A RARE SUPREMATIST CANVAS BY MALEVICH
A strong group of early Abstract works are led by Kazimir Malevich’s Suprematist Composition with Plane in Projection of 1915 (estimate $12/$18 million) – a prime example of the artist’s “Suprematist” paintings, which are extremely rare. Coined by the artist during his exhibition at the 0.10: Last Futurist Exhibition of Paintings in Petrograd in 1915 – in which the present work most likely hung – the term refers to Malevich’s fascination with the impact of color and form. For the exhibition, Malevich displayed 39 paintings detached from figurative subject matter. The appearance of Suprematist Composition with Plane in Projection of 1915 in our May auction is particularly timely: Malevich is a focus of the Royal Academy of Art’s recent exhibition Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932.
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Lot 32. Kazimir Malevich (1879 - 1935), Suprematist Composition with Plane in Projection. Oil on canvas, 21 by 20 7/8 in., 53.3 by 53 cm. Painted in 1915. Estimate 12,000,000 — 18,000,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
EXCEPTIONAL SCULPTURE
The evening sale features a number of outstanding sculptures, led by Shaping a Legacy: Sculpture from the Finn Family Collection. Over the course of more than 50 years, David and Laura Finn together have amassed a diverse and esteemed collection of modern sculpture. Through their collecting, they developed not only a staunch patronage but also enduring friendships with many artists – particularly Henry Moore. Mr. Finn photographed and published Moore's sculptures over a number of decades, playing a vital role in expanding the artist’s audience internationally.
Sculpture from the Finn Family Collection is led by Alberto Giacometti’s Buste de Diego (estimate $10/15 million), one of the artist’s most radical and engaging works. Measuring just over two feet in height, the work’s significant size contributes to its robust personification of the Existentialist movement during the contentious years of the Cold War. The bronze depicts one of Giacometti’s most frequent inspirations: his younger brother, Diego.
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Lot 19. Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966), Buste de Diego. Inscribed with the signature Alberto Giacometti, numbered 1/6 and with the foundry mark Susse Fondeur Paris. Bronze. Height: 24 3/4 in., 62.9 cm. Conceived circa 1957 and cast in 1957-58. Estimate 10,000,000 — 15,000,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
Speaking of Diego: the May sale offers Diego Giacometti’s striking Bibliotheque de l’île Saint-Louis (estimate $2/3 million), which ranks among the most important works of the artist’s career. Measuring over ten-and-a-half feet in height and twelve feet in length, the Bibliotheque de l’île Saint-Louis is among the artist’s largest-scale commissions.
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Lot 38. Diego Giacometti (1902 - 1985), Bibliothèque de l’île Saint-Louis. Wood, metal and bronze, 129 3/4 by 170 3/4 by 142 7/8 in., 329.57 by 433.71 by 362.7 cm. Executed circa 1966-69. Estimate 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
A LATE SELF-PORTRAIT BY PICASSO
Painted in 1969, a little more than a week before his 88th birthday, Pablo Picasso’s self-portrait Tête d’homme (estimate $8/12 million) was first exhibited in a one-man show that the artist curated himself in the hallowed halls of the Palace of the Popes in Avignon. Its grand scale, sweeping Gothic arches and quatrefoil windows were ideally suited to the great scale and impact of Picasso’s paintings from the period, including the present work. In many ways Tête d’homme epitomizes Picasso’s obsession with and admiration for Vincent van Gogh, echoing several elements of that artist’s Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat from 1887.
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Lot 14. Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973), Tête d’homme. Signed Picasso (lower left); dated 16.10.69 (on the reverse). Oil on canvas, 45 1/2 by 35 in., 116 by 89 cm. Painted on October 16, 1969. Estimate 8,000,000 — 12,000,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
AN EARLY PORTRAIT BY KLIMT
Painted in 1897-98, Gustav Klimt’s Dame im Fauteuil (Woman in Armchair) is a rare example of the artist’s early portraiture (estimate $7/9 million). The work also illustrates his affiliation with the Symbolist painters of the late-19th century. The female sitter is swathed richly in a matching red dress and hat, her narrow waist belted in a deep green. The serenity and delicate pallor of her face is echoed in the ghostly quality of the two outlined heads in the upper left of the composition.
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Lot 23. Gustav Klimt (1862 - 1918), Dame im Fauteuil (Woman in Armchair). Signed Gustav Klimt (lower right); Oil on board, 20 1/2 by 20 1/2 in., 52 by 52 cm. Painted 1897-98. Estimate 8,000,000 — 12,000,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
BRAQUE’S PIANISTE
La Pianiste represents the pivotal moment in Georges Braque’s career when he synthesized his Cubist sense of space with the vibrant palette of his early Fauve years (estimate $6/8 million). Part of what is considered Braque’s first true series, and recognized as the beginning of his late period, La Pianiste is the only major example of this seminal group to remain in private hands. Other works from this series reside in the most important collections in the world: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
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Georges Braque (1882 - 1963), La Pianiste. Signed G Braque and dated 37 (lower right). Oil and sand on canvas, 57 1/8 by 40 3/8 in., 145 by 102.5 cm. Painted in 1937. Estimate 6,000,000 — 8,000,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
FEININGER’S PARISIAN DEBUT
Feininger made his debut into the world of avant-garde painting in Paris with the spectacular Fin de séance (estimate $6/8 million). The artist chose to include this impressive canvas in the annual Salon des Indépendants in the spring of 1911, where it hung alongside works by Matisse and Kandinsky, as well as the debut of Picasso and Braque’s revolutionary Cubist compositions. When Feininger moved to the United States in 1937 on the eve of the war, Fin de séance was one of approximately 50 works from his early oeuvre that he left in the care of an associate in Quedlinburg, Germany. It was not until 1984, nearly 30 years after his death, that the pictures were finally returned to Feininger’s heirs in the United States.
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Lot 41. Lyonel Feininger (1871 - 1956), Fin de séance. Signed Feininger and dated 10 (upper left); signed Lyonel Feininger and inscribed Zehlendorf = Berlin (on the stretcher); signed Lyonel Feininger, inscribed Zehlendorf-Berlin (Allemagne) Koenigstrase 32 and titled "Fin de Séance" (on a label on the stretcher). Oil on canvas, 37 3/8 by 33 3/4 in., 94.9 by 85.7 cm. Painted in 1910. Estimate 6,000,000 — 8,000,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
Works emerging from a Distinguished Private Collection include Impressionist pictures by Paul Signac, Alfred Sisley and Pierre Bonnard, as well as an important early sculpture by Alexander Archipenko. The group is led by Signac’s Le Pin de Bertaud (estimate $3.5/5 million), a spectacular view of Saint-Tropez painted in 1899-1900 at the crescendo of his time as leader of the Neo-Impressionists. Conceived in 1913 at the height of the Cubist movement, Blue Dancer is one of Archipenko’s greatest achievements as a sculptor (estimate $1.5/2.5 million). The compelling work demonstrates the dynamic relationship between the figure and its surrounding space with a gracefulness reminiscent of Degas’s bronze dancers.
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Lot 9. Paul Signac (1863 - 1935). Le Pin de Bertaud. Signed P. Signac and dated 1900 (lower right). Oil on canvas, 25 1/2 by 31 7/8 in., 65 by 81 cm. Painted in 1899-1900. Estimate 3,500,000 — 5,000,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
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Lot 11. Alexander Archipenko (1887 - 1964), Blue Dancer. nscribed Archipenko, dated 13 and numbered 8/8F. Bronze. Height: 41 5/8 in., 105.8 cm. Conceived in 1913 and cast in 1964-65. Estimate 1,500,000 — 2,500,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
