S otheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale Online features over 100 paintings, works on paper, sculpture and prints, including pieces from important private and museum collections. Works by the Impressionist masters Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro are complemented by an exciting assortment of works on paper by Modernists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Joan Miró and a group of five prints by Edvard Munch including his woodcut, The Kiss IV. The sale features sculpture by Aristide Maillol, Auguste Rodin and Henry Moore as well as a striking selection of School of Paris portraiture and abstraction. Historic works by Latin America’s most important modern artists, including Mario Carreño, Rufino Tamayo, and Diego Rivera round out the sale’s offerings.
Featured highlights
P rintmaking was as important as painting or drawing to Edvard Munch’s oeuvre as he explored the same themes in different media throughout his career. Munch found printmaking to be particularly conducive to experimentation as he was able to save plates, stones or woodblocks for reuse. Many impressions of his prints are unique as Munch altered the color, paper type or composition, resulting in dramatic aesthetic variations and drastically changing the emotional impact of an image.
Munch’s mastery of the woodcut medium and his inventiveness as a printmaker are exemplified by the three works included in this sale, all coming from the collection of Catherine Woodard and Nelson Blitz Jr., who have assembled one of the most significant groups of Munch prints in private hands.
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Degas, Picasso, Miró are blue-chip artists, each regarded today as a genius in his own right, but as young men they worked hard to convince critics and collectors of their unique vision. The early works of great artists are always fascinating and hold their own power and beauty, as the examples below demonstrate.
- Edgar Degas, 1867
- Maximilien Luce, 1887
- Pablo Picasso, 1902
- Lyonel Feininger, 1907
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Edgar Degas, 1867Buste de jeune femme presque nue
Estimate $350,000 – 450,000
Oil on cradled panel
12¾ by 9½ in. (32.5 by 24 cm)
Framed: 20 by 17½ in. (50.8 by 44.4 cm) -
Maximilien Luce, 1887La Rue Denfert, les toits sous la neige
Estimate $8,000 – 12,000
Signed Luce (lower right); signed Luce (on the reverse)
Oil on board
11½ by 15⅞ in. (29.2 by 40.3 cm)
Framed: 17¾ by 22 in. (45 by 56 cm) -
Pablo Picasso, 1902Femme assise
Estimate $40,000 – 60,000
Inscribed Picasso, numbered 8/12 and stamped with the foundry mark A. Rudier Fondeur.Paris
Bronze
Height (not including base): 5 1/2 in. (14 cm) -
Lyonel Feininger, 1907Villen au der Seine, bei Paris (Villas on the Seine, near Paris)
Estimate $30,000 – 40,000
Signed Feininger and dated 07 (upper right); titled (on the reverse)
Oil on board
13¾ by 19½ in. (34.9 by 49.5 cm)
Framed: 18¾ by 24¾ in. (47.6 by 62.8 cm)
Sotheby’s is proud to present a selection of important works of Modern Art from across Latin America in the Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale Online. Among this May’s offerings are a rare portrait of Mary Rockefeller by celebrated Brazilian modernist Cândido Portinari, a historic work on paper by Mario Carreño, and an elegant Cubist portrait by Angel Zárraga. Mexican Modernism is strongly represented in the selection, with highlights including a pair of works by Alfredo Ramos Martínez from the collection of the San Diego Museum of Art, and dynamic works by Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, and Rodolfo Nieto.
Sotheby's Specialists Speak on Impressionist and Modern Artworks
Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and André Salmon in Montparnasse, Paris, 1916; photo by their friend, poet Jean Cocteau (WorldPhotos / Alamy Stock Photo)
At the turn of the 20th century, Paris became the heart of a growing avant-garde movement. Writers, philosophers and artists flocked to Montmartre and Montparnasse, fueling a melting pot of culture, philosophy, poetry and art. Led by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine and Marc Chagall, amongst others, this community of artists, many of them émigrés, came to be known as the School of Paris. From this group came many of the major masterworks of the first half of the 20th century.
Artists of the School of Paris
- Raoul Dufy, 'Coucher de soleil sur Sainte-Adresse'
- Raoul Dufy, 'Champ de blé en Normandie'
- Moïse Kisling, 'Nu allongé'
- Pablo Picasso, 'Femme de profil'
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Previously in Collection of Phoenix Art MuseumRaoul Dufy, 'Coucher de soleil sur Sainte-Adresse'Circa 1924
Estimate $60,000 – 80,000
In 1970, the Phoenix Art Museum received this work as a bequest from Mrs. Oliver B. James, whose collection included works by Édouard Manet, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Winslow Homer. The work resided in the museum’s collection for almost 30 years before it was deaccessioned in 1999.
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Field of Wheat in Normandy
1935, Estimate $70,000 – 90,000
Property sold to benefit the Acquisition Fund of the San Diego Museum of ArtRaoul Dufy, 'Champ de blé en Normandie'1935
Estimate $70,000 – 90,000
Part of the museum’s collection since 1972, this work is being sold by the San Diego Museum of Art to benefit its Acquisition Fund.
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Nu allongé
1938, Estimate 70,000 – 90,000
Previously in Miami Museum of Modern Art’s collectionMoïse Kisling, 'Nu allongé'1938
Estimate 70,000 – 90,000
This work was part of the Miami Museum of Modern Art’s collection until 1965.
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Pablo Picasso, 'Femme de profil'1926
Estimate $15,000 – 20,000
This work on paper is being sold by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to benefit its Art Fund.
