Friday, April 21, 2023

Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale.Picasso, Rousseau, Renoir. Baselitz, Richter and more

 Christie’s is pleased to announce the top lot of the 20th Century Evening Sale on May 11, 2023 during the Spring Marquee Week of sales will be Pablo Picasso’s Nature morte à la fenêtre (estimate on request; in the region of $40,000,000). This important, large-scale 1932 portrait of the artist’s golden muse Marie-Thérèse Walter dates from one of the most celebrated moments within Picasso’s entire career. This May will be the first time in history that the work has come to auction.


PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
Nature morte à la fenêtre
oil on canvas
51 x 63 in. (129.7 x 162.3 cm.)
Painted on 18 January 1932
Estimate on request


Vanessa Fusco, Christie’s Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, and Co-Head of 20th Century Evening Sale, remarks, “Marie-Thérèse’s presence in Picasso’s life reinvigorated every area of his work, her statuesque form, radiant beauty, and carefree sensibility inspiring the artist to create works that stand among the finest of his entire career. Created at the very start Picasso’s annus mirabilis, Nature morte à la fenêtre is a testament to Marie-Thérèse’s powerful influence, and the great flourishing of activity she inspired in his art, from drawing to sculpture, printmaking to painting.”


Giovanna Bertazzoni, Christie’s Vice Chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art, remarks, “We are thrilled to showcase this masterpiece at Christie’s New York, as we celebrate Picasso’s contribution to the history of art and legacy this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of his death.”


Nature morte à la fenêtre was painted in January of 1932, a pivotal year for the artist. Over the course of this year, Picasso reached an extraordinary peak of creativity in his paintings, inspired by the forms of Marie-Thérèse Walter, whose classical profile, curves and cropped hair came to dominate every aspect of his output in the early 1930s. Nature morte à la fenêtre is among the very first paintings in this exceptional series devoted to her, which includes seminal works such as Le Rêve, Jeune fille devant un miroir, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust and Femme assise près d'une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse)—which sold at Christie’s in 2021 for more than $103 million. The example on offer this season represents a highly significant moment within the story of Picasso’s so called “annus mirabilis” (year of wonder).


Almost immediately following its completion, Nature morte à la fenêtre was shown in renowned Picasso retrospective at the Galeries Georges Petit in Paris during the summer of 1932; it hung prominently in the gallery’s Grande Salle, directly above Le Rêve. It then traveled to the Kunsthaus Zürich for Picasso’s inaugural museum show later that year. The painting would continue to remained in the artist’s personal collection for the rest of his life, hidden from public view until the 1980s.


Property from the Estate of Payne Whitney Middleton
HENRI 'LE DOUANIER' ROUSSEAU (1844-1910)
Les Flamants
oil on canvas
44.7/8 x 63.1/4 in. (113.8 x 162 cm.)
Painted in 1910
$20,000,000 – 30,000,000

This May, Christie’s is honored to offer Les Flamants, an extraordinarily rare masterpiece by Henri Rousseau in Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale during the Spring Marquee Week. Estimated at $20,000,000 – 30,000,000, this painting is poised to reset the auction record for the artist, far exceeding the current record of $4.4 million set three decades ago at Christie’s London. Les Flamants comes to Christie’s from the estate of Payne Whitney Middleton, having been in the family since 1949.


Max Carter, Christie's Vice Chairman, 20th and 21st Century Art, remarks, "A legend among the Parisian avant-garde, Henri Rousseau is perhaps the rarest major artist of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Of the fewer than 240 attributed oils in the definitive catalogues by Dora Vallier and Henry Certigny, the number of privately owned paintings with provenance traced to Rousseau can be counted on two hands. Among them there is only one monumental jungle vision, Les Flamants, which hung for many years in Joan Whitney Payson’s living room opposite Van Gogh’s Irises. In 1954, five years after the family acquired Les Flamants, Rousseau’s The Dream reportedly became the most expensive acquisition in MoMA’s history. At the time, one of Rousseau’s masterpieces appearing on the market was an event. Today it is once-in-a-lifetime.”


Vanessa Fusco, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art and Co-Head of Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale, remarks, “Rousseau was a celebrity among the avant-garde artistic community in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. He was championed and collected by some of the most influential modern artists, including Pablo Picasso, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, and Wassily Kandinsky, and his epitaph was written by the great poet Guillaume Apollinaire. His unique, fantastical vision has continued to inspire artists through to the current day. This May’s 20th Century Evening Sale therefore represents the perfect platform in which to feature this quintessential artist’s artist’s great masterpiece, in dialogue with subsequent generations of artists upon whom Rousseau had a profound influence.”


