Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

Christie’s Says Signac Record Should Fall in Februaryi

by

Christie’s is promoting a collection of Impressionist art as well as drawings, sculpture, English and European decorative arts, not to mention 20th Century design. The bulk of the collection which is being sold to fund a charity will go on the block in December. Five paintings from the collection will be held for the London sales of Impressionist and Modern art in February. Leading that sale is a work by Paul Signac. Christie’s claims this is the most important work by Signac to come to market in two decades.

Le Port au soleil couchant, Opus 236 (Saint-Tropez) (1892) is one of the first works that Signac painted in St Tropez where he had gone after the death of his friend Georges Seurat. The work is offered with an estimate upon request. Christie’s believes this painting will set a new record for the artist. In 2007, a buyer paid $14m for one of Signac’s works. That suggests Christie’s estimate range for the work will be £12-18m.

Here’s Christie’s release on the entire collection:

Christie’s will offer an eclectic and carefully curated collection, titled An Adventurous Spirit: An Important Private Collection Sold to Benefit a Charitable Foundation, across two London sales in December 2018 and February 2019. Major works from the collection will be exhibited together in an exhibition in London during Christie’s Classic Week in early December.An Adventurous Spirit provides a remarkable view of a unique collection across many fields, from Impressionism to 20th Century Design, which was shown in beautiful homes in London, Saint Tropez and Saint Barths. Visitors to the galleries will witness a recreation of the extraordinary mis-en-scène, with masterpiece paintings presented alongside the great objects and artworks as they were shown in these exquisite homes. The Collection Sale on 13 December 2018, will describe the discerning eye of a significant collector, embracing paintings, drawings, sculpture, English and European Decorative Arts and 20th Century Design. Following the Collection Sale, five major paintings by Paul Signac, Gustave Caillebotte, Félix Vallotton, Edouard Vuillard and Giovanni Boldini will be highlights of the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on 27 February 2019. This inspirational and deeply personal collection provides evocative insights into the creative joy of collecting and connoisseurship and the matching of fine objects with Impressionist artworks.

Jussi Pylkkänen, Global President, Christie’s: “Every object and every painting in the collection has been chosen with considerable care and with a grand design in mind. These were homes of wonderful contrasts, filled with joy, and with refined objects which caught the eye and the imagination. The Signac is amongst the finest of the artist’s great Opus paintings, and certainly amongst the greatest of Signac’s works in private hands. The Caillebotte and the Vallotton are also museum quality pictures which will challenge the world records for the artists. Both were bought here at Christie’s and it is a privilege to be handling these works again and to see them exhibited as they have been shown by this great collector, and a close friend, for so many years.”

Massive Sam Gilliam Work Seeks Record at Christie’s

by

Sam Gilliam, Lady Day II ($1.5-2m)

Christie’s catalogue for the Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale is now online with some interesting revelations like Sam Gilliam’s Lady Day II from 1971 that carries a $1.5m low estimate. The massive 8-ft by 13-ft beveled work was once part of the Phillips collection, as was Forth which sold for £910k ($1.16m) in London at Sotheby’s in June, the current record price for the artist.

Gilliam’s market has been rising aggressively for the past several years helped along by an agenda setting show at Mnuchin Gallery one year ago and an influential show at Basel’s Kunstmuseum during Art Basel in June. Before that, buyers were snapping up better examples of Giliam’s work in regional auctions. Lady Day II was acquired by the current consignor in just the same way when it was sold at a local Washington, DC auction in 2003.

Christie’s is touting the canvas as a masterwork:

Painted in 1971, the same year Gilliam’s work was prominently featured in as solo exhibition, Projects: Sam Gilliam at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Lady Day II belongs to a series of works produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s that are among the artist’s most important paintings. Known as his Slice paintings, they have subsequently become some of his most admired and respected works; many similar examples are in major museum collections including, April 4, 1969(Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.); Whirlirama, 1970 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York); Wide Narrow, 1972 (Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University); Blue Twirl, 1971 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.); and Scatter, 1972 (Indianapolis Museum of Art). Recently honored with a major retrospective exhibition at Kunstmuseum Basel (his first in Europe), Sam Gilliam is now regarded as one of the most respected painters of his generation.

