If you were wondering what had become of Loic Gouzer, he’s been putting together another market-bending sale. This one is 25 lots the evening of May 11. One of Victor Ganz’s famed Picasso Femmes d’Alger is on the block for $140m with a guarantee. The 1997 Ganz sale can be said to be the beginning of this art market boom, the first stirring of life after the Japanese crash of the late 80s:

Christie’s said that the broadening client base at the week of contemporary art sales in New York was crucial in persuading an unidentified seller to come forward with Picasso’s 1955 canvas “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’),” around which the auction house fashioned its “Looking Forward to the Past” sale. Inspired by Eugène Delacroix’s 1834 Orientalist masterpiece, “Women of Algiers,” this was one of a number of works Picasso produced in the 1950s and 1960s in response to earlier artists he admired. This particular painting was last seen on the market in November 1997, when it was bought by the London dealer Libby Howie, on the behalf of a client, for $31.9 million at Christie’s auction from the collection of the Americans Victor and Sally Ganz.[…]

The seller is a European collector who acquired the work at the Ganz auction, according to Christie’s. Other works in Mr. Gouzer’s sale include a 1950s Mark Rothko abstract, estimated at about $40 million, and a 1902 Monet series painting, at about $35 million. Works by Piet Mondrian, Egon Schiele, René Magritte and Martin Kippenberger will also be included. […]

Last week, Mr. Gouzer posted an image of a 1938 Picasso painting of Dora Maar on Instagram. That work will be in his sale with an estimate of more than $50 million.

A Picasso Is the Center of Attention at Christie’s Auction (NYTimes.com)