself as a disciple of Pablo and tries to claim to anyone all the secrets of Cubism. Very annoyed, Picasso avoids this overly enthusiastic young man.
Yet Juan is also an innovator. His works painted in Céret offer the transition between analytical cubism, defined as a flattening of forms, and synthetic cubism, by which objects receive again identifiable contours and bright colors.
On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 28.6M Violon et Guitare, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm painted by Juan Gris in Céret in September 1913, lot 23.
Kahnweiler is satisfied with Gris's progress and Picasso can no longer ignore his rival, while maintaining his unilateral animosity. Picasso wanted to be seen as the leader of this cubism which indeed could only appeal the theorists. Shortly afterward Picasso, Braque and Gris will try simultaneously but in vain to save the analytical cubism by inserting on their canvases some newspaper clippings, ultimate avatars of the destruction of perspective.
2
1914 La Table de Musicien
2018 SOLD for $ 32M by Christie's
The first cubism which is called analytical cubism is a search for the integration of the volume of objects within a flat surface. Led from 1910 by Picasso and Braque soon followed by Juan Gris, this technique leads to an explosion of forms that hinders the readability. Perspective and even color become non-existent or secondary.
This hermetic art does not satisfy its own inventor Picasso. In 1912 he sticks real ordinary materials in a composition : ropes and oilcloth. Curiously he does not exhibit this first experience that nevertheless launches the cubist collages. Braque, Picasso himself and Gris continue this exploration of a new artistic language conducive to show the everyday surroundings of table settings and still lifes.
The collage of newspaper clippings is a basic element of the new compositions. Easy to simulate also with the brush, the piece does not break the coherence of the work. It draws the attention of the viewer who seeks some meaning to the words in the context of the image, long before the Dada and Merz revolutions. It is also a fun method to date an artwork.
From December 1913 Juan Gris is the champion of this new evolution of cubism which finally retrieves perspective and color while respecting the primary objective of assimilating the represented object and its support. In the following months Malevich reaches the most extreme abstract art : the uselessness of the image in its support is another seminal advance of modernism.
On May 8, 2018, Christie's sold as lot 2 for $ 32M La table de musicien, oil, gouache, pencil and collage of paper on canvas 82 x 60 cm made by Gris in May 1914.
The table is the support of the arrangement. It is shown at an angle in an aerial view. In a subtle balance the collages participate in three different ways : the newspaper on the table, the wall paper and the stylized musical staves drawn on a white paper. The perspective effect allows the drawings of bottle and violin to overlap the painted and glued areas. Transparency effects disrupt the surfaces.
Executed in the following month in a similar technique, a 46 x 27 cm artwork titled Tabac, journal et bouteille de vin rosé was sold for $ 8.8M by Sotheby's on November 6, 2013.
The war stops this playful phase when Kahnweiler with whom Gris was in contract in Paris is obliged to leave for Switzerland. In the following year Gris gives up his mixed technique and returns to oil on canvas with brilliantly colored compositions that imitate his collages. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux, 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M by Christie's on February 4, 2014.
This hermetic art does not satisfy its own inventor Picasso. In 1912 he sticks real ordinary materials in a composition : ropes and oilcloth. Curiously he does not exhibit this first experience that nevertheless launches the cubist collages. Braque, Picasso himself and Gris continue this exploration of a new artistic language conducive to show the everyday surroundings of table settings and still lifes.
The collage of newspaper clippings is a basic element of the new compositions. Easy to simulate also with the brush, the piece does not break the coherence of the work. It draws the attention of the viewer who seeks some meaning to the words in the context of the image, long before the Dada and Merz revolutions. It is also a fun method to date an artwork.
From December 1913 Juan Gris is the champion of this new evolution of cubism which finally retrieves perspective and color while respecting the primary objective of assimilating the represented object and its support. In the following months Malevich reaches the most extreme abstract art : the uselessness of the image in its support is another seminal advance of modernism.
On May 8, 2018, Christie's sold as lot 2 for $ 32M La table de musicien, oil, gouache, pencil and collage of paper on canvas 82 x 60 cm made by Gris in May 1914.
The table is the support of the arrangement. It is shown at an angle in an aerial view. In a subtle balance the collages participate in three different ways : the newspaper on the table, the wall paper and the stylized musical staves drawn on a white paper. The perspective effect allows the drawings of bottle and violin to overlap the painted and glued areas. Transparency effects disrupt the surfaces.
Executed in the following month in a similar technique, a 46 x 27 cm artwork titled Tabac, journal et bouteille de vin rosé was sold for $ 8.8M by Sotheby's on November 6, 2013.
