Lot
14, "Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé," by Vincent Van Gogh, oil on
canvas, 23 3/8 by 29 inches, 1889
By
Carter B. Horsley
The
evening auction of Impressionist & Modern Art November 5, 2015
at Sotheby's New York is highlighted by a great landscape by Vincent
Van Gogh, a charming small work by Marc Chagall, a couple of good
Pissarros, a fine Caillebotte and an excellent Toulouse-Lautrec.
The auction's star, of course, is the Van Gogh (1853-1890), Lot 14,
"Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé," an oil on canvas that measures 23
1/4 by 29 inches. It was painted in Arles in 1889 and has
been
widely exhibited and published.
Detail of Lot 14
The painting is a glorious and
joyous masterpiece.
It has a
very modest estimate of $50,000,000 to $70,000,000.
It sold for $54,010,000 including the buyer's premium as do
all results mentioned in this article.
The auction total was $306,712,000 with 36 lots out of 47
offered lots selling. The pre-sale low estimate was $275.6
million and the high estimate was $369.2 million.
Lot
13, "A Armenonville, en cabinet particulier," by Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec, peinture à l'essence on board, 26 3/8 by 20 1/2
inches, 1899
Lot
13 is a superb peinture à l'essence on board by Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) entitled "A Armenonville, en cabinet
particulier." It measures 26 3/8 by 20 1/2 inches and was
painted
in 1899. It has been widely published and is from the
collection
of Louis and Evelyn Franck. With its elements of interruption
and
surprise and with the flurry of the women's long blonde hair and the
interloper's impetuousness and its sprightly sketchiness, this is a
connoisseur's masterpiece. It has an extremely modest
estimate of
$2,500,000 to $3,500,000. It
sold for $2,410,000.
Lot 2,
"L'homme au parapluie," by Marc Chagall, gouache on paper, 26 by 20
inches, 1927-8
A
fine companion piece to Lot 13 would be Lot 2, "L'homme au parapluie,"
a gouache on paper by Marc Chagall (1887-1985). It measures
26 by
20 inches, almost the same size as the Toulouse-Lautrec, and it was
painted in 1927-8. It is from a series of 19 gouaches that
the
artist did for Ambrose Vollard. With his wonderfully bright
striped pants, his green fan, yellow umbrella and top hat, the man has
a small four-legged companion at his feet. Simple and
restrained
by Chagall's standards, it is nonetheless a masterpiece of sympathetic
mirth. The lot has a modest estimate of $600,000 to $800,000.
It sold for
$1,030,000.
Lot 22,
"Nymphéas," by Claude Monet, oil on canvas, 1908
Lot
22, "Nymphéas," is a water lily oil on canvas by Claude Monet
(1840-1926). It was painted in 1908 and measures 39 3/8 by 32
inches. It was consigned by William I. Koch. It has
an estimate of $30,000,000 to $50,000,000. It sold for $33,850,000.
Lot
25, "Branche de citronnier," by Claude Monet, oil on canvas, 19 1/4 by
22 3/8 inches, 1884
A
more painterly Monet is Lot 25, "Branche de citronnier," an oil on
canvas that measures 19 1/4 by 22 3/8 inches and was painted in 1884.
It has a very modest estimate of $1,200,000 to $1,800,000.
It sold for
$2,170,000.
Lot 26, "La
Gommeuse," by Pablo Picasso, oil on canvas, 31 by 21 1/4 inches, 1901
Another Koch
consignment in the auction is Lot 26, "La Gommeuse," a double-sided oil
on canvas by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) from 1901. It measures
31 by 21 1/4 inches. It was once owned by Joseph von
Sternberg. the film director, and has been exhibited at the Los Angeles
County Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and was published
inthe catalogue for the "Becoming Picasso, Paris 1901" exhibition in
2013 at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
According to the catalogue entry, the women depicted is "a gorgeous
cabaret performere whose very body defines the perverse beauty of the
age," adding that "Portrayed in an absynthian haze of sexual ennui, she
is both temptation and downfall incarnate, a high priestess of
melancholy and a siren of
joie de vivre."
The reverse of the painting is a cariacature opf Pere Manach who, the
entry continued, "shared the Boulevard de Clichy studio with the
artist." He was a Catalan and was a runner for several art
dealers and he organized for the artist to show at Vollard's.
He is shown urinating.
It has an estimate of $60,000,000 to $80,000,000. It sold for $67,000,
the highest sales price in the auction, and the highest auction price
for a work from the artist's Blue Period.
Unlike
the previous night's auction of "Masterworks: The Collection of A.
Alfred Taubman," this evening auction at Sotheby's had no elaborate
cocktail party buffet and champagne and the auction house's staff was
not in black-tie.
Lot 46, "Femme endormie," by Pablo Picasso, oil on canvas, 4 by 8 inches, 1933
Lot
46 is a very small but exquisite oil on canvas of a sleeping woman by
Pablo Picasso. It measures 4 by 8 inches and was painted in 1933.
It was presented by the artist as a gift to Bibi Dudensing, the
co-owner with her husband Valentine Dudensing of the Valentine Gallery
in New York that in partnership with Pierre Matisse sponsored some of
the first exhibitions of the 20th Century Parisian avant-garde in
America in the 1930s. It has a modest estimate of $1,200,000 to
$1,800,000. It was passed at $980,000.
Lot 40,
"Femme dans un fauteuil," by Pablo Picasso, oil on canvas, 32 by 20
inches, 1929
Lot 40 is a 1929 oil
on canvas of a women sitting in a chair by Pablo Picasso. It
measures 32 by 20 inches and was painted in 1929. It has an
estimate of $3,500,000 to $4,500,000. It was passed at
$3,200,000.
