IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART AT CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK MARCH 10 Christie's sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on March 10 presents an exciting opportunity for collectors to purchase superb works by the great masters Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Tamara de Lempic
News-Antique.com - Feb 27,2010 - Christie's sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on March 10 presents an exciting opportunity for collectors to purchase superb works by the great masters Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Tamara de Lempicka, and Henry Moore and to explore a wealth of drawings, sculpture and works on paper by lesser-known artists of the Impressionist and Modern periods. Prices begin at $1,200 and range up to $80,000. With over 160 works, the sale is expected to realize in excess of $1.5 million.
Among the highlights of the sale is a selection of works by the Art Deco portrait artist Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980), whose Portrait de Madame M sold for a record $6.1 million at Christie's Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale last spring. The upcoming sale includes two mid-career paintings from a private French collection - the meticulously composed Nature morte à la plante grasse, from circa 1952 (pictured page one right; estimate: $40,000-60,000), and the exceptional portrait Jeune homme au livre, painted circa 1954 (estimate: $25,000-35,000). Also featured is a work from a private American collection, Un coq, une poule et ses poussins (estimate: $3,000-5,000), and two figure studies in charcoal, Un nu de femme assise sur une chaise (estimate: $2,000-3,000) and Un nu de femme de dos (estimate: $2,000-3,000).
Last fall, Christie's achieved exceptional results for a select group of works on paper consigned from the Estate of Pierre-Noël Matisse, grandson of Henri Matisse (1869-1954). The upcoming sale features additional selections from this prominent estate, including Matisse’s Fille avec chaine et croix, a signed pen and ink drawing (estimate: $18,000-25,000), Nu, a pencil sketch on paper (estimate: $12,000-16,000) and Branche, a floral study in black conté crayon (estimate: $8,000-12,000). A delicately shaded pencil-and-charcoal sketch, Reclining Nude, 1973, by the modern sculptor Reg Butler (1913-1981) is an additional highlight of the group (estimate: $3,000-5,000).
Picasso’s towering artistic influence is evident in a group of exceptional Cubist compositions by several of his contemporaries and followers, including Deux guitares (Composition cubiste), a signed oil on board by Ismael Gonzalez de la Serna (estimate: $15,000-20,000), and Le Gitan by Bela de Kristo (estimate: $6,000-8,000). Also featured is a strong selection of Surrealist works, including Samuel Bak’s Blue Morning (estimate: $7,000-10,000) and Rudolf Schlichter’s haunting Jüngling im Geflecht, 1954 (estimate: $12,000-16,000).
Though perhaps best-known as Picasso’s muse in the post-war period from 1946 to 1953, Francoise Gilot remains a sought-after artist of the Impressionist and Modern genre. Two paintings by Gilot, The Idol, The Child and Tulips, 1991, (estimate: $8,000-12,000) and Autoportrait avec collier blue, 1945 (estimate: $4,000-6,000) are included in the sale, as well as a unique collaboration by Gilot and Picasso entitled Owl necklace, 1948 (estimate: $10,000-15,000). This unusual necklace was among the items featured in the 2007-8 traveling exhibition Surreal Things at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum.
Additional highlights include the sale’s cover lot, La salle à manger à Saint-Tropez, fenêtre ouverte, no. 3 (estimate: $60,000-80,000), a vibrant interior view by Charles Camoin (1879-1965), Bouquet de roses (estimate: $20,000-30,000),