This particular example is striking in its colors but also in the process that produced them:

“Passages of deep ruby red dissolve into areas of warm pink, before softening into more neutral organic tones; this is then repeated across the canvas in various combinations of other glistening tones of red, blue and yellow. This rich and variegated surface is the result of the artist repeatedly folding the canvas while the paint is still wet, allowing the colors and geometries to dissolve into each other. Gilliam would begin the process by soaking the lightest colors of the composition, like the yellows and pinks in the present work, into the raw, unprimed canvas before applying the darker greens, reds and blues. He would then fold the canvas repeatedly back and forth on itself before leaving it to dry overnight. As they were unfolded, the evocative abstract forms were revealed for the first time, appearing like mysterious Rorschach like forms embedded directly into the canvas.”

Heffel Gears Up for $15m Fall Sale in Toronto with Riopelle and Harris

by

Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jouet (C$1.2-1.6m)

Heffel has released its roster of 135 works for their November 21st sales in Toronto. The pre-sale estimate is C$15-20m which puts the sale in line with recent years strong results. Much of the rise in Heffel’s sales volume has come from the rising value of Canadian artists on the international market. Painters like Jean-Paul Riopelle, Lawren Harris and Jack Hamilton Bush have become sought after in many different geographical markets. Heffel also has some international artists like Botero and Karel Appel in these sales.

Here are Heffel’s publicity points for the sale:

  • Jean Paul Riopelle leads the auction with Jouet, a 1953 drip canvas that has traveled the world throughout its lifetime (est. $1,200,000 – 1,600,000). Riopelle is shining bright in the art world with the show Mitchell/Riopelle: Nothing in Moderation, at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and the Art Gallery of Ontario, soon to make its third stop at Fonds Hélène et Édouard Leclerc pour la culture in France.
  • E.J. Hughes’s Fishboats, Rivers Inlet was first sold by Heffel in 2004 and the artist himself was patched in to the saleroom to share in the record-breaking moment. The 1949 post-war masterwork was painted upon Hughes’s honourable discharge as an official war artist (est. $900,000 – 1,200,000).
  • Two magnificent examples by Jean Paul Lemieux highlight the fall offering, including Jeune fille en uniforme, the 1957 single figure canvas consigned by the Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia (est. $300,000 – 500,000) and the large-scale masterpieceLes citadens (est. $900,000 – 1,200,000).
  • Works by members of the Group of Seven feature prominently, led by Arthur Lismer’s extraordinary Tugs and Troop Carrier, Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia (est. $700,000 – 900,000). Other major artworks include The Village Mill, by A.J. Casson (est. $300,000 – 500,000) and November, Georgian Bay, by A.Y. Jackson (est. $400,000 – 600,000).
  • A Canadian historic treasure, Sir Frederick Banting’s The Lab is the only known painting to depict the very room where he and Charles Best made their life-saving discovery of insulin (est. $20,000 – 30,000). The Buyer’s Premium for this work will be donated to the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre at the University of Toronto.
  • Globally renowned Colombian painter Fernando Botero stands out in the auction with three major canvases: Femme debout (est. $500,000 – 700,000), Toro (est. $450,000 – 650,000) and Seated Man (est. $400,000 – 600,000).
  • Six noteworthy paintings by Lawren Harris span his most sought-after subject matters. Leading the pack by estimate is the glowing work from the Group of Seven period Mountain Sketch XC (est. $700,000 – 900,000).
  • Jack Bush, whose work shattered the artist record at Heffel’s May auction, is sure to attract international interest this fall with four impressive canvases. Not to be missed are the vibrant and colourful Down and Across (est. $250,000 – 350,000) and So (est. $150,000 – 250,000).
  • Internationally collected Alex Colville shines with two exciting works, both of which have been exhibited in important museums. Two Boys Playing, a classic 1950s Colville, will undoubtedly draw interest from collectors, institutions and aficionados worldwide (est. $600,000 – 800,000).
  • Particularly poignant are two charming paintings by the talented Mary Pratt, who passed away earlier this year. Preserving Summer—Black Currant Jam (est. $30,000 – 40,000) and Buttered Roaster (est. $25,000 – 35,000) each showcase Pratt’s perpetual command of light.
  • A remarkable find, Sybil Andrews’s Boats at Dock was picked up by its current owner at a BC thrift store. The rare canvas was purchased for a mere $69.95 less a 30% seniors’ discount (est. $20,000 – 30,000).
  • Major canvases by Emily Carr are exceedingly rare to the market. Spring Wave (est. $300,000 – 500,000), a mature-period Carr landscape once owned by the artist’s publisher, and By the Canal, Crécy-en-Brie (est. $80,000 – 120,000), from a trip to France early in Carr’s career, each present exciting market opportunities.
  • Two outstanding examples by CoBrA artists build out the international offering this season. A vibrant untitled painting by Karel Appel (est. $250,000 – 350,000) and Asger Jorn’s abstract canvas Rifki florblomster (est. $125,000 – 175,000) are sure to excite enthusiasts of the European avant-garde movement.