The war stops this playful phase when Kahnweiler with whom Gris was in contract in Paris is obliged to leave for Switzerland. In the following year Gris gives up his mixed technique and returns to oil on canvas with brilliantly colored compositions that imitate his collages. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux, 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M by Christie's on February 4, 2014.
#AuctionUpdate ‘La table de musician’ by #JuanGris auctions for $31,812,500. https://t.co/kjMtJ5yMWN pic.twitter.com/B4bOAYDloe
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 8, 2018
1919 Guitare sur une Table by Picasso
2022 SOLD for $ 37M by Sotheby's
Guitar on a tabletop was a preferred theme of the Cubist pioneers, Gris, Picasso and Braque. In 1919 war is over and the synthetic phase of Cubism is giving way to the Neoclassicism.
Under the influence of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Picasso continues in both styles with dynamic pure colors, as demonstrated by a pair of portraits of Olga started simultaneously ca 1917 of which the Cubist version was sold for $ 30.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 7 A.
Guitare sur une table painted by Picasso in 1919 in Paris is a mixed style in which the mandolin shaped instrument is displayed beside a sheet of staves in a flattened trompe l'oeil that includes a joyful blue sky through a window.
This oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2022, lot 108, for the benefit of the MoMA and of charities.
Under the influence of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Picasso continues in both styles with dynamic pure colors, as demonstrated by a pair of portraits of Olga started simultaneously ca 1917 of which the Cubist version was sold for $ 30.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2017, lot 7 A.
Guitare sur une table painted by Picasso in 1919 in Paris is a mixed style in which the mandolin shaped instrument is displayed beside a sheet of staves in a flattened trompe l'oeil that includes a joyful blue sky through a window.
This oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm was sold for $ 37M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2022, lot 108, for the benefit of the MoMA and of charities.
1927 Petite Danseuse de 14 ans by Degas (posthumous)
2022 SOLD for $ 42M by Christie's
An 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 and real hair. By its realism that does not reject some ugliness, this portrait of an adolescent girl is indeed a key work of modern sculpture.
As in his many pastels of ballerinas, Degas captures a moment of life which is neither from the performance nor relaxed, which may be a reverie or an exhaustion.
After much hesitation, he 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 had considered that his waxes were too fragile for preparing bronze casts. In 1918 his heirs contracted Adrien Hébrard to produce limited bronze editions of all seventy-four wax sculptures found during the posthumous inventory.
Hébrard worked often on request from collectors. The first complete set of bronzes was finished in 1921. This activity made the founder busy up to 1938 including a total 29 casts of the Petite Danseuse.
Petite danseuse de quatorze ans was edited by Hébrard in bronze with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon.
A bronze 103 cm high not including the wooden base was sold for $ 42M from a lower estimate of $ 20M for sale by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 2C.
This copy with brown patina was cast in 1927 by Hébrard in commission from a US collector. It is fitted with the usual muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon of that model.
A copy with a provenance history beginning in the 1930s was sold for £ 13.3M by Sotheby's on February 3, 2009, lot 8.
Another example with no reference on the possible date was sold by Sotheby's for £ 15.8M on June 24, 2015, lot 14. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
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 and real hair. By its realism that does not reject some ugliness, this portrait of an adolescent girl is indeed a key work of modern sculpture.
As in his many pastels of ballerinas, Degas captures a moment of life which is neither from the performance nor relaxed, which may be a reverie or an exhaustion.
After much hesitation, he 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 had considered that his waxes were too fragile for preparing bronze casts. In 1918 his heirs contracted Adrien Hébrard to produce limited bronze editions of all seventy-four wax sculptures found during the posthumous inventory.
Hébrard worked often on request from collectors. The first complete set of bronzes was finished in 1921. This activity made the founder busy up to 1938 including a total 29 casts of the Petite Danseuse.
Petite danseuse de quatorze ans was edited by Hébrard in bronze with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon.
A bronze 103 cm high not including the wooden base was sold for $ 42M from a lower estimate of $ 20M for sale by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 2C.
This copy with brown patina was cast in 1927 by Hébrard in commission from a US collector. It is fitted with the usual muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon of that model.
A copy with a provenance history beginning in the 1930s was sold for £ 13.3M by Sotheby's on February 3, 2009, lot 8.