Created in the final year Rousseau’s life, Les Flamants is a superb example of his jungle paintings, the small, highly celebrated series that cemented his artistic legacy. Among his most ambitious compositions, both in scale and subject, Rousseau’s jungle landscapes were almost entirely imagined. The self-taught artist never left France, and instead drew inspiration from journals, newspapers, and botanical guidebooks, which he supplemented with visits to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, to study live animals and exotic plant life. Through this multi-layered process, Rousseau’s paintings became rich assemblages, combining many different types of imagery together to create dream-like landscapes. Prior to committing himself fulltime to art, Rousseau made a living as a customs officer working at the outskirts of Paris, which led to the moniker ‘Le Douanier.’ Rousseau is among the most important self-taught European painters from the late 19th and early 20th Century.


Christie’s is honored to announce The Estate of Sophie F. Danforth, which will highlight the 20th Century Evening Sale on May 11, 2023 at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Featuring five superb examples by Renoir, Degas, Daumier, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Goya, the collection is expected to realize in excess of $8,000,000.


PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919)
Square de la Trinité
oil on canvas
21 3/8 x 25 3/4 in. (54.3 x 65.4 cm.)
Painted in 1878-1879 $4,000,000-6,000,000


The leading highlight of the collection is Square de la Trinité by Impressionist master Renoir (estimate: $4,000,000 – 6,000,000). In the Danforth collection for ninety years, the work has been featured in major international exhibitions throughout the 20th century, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and the 2007 exhibition of Renoir’s landscapes, which traveled to the National Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Canada and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.


To see the Degas, which likely hung in the 3rd Impressionist show in 1877, Renoir, Daumier and Lautrec together is to peer over Helen’s shoulder and join in her adventures 90 years ago. We are particularly honored to offer the rare and remarkable drawing by Goya, the last old master and the first of the moderns, in our 20th-Century Sale, alongside so many artists whom he influenced and showed the way.”

The collection also includes superlative works on paper by Impressionist masters Degas, Daumier and Toulouse-Lautrec. Degas’s Danseuse à la barre (estimate: $2,000,000 – 3,000,000), an exquisite pastel believed by scholars to be probably among the works by the artist on view at the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877. This work has been in the collection since 1936.


Les Trois Juges by Daumier (estimate: $ 300,000 – 500,000) comes from the artist’s celebrated series exploring and critiquing the dynamics within the courtroom. Toulouse-Lautrec’s Au cirque: Eléphant en liberté (estimate: $400,000 – 600,000) depicts an elephant on hind legs reacting to the commands of its trainer in costume, comes from the limited series of just 50 works by the artist produced in 1899 during his time confined to the Folie Saint James asylum in the suburbs of Paris.


The final work rounding out the evening sale selection is an extraordinarily rare drawing by Goya (estimate $800,000 – 1,200,000), representing the first time Spanish master has been included in any Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale. This follows the notable sale of the artist’s record-breaking result for the Portrait of Doña María Vicenta Barruso Valdés and Portrait of her mother Doña Leonora Antonia Valdés de Barruso which sold for $16.4 million in an Old Masters auction in January.


This May, Christie’s is honored to present highlights from Enduring Threads: The Collection of Jacques and Emy Cohenca. The group that will be sold this May comprises 12 works by iconic artists, including phenomenal examples by Georg Baselitz, Gerhard Richter, Joan Mitchell, Lee Krasner, and Louise Bourgeois, all of which will highlight the 20th Century Evening Sale.



Gerog Baselitz, b. 1938), Mann mit Tablett. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 98½ x 78¾ in. (250.2 x 200 cm.) Executed in 1982. Estimate: $3,000,000-5,000,000.© Christie's Images Ltd 2023.


ENDURING THREADS: THE COLLECTION OF JACQUES AND EMY COHENCA
GERHARD RICHTER (B. 1932)
Spoleto
oil on canvas
78¾ x 71  in. (200 x 180.7 cm.)
Painted in 1984.
$8,000,000-12,000,000


The group is led by Spoleto (estimate: $8,000,000 – 12,000,000), a painting by Gerhard Richter that was acquired by Emy Cohenca in 1985, the year it was painted. 

Additional highlights include Joan Mitchell’s Hours ($3,000,000 – 5,000,000), a 1989 canvas Emy Cohenca also acquired the year of its creation, and Siblings by Lee Krasner ($5,000,000 – 7,000,000) a fantastic painting comprised of the artistic language that emerged from the artist following the death of her husband. Together, the collection is expected to total in excess of $22,000,000 .