Heffel Fall 2018 Live Auction Schedule
To give interested buyers from across Canada an opportunity to view these works, the collection will be previewed in four cities leading up to the live auction:

  • Calgary: Friday, October 19 to Saturday, October 20, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., 888 4th Avenue SW, Unit 609
  • Vancouver: Saturday, October 27 to Tuesday, October 30, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Heffel Gallery, 2247 Granville Street
  • Montreal: Thursday, November 8 to Saturday, November 10, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Galerie Heffel, 1840 rue Sherbrooke Ouest
  • Toronto: Saturday, November 17 to Tuesday, November 20, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Wednesday, November 21, 10 a.m. – noon, Design Exchange, Exhibition Hall, 234 Bay Street

The two-session live auction will take place on Wednesday, November 21 at Design Exchange (The Historic Trading Floor, 234 Bay Street, Toronto):

  • 4:00 p.m. EST — Post-War & Contemporary Art
  • 7:00 p.m. EST — Canadian, Impressionist & Modern Art

Sotheby’s Selling Arp as First Show in US for 30yrs Opens

by

The Arp Foundation points out that the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas’s new show of Jean Arp’s work is the first major museum exhibition for the artist in the US in thirty years. Meanwhile, Sotheby’s has this work on offer in the Impressionist and Modern Evening sale with an estimate of $2-3m.

Here’s the Nasher’s description of their show:

Bringing together more than 80 objects, including sculptures, reliefs, collages, drawings, textiles, and books, The Nature of Arp will include works drawn from prominent U.S. and European museums, foundations, and private collections. Organized by the Nasher Sculpture Center, the exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue including essays by several authors, including Catherine Craft, Nasher Curator and curator of the exhibition.

Christie’s to Hold Sugimoto Sale at Paris Photo

by

Christie’s is celebrating 160 years of diplomatic relations with Japan by holding a sale of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs alongside two other sales. The main sale will have a 105 lots, led by works by Irving Penn.

As part of Paris Photo, Christie’s France will organize three events around photography. The department will present for the first time, on November 8, a monographic sale dedicated to the Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. This sale, part of this 160th anniversary celebrating the diplomatic and artistic relations between Japan and France, will also coincide with Sugimoto’s current exhibition at the Château de Versailles, from 16 October 2018 to 17 February 2019.

In addition, a general sale turned this year towards contemporary photography and composed of 105 lots will be offered on the same day. The public will also have the opportunity to discover a fashion photography exhibition featuring nearly fifty photographs by F.C. Gundlach as well as works from his personal collection.

The sale dedicated to Hiroshi Sugimoto is a retrospective of his work, bringing together twenty-nine photographs with a global estimate of €1.5 to 2 million, representing the different themes he explored. One of the highlights of the sale, Sea of Japan, Rebun Island, estimated at €200,000-300,000, is part of the artist’s most famous series “Seascapes” which he began in the 1980’s.

Always looking to the past, Sugimoto had a great admiration for William Henri Fox Talbot‘s works which he has been collecting for several years. One of his series brings back Talbot’s paper negatives to life, copying and enlarging them to the point where the grain of the calotype becomes visible. Transforming the negative into a positive in a ten times larger format, in addition to hand-colored it, gives life to some of Talbot’s prints he never reproduced, such as Bust of Venus, November 26, 1840, 2007, estimated at €30,000-40,000.

One of his other famous series, “Lightning fields” will be offered through a 2009 snapshot, Lightning Fields #128, estimated at €50,000-70,000.

For each sale, the Photography department directed by Elodie Morel, selects high quality corpus including a series of 7 ethnographic portraits by Irving Penn, in which the aesthetics and the care taken to stage the scene, prevail over the historical and sociological character of the indigenous populations. In 1970, Penn traveled to Papua New Guinea. He first visited the tribal village of Bena, not far from the city of Goroka, where he took pictures of the natives and their traditional accessories: bilas (shell ornaments) as in Seated Warrior, Sitting Girl (€20,000- 25,000), or feathers and fur decorations. In the Asaro Valley, Penn immortalized naked men with clay masks, performers of a tribal dance organised by the Australian colonizers in 1957, as in Three Asaro Mudmen (€50,000-70,000).