Lot 10, "Bateaux au mouillage sur
la Seine à Argenteuil," by Gustave Caillebotte, oil on canvas, 23 1/4
by 29 inches, 1892
Lot
10 is a superb Impressionistic oil on canvas by Gustave Caillebotte
(1848-1894). Entitled "Bateaux au mouillage sur la Seine à
Argenteuil," it measures 23 1/4 by 29 inches and was painted in 1892.
It has an estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It sold for $6,746,000.
Lot 28,
"Moret au coucher du soleil - Octobre," by Alfred Sisley, oil on
canvas, 29 by 36 5/8 inches, 1888
Lot
28 is a great riverscape by Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) entitled "Moret
au coucher du soleil - Octobre." An oil on canvas, it
measures 29 by 36 5/8 inches. It was painted in 1888.
The first owner of the picture was Jean-Baptiste Fauré, the
composer whose collection of Impressionist paintings was more than 120
pictures. It has a modest estimate of $3,500,000 to
$5,000,000. It
sold for $4,954,000.
Lot 44, "Le
Jardin des Tuileries, brume," by Camille Pissarro, oil on canvas, 21
1/4 by 25 1/2 inches, 1900
Lot
44 is a very pleasant oil on canvas of the Tuileries Garden in Paris by
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903). It measures 21 1/4 by 25 1/2
inches and was painted in 1900. It has an estimate of
$1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It
was passed at $750,000.
Lot 8,
"Mystic Suprematism (Black Cross on Red Oval," by Kazmir Malevich, oil
on canvas, 39 1/2 by 23 1/2 inches, 1920-2
Lot
8 is an important oil on canvas by Kazmir Malevich (1879-1935) entitled
"Mystic Suprematism (Black Cross on Red Oval." It measures 39
1/2 by 23 1/2 inches and was painted in 1920-2. It has been
exhibited many times including at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
in 1996, 2004, and 2010 and at the Gagosian Gallery in New
York in 2011.
The catalogue provides the following commentary:
The painting "reveals Malevich's art at its most inconoclastic and
theoretically complex. Painted in the early 1920s in the
immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the image here embodies
the 'new world order' promoted by the Suprematist movement, Malevich's
radical artistic philosophy that transformed Russian avant-garde art in
the early twentieth century."
The lot has an estimae of $35,000,000 to $45,000,000. It sold for $37,770,000.
Lot 6, "Ohne
Titel," by Wassily Kandinsky, watercolor, pen and ink on paper laid
down on board, 1923
Lot
6, "Ohne Titel," by Wassily Kandinsky, watercolor, pen and ink on paper
laid down on board, 13 by 18 3/4 inches. It was executed in
1923.
It has an estimate of $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. It sold for $5,738,000.
Lot 32.
"Atelier de couture de Madame Vuillard," by Edouard Vuillard, oil on
canvas, 9 1/2 by 13 1/2 inches, 1892
Lot
32 is a small but fine oil on canvas by Edouard Vuillard entitled
"Atelier de couture de Madame Vuillard." It measures 9 1/.2
by 13 1/2 inches and was painted in 1892. It was once owned
by Stephen C. Clark of New York and has been exhibited at the Cleveland
Museum of Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, the Phillips Collection in Washington and the Brooklyn Museum.
It has a very modest estimate of $600,000 to $800,000. It sold for $1,930,000.
Lot 11,
"Fleurs dans un pot of olives," by Paul Cézanne, oil on canvas, 27 2/3
by 22 7/8 inches, 1880-2
Lot
11 is a lovely but rather atypical floral oil on canvas by Paul Cézanne
(1839-1906). Entitled "Fleurs dans an pot d'olives," it
measures 27 2/3 by 22 7/8 inches and was painted in 1880-2.
It has been widely published. It has an estimate of
$5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It
sold for $6,298,000.
Lot 18, "Le
Jardin d'amour," by James Ensor, oil on canvas, 31 1/2 by 39 3/8
inches, 1891
Lot
18 is a good rural scene by James Ensor (1860-1949) entitled "Le Jardin
d'amour." An oil on canvas, it measures 31 1/3 by 39 3/8
inches and was painted in 1891. It has been widely exhibited and
published and is one of three Ensor paintings consigned from the
collection of Louis and Evelyn Franck.
Another Ensor is Lot 29, "Les Poissardes melancoliques," an oil on
canvas that measures 43 1/4 by 31 3/4 inches and was painted in 1892.
It was once in the collection of Mrs. Ann Burnett Tandy of
Fort Worth and has been widely exhibited and published. The
catalogue entry states that "it numbers among his greatest
compositions,'" adding that "His most unusual pictures, including the
present work, paved the way for the Expressionist and Surrealist
movements that would dominate the avant-garde during the first half of
the 20th century." It has an estimate of $3,000,000 to
$5,000,000. It
sold for $6,970,000, an auction record for the artist.
Lot 20, "Les
Toits d'Ostende," by James Ensor, oil on canvas, 44 1/4 by 52 1/2
inches, 1885
The third Ensor
is Lot 20, "Les Toits d'Ostende," an oil on canvas that measures 44 1/4
by 52 1/2 inches. It was painted in 1885. It has
been very widely published and exhibited. The painting could easily be
mistaken for a major Turner. It has a modest estimate of
$1,500,000 to $2,000,000.
It sold for $2,770,000.
Lot 43,
"Personnage," by Joan Miró," oil, wax, gouache and inke on card, 35 1/2
by 24 1/4 inches, 1977
Lot 43 is a nice
oil, wax, gouache and ink on card by Joan Miró (1893-1983) entitled
"Personnage." It measures 35 1/2 by 24 1/4 inches and was
painted in 1977. It has an estimate of $800,000 to $1,200,000. It sold for $946,000.
