Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art this November

Sotheby’s announced a few more works in its World War I-themed sale within a sale, The Beautiful and Damned. Today’s announcement includes an Oskar Kokoschka and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner work. Each work is being restituted and will be sold with an estimate of between $15 and $20m.

Sotheby’s is honored to announce that two Modern masterworks recently restituted to the heirs of art-world luminary Alfred Flechtheim will highlight theirImpressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in New York on 12 November 2018.

Among the finest examples by their respective artists ever to appear at auction, Oskar Kokoschka’s portrait ofJoseph de Montesquiou-Fezensac from 1910 (estimate $15/20 million) and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s compelling Das Soldatenbad (Artillerymen) from 1915 (estimate $15/20 million) both encapsulate the seismic shifts occurring in visual arts during the period leading up to and including the onset of World War I. They also serve as testaments to Flechtheim’s passion for collecting exceptional Expressionist works.

In addition to their inherent art historical significance, both paintings are distinguished by their illustrious provenance and remarkable stories of restitution to Flechtheim’s heirs.  Prior to its restitution earlier this year, Kirchner’s Das Soldatenbadhad resided in the distinguished collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York for three decades, and in The Museum of Modern Art prior to that. Like the Kirchner,Kokoschka’s Joseph de Montesquiou-Fezensac was voluntarily returned to Flechtheim’s heirs in 2018 by the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. As in the past, the Flechtheim heirs are expecting to use some of the proceeds for charitable causes, and for Holocaust remembrance and education purposes.

Sotheby’s  The Triumph of Color: Important Works from a  Private  European  Collection in  theauctions  of Impressionist & Modern Art this November in New York.

Put  together  primarily  in  the  1970s  and  ‘80s,  the  collection  today  represents  one  of  the  finest  assemblages  of  post-Impressionist    and    Modern    Art    in    private    hands.    The    collection is defined by three superb masterworks by Wassily Kandinsky  and  rare  works  by  the  key  protagonists  of  Fauvism  and   German   Expressionism.  

 Several   of   the   paintings   were loaned  to  the  Courtauld  Institute  of  Art  in  London  for  over  fifteen  years,  where  they  provided  a unique display of works from the Fauve movement, the Expressionists and the route to Abstraction in the early-20th century.

Helena Newman, Head of Sotheby’s Worldwide Impressionist & Modern Art Department, commented: “Infused  with  an  intensity  of  color  and  expression,  this  collection  of  works  provides  a  rare  and exciting   opportunity   to   acquire   several   exceptional examples   of   early-20th   Century   Art.   It   is   unprecedented  for  three  major  paintings  by  Kandinsky,  each  from  a  key  moment  in  the  artist’s  creativity,  to  appear  at  auction  together,  and  complemented  by  stunning  examples  by  the  Fauves  and the German Expressionists, the collection encapsulates the triumph of color in art at the start of the 20th century.’’The three major paintings by Wassily Kandinsky chart the artist’s development across four decadesfrom the earliest successes to his greatest achievements. 






Wassily Kandinsky, Zum Thema Jüngstes Gericht (detail). Painted in 1913. Estimate $22/35 million. Courtesy Sotheby's. 

 

The group is led by one of the last 1913 oil paintings left in private hands, Zum Thema Jüngstes Gericht, a unique composition from this prime year of Kandinsky’s career, during which he reached the summit of his path to Abstraction (estimate $22/35 million).