Christie’s $18m Diebenkorn Ocean Park Looks for a Record

by

Christie’s announced this morning a major Richard Diebenkorn work Ocean Park #137 on offer during the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale. The work is estimated at $18-22m. That pricing is the result of Christie’s own impressive work last May selling a large collection of Diebenkorn’s work. During that sale Ocean Park #126 was sold for $23.9m, setting a record for the artist. The last time we saw anything like that quantity or material by the artist come to market was during the 2014 Bunny Mellon sale at Sotheby’s where eight works were sold, four of them were from the Ocean Park series. The top lot made almost $10m with others from the series selling for $6m and $8m. None of those works were at the scale of Ocean Park #137, which is 100 inches tall.

On November 15, Christie’s will offer A Masterpiece from the Collection of Mary Tyler Moore and Dr. S. Robert Levine: Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park #137, 1985. At over eight feet tall, Ocean Park #137 was executed on the largest canvas that Diebenkorn could possibly fit through his studio doors. This monumental painting is one of the final works from Diebenkorn’s celebrated Ocean Park series and stands as a majestic example of the entirely new language of painting inspired as much by art historical traditions as by the light and landscape of California.

An iconic figure in the history of American entertainment, Mary Tyler Moore was the very embodiment of her beloved public persona. Charming, intelligent, and imbued with an indomitable spirit, she touched the lives of all who knew her and the millions who watched her on screen. Moore forged a legendary career with television hits The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and in films such as Thoroughly Modern Millie and Ordinary People. Celebrated for her unforgettable onscreen charisma and trailblazing female characters, the actress is also remembered as a leading advocate for finding a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications, a model of creative innovation and personal perseverance, and a loving wife and partner.

In 1970, Moore forever changed the course of television history, as she starred in the groundbreaking CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The idea of a single career woman as the protagonist of a major network sitcom was a radical concept; only an actress as talented as Moore could have pulled off the feat. Yet it was not merely Moore’s acting chops that made her eponymous sitcom such a success. Rather, it was the actress’s insistence on surrounding herself with the very best in writing, production, and acting—a singular combination that paved the way for every women-focused show since.

In the same way that Moore the actress personified steadfast self-assurance and warmth, so did she dedicate herself to these principles in the public sphere. For more than four decades, Moore battled type 1 diabetes (T1D), and became the world’s leading voice for the fears and hopes of people and families affected by T1D and its complications and its most recognized champion for funding of research for a cure through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). A noted lover of animals Moore was the co-founder, with Bernadette Peters, of Broadway Barks, an initiative which, with the help of Broadway stars and Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS, raises awareness of the importance of shelter adoption and spay and neuter. Ms. Moore and her husband, Dr. S. Robert Levine, committed themselves to using her persona and success, and his medical background and other skills, for good purposes. As such, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Ocean Park #137 will benefit the Mary Tyler Moore and S. Robert Levine, MD Charitable Foundation to continue the couple’s longtime philanthropic mission.

November 15th will mark the first time that Ocean Park #137 has changed hands since Ms. Moore and Dr. Levine acquired the painting in 1988. They bought the painting together, 5 years into the loving marriage that lasted until Moore’s death in January of last year, at the age of 80. Ocean Park #137 arrived in New York shortly after it was completed to be included in the artist’s solo exhibition at the Knoedler gallery. In his review of the show, New York Times art critic John Russell, described the Ocean Park paintings on view as “the single longest continuous exploration of a given motif in the work of any substantial living American painting…The Ocean Park chapter will never be closed.”

Diebenkorn began the Ocean Park series in 1967, soon after he moved down from San Francisco to Southern California to accept a teaching position at UCLA. His friend and fellow painter Sam Francis invited him to take over his studio in Ocean Park in the southwest corner of Santa Monica, which came with big windows that looked out over the roofs and buildings to bright strips of beach and sea and sky beyond. Diebenkorn was hardly alone in his new neighborhood. Ocean Park’s inexpensive rent attracted a wide range of artists including James Turrell, William Wegman, Robert Irwin, and John Baldessari. Diebenkorn was happy there and almost immediately began painting the large-format geometric abstractions that would seal his place in history.