Another example with no reference on the possible date was sold by Sotheby's for £ 15.8M on June 24, 2015, lot 14. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
#AuctionUpdate From the Anne H. Bass Collection, Edgar Degas’s ‘Petite danseuse de quatorze ans’ broke the auction record of the artist tonight; price realized $41.6 million pic.twitter.com/Dn4JLCbWTB
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 12, 2022
1937 Tensions Calmées by Kandinsky
2021 SOLD for £ 21.2M by Sotheby's
In 1933, when the Bauhaus was closed by the Nazis, Wassily Kandinsky moved to an apartment in Neuilly-sur-Seine where he was to reside until his death. Now freed from teaching, he went into a creative anonymity, keeping himself far away from the Surrealists but enjoying Miro's mingling of poetry and abstraction.
In that new phase, he got rid of the geometric symbols that populated his art at the time of the Bauhaus. He could instead revisit the basic ideas of his early career about the pre-eminence of colors and the link between pictorial creation and music. At that time he took also an interest in micro-biomorphic forms.
Rigide et courbé, painted in 1935 and sold by Christie's for $ 23.3M in 2016, is typical of the new style with the melody simulated by the curves of its central ribbon.
On June 29, 2021, Sotheby's sold for £ 21.2M Tensions calmées, oil on canvas 90 x 116 cm painted in 1937, lot 116. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The title reveals the desire of the artist to express the complexity of the emotions through opposite concepts. It may be a precursor to his L'Elan tempéré of 1944, where the abstract figures are also musicalist.
Details in Tensions calmées may evoke a performing pianist with his keyboard and four converging strings of a violin. Curved figures are joyous, in an obvious desire to express an orchestration.
In that new phase, he got rid of the geometric symbols that populated his art at the time of the Bauhaus. He could instead revisit the basic ideas of his early career about the pre-eminence of colors and the link between pictorial creation and music. At that time he took also an interest in micro-biomorphic forms.
Rigide et courbé, painted in 1935 and sold by Christie's for $ 23.3M in 2016, is typical of the new style with the melody simulated by the curves of its central ribbon.
On June 29, 2021, Sotheby's sold for £ 21.2M Tensions calmées, oil on canvas 90 x 116 cm painted in 1937, lot 116. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The title reveals the desire of the artist to express the complexity of the emotions through opposite concepts. It may be a precursor to his L'Elan tempéré of 1944, where the abstract figures are also musicalist.
Details in Tensions calmées may evoke a performing pianist with his keyboard and four converging strings of a violin. Curved figures are joyous, in an obvious desire to express an orchestration.
1945 The Song of the Pipa Player
2017 SOLD for HK$ 205M by Christie's
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 1,200 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.
An early example of the Pipa Player, hanging scroll 118 x 35 cm dated 1944, is owned by the museum of Nanjing. It portrays the singing woman listened by the poet and the guest on a shore, in a boat or a pavilion.
A 113 x 66 cm hanging scroll made in 1945 from the Song of the Pipa Player was sold by Christie's for HK $ 70M on November 30, 2010, lot 2640 and for HK $ 205M on November 28, 2017, lot 8801.
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.
Another view, hanging scroll 178 x 56 cm, features the same group of three on the shore in a bright aperture through a tree. The image is sharply focused by the bright color of the shirt of the singing woman. Her luth is displayed full front. The white horse is drinking on the other bank of the river. A landscape appears in the upper side.
This example was sold for RMB 104M by Poly on June 17, 2018, lot 1779. It is dated in the mid 1940s by the auction house. The image is shared by Artnet.
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.
An early example of the Pipa Player, hanging scroll 118 x 35 cm dated 1944, is owned by the museum of Nanjing. It portrays the singing woman listened by the poet and the guest on a shore, in a boat or a pavilion.
A 113 x 66 cm hanging scroll made in 1945 from the Song of the Pipa Player was sold by Christie's for HK $ 70M on November 30, 2010, lot 2640 and for HK $ 205M on November 28, 2017, lot 8801.
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.
Another view, hanging scroll 178 x 56 cm, features the same group of three on the shore in a bright aperture through a tree. The image is sharply focused by the bright color of the shirt of the singing woman. Her luth is displayed full front. The white horse is drinking on the other bank of the river. A landscape appears in the upper side.
This example was sold for RMB 104M by Poly on June 17, 2018, lot 1779. It is dated in the mid 1940s by the auction house. The image is shared by Artnet.
masterpiece
1950 Shuffleton's Barbershop by Rockwell
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
One of the reasons for the continued popularity of Norman Rockwell's illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post's cover pages is the variety of his inspiration. After the war, patriotism gives way to burlesque scenes activating many characters.