Wassily Kandinsky, Le rond rogue. Painted in 1939. Estimate $18/25 million. Courtesy Sotheby's.   A stunning composition from the artist’s Paris period, painted in 1939, Le rond rouge is an exceptional large-format oil on canvas dating from the exhilarating years he spent in France (estimate $18/25 million). The core of the collection has always been works by the Fauves, including three outstanding canvases by Maurice de Vlaminck. Paysage au bois mort (estimate $12/18 million), Pêcheur à Chatou (estimate $9/14 million) and Nu couché (estimate $2/3 million) represent the full spectrum of Vlaminck’s greatest achievements. Executed in 1905 and 1906 at the height of the Fauve movement, the three works boast remarkable, thickly-painted surfaces and vivid palettes. Further highlights include exceptional works by some of the key artists of the German Expressionist movement, including Alexej von Jawlensky, Max Pechstein, August Macke and Heinrich Campendonk.   Sotheby’s will offer 33 works in total from the collection across their Evening and Day Sales of Impressionist & Modern Art in New York on 12 & 13 November, together estimated to sell for in excess of $90 million. Highlights are now on view in their London galleries as part of Frieze week exhibitions, and will travel to Hong Kong this fall, before returning to New York for the full viewing of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary Art auctions beginning 2 November.  An  early  abstract  masterpiece,  Improvisation  auf  Mahagoni,  was  painted  at  the  end of the artist’s Murnau period (estimate $15/20 million). A stunning composition from the artist’s   Sotheby’s  is  honored  to  announce  that  Egon  Schiele’s  masterwork  landscape Egon Schiele, Dämmernde Stadt (Die Kleine Stadt II) (City in Twilight (The Small City II)) signed Egon Schiele and dated 1913 (centre left) oil on canvas 35 5/8 by 35 1/2in. Painted circa 1913. Estimate $12/18 million. Courtesy Sotheby's. Dämmernde  Stadt(Die  Kleine  Stadt  II)  (City  in  Twilight  (The  Small  City  II)) will highlight the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in New York on 12 November 2018.Painted in 1913,Dämmernde Stadt is one of Schiele's finest    landscapes    remaining    in    private    hands,    with comparable   works   now   principally   found   in   museum  collections.  The  dreamlike  view  above  the  city  of Krumau -  birthplace  of  the  artist's  mother  - documents  the  pivotal  period  during  which  Schiele  established    his    singular    and    now-iconic    visual    language,   after   years   of   shadowing   his   mentor   Gustav Klimt.Independent of its art historical importance, the work is  distinguished  by  the  remarkable  family  history  it  has  brought  to  life.Dämmernde  Stadt was  purchased  in  1928  by  Elsa  Koditschek,  a  young Jewish widow  living  in  Vienna.  During  the  course  of  her  harrowing  persecution  by  the  Nazis  following  the  annexation  of  Austria  in  1938,  the  work  was  forcibly  sold  in  payment  of  alleged  debts  to  the  very  person who helped Elsa survive. Sotheby's will present the work this November as the resolution of a joint and private restitution between the present owners and Elsa's heirs.Elsa's story is told today through an extensive and incredibly rare family archive of correspondence she  wrote  throughout  the  war  and  for  years  after.  However,  her  heirs  had  remained  unaware  of  the  landscape until recent years, when Sotheby's research on an unrelated picture uncovered reference to  the  Koditschek  name.  Lucian  Simmons,  Sotheby's  Worldwide  Head  of  Restitution,and  Andrea  Jungmann,  Managing  Director  of  Sotheby’s  Austria,initiated a dialogue between the family and the present owners that has ultimately resulted in the present offering.Dämmernde Stadt is now on public view in Sotheby's London galleries for the first time in nearly 50 years,  through  9  October.  The  landscape  will  return  to  our  New  York  headquarters  for  the  full  exhibitions  of  our  Impressionist  &  Modern  and  Contemporary  Art  auctions,  which  open  on  2  November. Dämmernde Stadt is estimated to sell for $12/18 million in the 12 November auction. ’DÄMMERNDE STADT (DIE KLEINE STADT II) The  series  of  large-scale  townscapes  painted  by  EgonSchiele  between  1913  and  1917  show  him  working  at  the  apex of his artistic powers, experimenting with elements of  composition,  color  and  form  that  would  eventually  lead him to Abstraction.Dämmernde Stadt  depicts  the  small,  medieval  town  of  Krumau,  the  birthplace  of  Schiele’s  mother  and  one  of  only two locations that are the subjects of his celebrated landscapes.  Referred  to  by  Schiele  as  the  ‘‘ dead  city’’ , Krumau’s  compact  configuration  was  intriguing  to  the  artist, who captured its winding streets and crumbling buildings from perched atop the high left bank of  the  Moldau  river  -  known  today  as  the  Vltava  in  the  Czech  Republic.   The  result  of  this  radical  approach  to  perspective  is  a  flat  pictorial  dreamscape  that  reflects  both  his  highly-personalized interpretation, as well as his emotional and psychological response to the storied town.These  stylistic  element   s  manifest  in  myriad  characteristics  throughout  the  canvas:  the  boldly-delineated shapes  of  buildings’  rooftops;  twilight  cast  in  a  muted  palette;  and  windows  aglow  with  brilliant,  jewel-likecolors  reminiscent  of  Gothic  stained-glass.  In  looking  to  a  Medieval  past,  Schiele  was aligned with a contemporary strain of Gothic revivalism. However he was also attuned with the artistic  movements  developing  concurrently  across  Europe  at  the  time.  His  adoption  of  the  high  viewpoint  and  his  growing  sensitivity  to  formal  relations  suggest  that  he  was  looking  at  the  work  of  Post-Impressionist  artists,  such  as  Vincent  van  Gogh  and  Paul  Cézanne.  The  influence  of  Klimt’s experiments with form, and the square format in particular, are also apparent in the present work was aligned with a contemporary strain of Gothic revivalism. However he was also attuned with the artistic  movements  developing  concurrently  across  Europe  at  the  time.  His  adoption  of  the  high  viewpoint  and  his  growing  sensitivity  to  formal  relations  suggest  that  he  was  looking  at  the  work  of  Post-Impressionist  artists,  such  as  Vincent  van  Gogh  and  Paul  Cézanne.  The  influence  of  Klimt’s experiments with form, and the square format in particular, are also apparent in the present work.