At the time he moved in, Diebenkorn was best known for his sudden radical shift in style that occurred in the mid- fifties. Having first achieved fame after the war as an abstract painter, a West Coast answer to Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning, Diebenkorn abruptly abandoned the popular manner and rose to prominence again as the leading member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement that included David Park, Elmer Bischoff, and Wayne Theibaud. In both incarnations, his supple line and pitch-perfect sense of color set him apart, gifts of ease and fluidity that stood in contrast to his own reflective temperament, a natural inclination that made him prize revision as a working method.

Continuing Strength in the Middle: Frieze Auctions 2018 Analysis

by

This analysis of the October 2018 Mid-season Contemporary in New York is available to AMMpro subscribers. Monthly subscriptions begin with the first month free. Feel free to subscribe and cancel before you are billed.

The top line news from the Frieze Auctions is that the 12% drop in overall sales volume from 2017 to 2018 could have easily been made up had the consignors of two works—a Jeff Koons Celebration-series cracked egg and a Richter scull painting—chosen to accept the bids offered in the room instead of holding fast to their reserve prices. That observation both brings into focus the growing issue of seller expectations and estimates in the Contemporary art category and the slowly changing composition of the Contemporary art market. 

Sign up to Art Market Monitor Premium today

You need a membership to AMMpro to view this article and other exclusive content daily.

You can register today for $90 per month—with your first month free!—or for $756 per year (no free trial period.)

Screenshot 2016-08-05 16.28.45

If you already have an account, sign in here:

Bringing Archipenko Back at Sotheby’s & Eykyn Maclean

by

Alexander Archipenko, Walking ($200-300k)

It’s no secret that the market has been looking for over-looked, under-valued artists for some time. There’s also been a nearly decade-long interest in sculpture that has seen a number of important artists gain momentum. Jean Arp is a good example. In the background there has been flickers of interest in Alexander Archipenko’s work. Born in the Russian Ukraine, Archipenko migrated to Moscow, Paris, Nice and the US finding time to have four works in the 1913 Armory Show as well has having Guillaume Apollonaire write the introduction to the catalogue of his first one-man show in Paris in 1912.

This November, Sotheby’s has a prime example of his work as the third lot in its Impressionist and Modern Evening sale. Offered with a strong $200-300k estimate, the bronze comes from a larger consignment from a European collector. That buyer got the work directly from the artist many years after it was conceived, later enlarged and eventually cast in an edition of eight. The lot comes after a number of works offered in day sales were bid well above the estimate range in the last few years of Impressionist and Modern auctions.

At the same time, Eykyn Maclean is working with the artist’s estate to mount a show Alexander Archipenko: Space Encircled highlighting the artist’s ground-breaking use of negative space, including another, slightly smaller example of the Walking sculpture cast later:

This fall, Eykyn Maclean will present an exhibition devoted to the work of Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964), the artist’s first solo-exhibition in New York City since 2005. The presentation will focus on Archipenko’s pioneering use of negative space within the human figure. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Matthew Stephenson and with the support of the Archipenko Foundation, which will lend a number of works to the show. Matthew Stephenson is an independent fine art consultant and worldwide representative of The Archipenko Foundation and Estate.

Christie’s Has a $25m Picasso Marie-Thérèse for November

by

Christie’s unveiled today a $25m Picasso Marie-Thérèse painting for its marquee November sales. This will be the first re-test of the market for Marie-Thérèse works that had been so intense last year before waning earlier this year.

Christie’s will offer Pablo Picasso’s La Lampe, 1931 ($25-35 million) as a central highlight of its Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on 11 November in New York. The golden light from the lamp’s scarlet flame bares a closely guarded secret, known in early 1931 to only a few of Pablo Picasso’s closest friends and his trusted chauffeur. Disenchanted with his wife Olga, indeed, having fallen far out of love from her and the haute bourgeois life-style that she relished, Picasso had been clandestinely seeing, for more than four and a half years, a lovely blonde mistress 28 years his junior. La Lampe shines on the image of Marie-Thérèse Walter, whom Picasso showcased here—in a large, elaborately orchestrated painting, as today one may instantly recognize her—for the first time.

Max Carter, Head of Department, Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s New York, remarked: “During the early 1930s, Picasso’s towering achievements as both painter and sculptor arguably reached their greatest height and in La Lampe we have one of their most vital and outstanding expressions.”