THE ALAN AND DOROTHY PRESS COLLECTION

 The group is comprised of exemplary works by Ed Ruscha, three Philip Guston masterpieces, and outstanding examples by twentieth century artistic luminaries: Man Ray, Henri Matisse, and Ken Price. Additional works from the collection will be offered in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale. In total, the collection is expected to achieve in excess of $50,000,000.

ED RUSCHA (B. 1937)

Burning Standard

Oil on canvas

Painted in 1968

$20,000,000 – 30,000,000

The collection is led by Ed Ruscha’s Burning Standard (estimate: $20,000,000 – 30,000,000), a painting that is considered to be one of the most historically important works in the artist’s oeuvre. Painted in 1968, Burning Standard is one of only five Standard Station paintings from the 1960s, and one of two paintings to feature the fire motif. This singular and groundbreaking painting is now considered an icon of twentieth-century post-war art, on par with Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans and Lichtenstein’s comic-book heroines. This May will be only the second time in history that a Standard Station painting has come to auction—the first was in a Christie’s New York Evening Sale in November 2007 when the lot surpassed its high estimate to sell for $6,985,000 and set a new record for the artist at the time. The present example will be sold in the Evening Sale alongside two additional works by the contemporary icon, Do You Think She Has It (estimate: $1,500,000 – 2,000,000) and Business #1 (estimate: $250,000 – 350,000). 

An additional eight examples by Ruscha from the collection will be featured in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale. This offering presents collectors with a unique opportunity to acquire the finest examples of Ruscha ahead of his highly anticipated retrospective touring to MoMA and LACMA beginning this fall.

Three iconic Guston paintings from the collection will be another highlight of the Evening Sale, led by Chair (estimate: $12,000,000 – 18,000,000) which was last seen by the public during MoMA’s seminal High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture exhibition in 1991. Among his most important figurative paintings, comparable works to Chair are held in institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Tate Gallery, London, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. The other two Gustons in the Collection, Pull (estimate: $6,000,000-8,000,000) and Bricks (estimate: $6,000,000-8,000,000) are similarly fresh to market and have not been seen by the public for more than two decades. The sale of this group will coincide with the National Gallery of Art’s Washington DC leg of the Guston retrospective, which will be on view through August 2023.

The collection is a narrative of five key artists who Dorothy and Alan Press held dear to their hearts. Built during the 1990s, it is essentially a set of retrospectives in miniature, delving into different themes, techniques, and subjects, and uniting important masterpieces with rarely seen jewels. As a whole, it is ultimately a study of true connoisseurship, demonstrating an intimate engagement and embrace of artists’ work across various time periods and media.

Ana Maria Celis, Head of Department, Post-War and Contemporary Art remarks, “Alan and Dorothy Press were among a rarefied group of connoisseur collectors who had a true and deep appreciation for a select group of artists. They collected zealously, across media and periods, supporting the markets of the artists they championed long before they came to achieve the global level of recognition in the market today. The superb quality of the works throughout the entire collection is illustrative of the Press’s keen collecting vision. Their high level of taste is present in the unmatched quality of each individual object—and only becomes amplified when the works are viewed collectively. At Christie’s we are truly grateful to steward the finest collections through generations. It is a thrill to have the opportunity this Spring to present this singular group of objects assembled by the inimitable Alan and Dorothy Press.”

Alan Press was an extremely successful commodities trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and his deep love for trading carried over into his art collecting. His interest in art likely began during his time in the army while stationed in Germany in the 1950s. He and Dorothy met in 1968, married in 1970, and soon after began to collect German Expressionist works—mainly prints and woodcuts of Munch and Kirchner. Through the 1970s they traveled frequently to Switzerland and Germany and eventually accumulated one of the leading US-based collections of these artists. Near the same time, they started collecting H.C. Westermann, eventually growing what would become one of the deepest collections of the artist in existence.

In the mid-to-late 1980s the couple sold their entire collection of German Expressionist art and transitioned into buying modern and contemporary in depth, with a keen focus on Ed Ruscha, Philip Guston, Ken Price, and Henri Matisse. The couple generously lent artworks to museums and galleries worldwide, and avidly supported their local art institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Smart Museum on the campus of the University of Chicago, developing close relationships with curators that would last throughout their lives.


Masterpieces from the S.I. Newhouse Collection:

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