Rockwell is especially at his best when he is painting scenes of village life. The quiet atmosphere is revealed by a multitude of small details created from individual photos. After the Dutch masters of the 17th century Rockwell carefully checks the realistic geometry of lights and shadows.
By the intimacy of the theme and the complexity of the composition, Shuffleton's Barbershop published by the Saturday Evening Post on April 29, 1950 is one of his most successful covers. The 117 x 109 cm oil on canvas was deaccessioned from the Berkshire Museum. Listed by Sotheby's on November 13, 2017 with an estimate of $ 20M, lot 10, it was sold before the auction to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, as reported by the auction house.
The viewer looks through the large shop's window whose inscriptions are truncated at the edges. After the working day the light is off in the room. The stove, the sink, the magazine rack and the cat are waiting for the next day. Three men play their musical instruments in the light of the back shop without a risk of being disturbed.
In his compositions Rockwell re-assembles but does not invent. Rob Shuffleton is in real life the barber of the Vermont village where the artist settled in 1939 and he is also the seated man who holds the cello, half hidden behind the inner door.
Rockwell is especially at his best when he is painting scenes of village life. The quiet atmosphere is revealed by a multitude of small details created from individual photos. After the Dutch masters of the 17th century Rockwell carefully checks the realistic geometry of lights and shadows.
By the intimacy of the theme and the complexity of the composition, Shuffleton's Barbershop published by the Saturday Evening Post on April 29, 1950 is one of his most successful covers. The 117 x 109 cm oil on canvas was deaccessioned from the Berkshire Museum. Listed by Sotheby's on November 13, 2017 with an estimate of $ 20M, lot 10, it was sold before the auction to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, as reported by the auction house.
The viewer looks through the large shop's window whose inscriptions are truncated at the edges. After the working day the light is off in the room. The stove, the sink, the magazine rack and the cat are waiting for the next day. Three men play their musical instruments in the light of the back shop without a risk of being disturbed.
In his compositions Rockwell re-assembles but does not invent. Rob Shuffleton is in real life the barber of the Vermont village where the artist settled in 1939 and he is also the seated man who holds the cello, half hidden behind the inner door.
1994 Nude with Joyous Painting by Lichtenstein
2020 SOLD for $ 46M by Christie's
Roy Lichtenstein appropriates images edited or painted by others. By transforming them, he brings another meaning that can be the opposite. The enlargement from a comic maintains the simplicity of the lines which was important for the legibility of the tiny original. He reaches the basics of art, without verbiage and without losing his humor.
Roy also offers his vision of art history. He likes the pure lines of the naked bodies in La Danse by Matisse. Painted in 1974, Artist's Studio - The Dance exhibits that masterpiece of the other artist on the back wall, behind a big mess. On the right side, a truncated image shows some musical notes on a stave.
In 1994 Roy restarts one of his signature themes : the young woman copied from a comic panel, colored with dots that mimic printing patterns. Henceforth the woman is nude, sometimes in the presence of another naked woman, never with a man.
Nude with Joyous Painting, oil and acrylic 178 x 135 cm painted in 1994 was sold for $ 46M from an estimate in the region of $ 30M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 58. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the comic book, the pretty blonde had a love sorrow. Now she is naked and the explanatory text is no longer available : she is simply waiting for something undefined which is probably not a partner. She may be finishing her washing after putting a headband.
The joyous painting announced by the title is the image of a musical stave in volutes, as in the pastiche of La Danse. This musical symbol brings a nice atmosphere of innocent intimacy.
Roy also offers his vision of art history. He likes the pure lines of the naked bodies in La Danse by Matisse. Painted in 1974, Artist's Studio - The Dance exhibits that masterpiece of the other artist on the back wall, behind a big mess. On the right side, a truncated image shows some musical notes on a stave.
In 1994 Roy restarts one of his signature themes : the young woman copied from a comic panel, colored with dots that mimic printing patterns. Henceforth the woman is nude, sometimes in the presence of another naked woman, never with a man.
Nude with Joyous Painting, oil and acrylic 178 x 135 cm painted in 1994 was sold for $ 46M from an estimate in the region of $ 30M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 58. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the comic book, the pretty blonde had a love sorrow. Now she is naked and the explanatory text is no longer available : she is simply waiting for something undefined which is probably not a partner. She may be finishing her washing after putting a headband.
The joyous painting announced by the title is the image of a musical stave in volutes, as in the pastiche of La Danse. This musical symbol brings a nice atmosphere of innocent intimacy.