Tan Bo, Director, Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s Beijing, continued: “With La Lampe touring to Hong Kong from October 22nd -25th, this masterpiece will once again be on view to the public in Asia after 37 years, where it has not been seen since its first appearance at the Picasso Intime exhibition in Hong Kong and Seibu in 1981.”

Picasso painted in La Lampe the pinnacle of Marie-Thérèse, transforming her sweet, compliant nature and striking physicality into the image of a goddess, his idolized muse, in the form of a head modeled in lily-white plaster, appropriately textured in thickly impastoed oil paint, with the lamp’s yellow light doubling as her distinctive blonde hair. This head and bust rest upon a cloth-covered wooden table, which mimics the appearance of a dark dress with a leaf-form collar showing a tasteful hint of décolletage. The artist depicted Marie-Thérèse’s profile, dominated by her Grecian nose, firmly contoured chin, and modish carré plongeant hair style, from a half-dozen such volumetric heads and reliefs, which he began modeling in the spring of 1931.

La Lampe was shown in Picasso’s celebrated retrospective at the Grande Salle of the Galeries Georges Petit, together with fourteen of the 1932 paintings that featured Marie-Thérèse, including Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, Le Rêve, and Jeune fille devant un miroir. One may presume that by this time Olga was aware her husband had taken a lover; after viewing the 1932 show, she might more clearly but distressfully imagine the young woman’s appearance, and even recognize her, if perchance they crossed paths.

With the addition of two hundred watercolors, drawings, and prints, the Galeries Georges Petit exhibition moved largely intact in September to the Kunsthaus Zürich, thus allowing this venue the honor of having mounted Picasso’s first museum retrospective. Wilhelm Hartmann, the Kunsthaus director, installed the works in a chronological presentation, making it a model for all future comprehensive Picasso shows. La Lampe and Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, together with other recent Marie-Thérèse paintings seen in Paris, also traveled to Zürich. The exhibition was a success, and had to be extended another two weeks to accommodate the record attendance.

Nearly fifty years later, La Lampe again featured as one of the highlights of Picasso’s landmark retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1980.

Henry Moore’s Family Group Maquette Leads Sotheby’s Mod Brit Sale

by

Not all of the big sales in November will be in New York. Sotheby’s has the maquette to Henry Moore‘s Family Group in its Modern & Post-War British Art Evening Sale in London on November 20th. The work is special for several reasons, it was held at New York’s MoMA for 33 years. It was bought by dealer Jeffrey Loria who held it for another 31 years before he sold it to a Japanese collector who is consigning it now. The maquette is fewer than 10 inches tall but the significance of the work and the value of Moore’s art having grown so much over the last several years the estimate is at between £1.3m and £1.8m.

Family Group was conceived in 1945 and cast by 1947 (just when Moore and his wife had their first and only child after many years of marriage). The maquette was acquired by MoMA in 1947.

Here’s more from Sotheby’s press department:

Immediately after WWII,  architect Eugene Rosenberg commissioned Moore to create a site-specific, large-scale sculpture for his project, the Barclay School in Stevenage, with which he was to win the Festival of Britain Architectural Award in 1951. The Barclay School was the first purpose-built comprehensive secondary school built in Britain after the war and Moore’s monumental version of Family Group was installed in 1950. The Barclay School Family Group, for which this is the maquette, was Moore’s first large-scale commission in bronze, a fundamental and seismic moment in his long and distinguished career.

Family Group is a symbol of all that Moore’s work stood for – a universal humanity distilled into the form of a family unit. The seventh of eight children of a coalminer and a coalminer’s daughter, Moore was born in an industrial town in Yorkshire to a strict and industrious father and a feminine and warm mother. And so, this work also has its roots in his earliest childhood experiences. At the same time, his work as an Official War Artist shines through, with the images of civilians sheltering from bombing raids in London, clinging together for comfort and warmth, and draped in blankets, were of fundamental significance to this final development. The sculpture is poised between Moore’s modernist sensibility for abstraction, present in the prominent ridges of the mother’s robes or the father’s Picasso-esque head, and touching naturalistic details. The outer shoulders of both mother and father curve gently inwards, and intimate protective stance that encloses their child and unifies the group. This particular cast was last exhibited in 1973, but the version of this edition in the Tate collection is currently on view, which is nice.

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Advertise on Art Market Monitor