By Carter B. Horsley

The Fall 2007 Latin American Art auction at Sotheby's is highlighted by a major triptych by Matta, a strong painting by Remedios Varo, and some excellent works by Rufino Tamayo, Leonora Carrington and Fernando Botero.

Lot 15, "Et At It," is a triptych by Matta (1912-2002) that was created in 1944. An oil on canvas, it measures 33 7/8 by 97 1/8 inches and was once in the collection of William S. Rubin and is property from the estate of Richard S. Zeisler to provide funds for the acquisition of art by the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It has an estimate of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000.

The catalogue provides an essay on the painting by Martica Sawin with the following commentary excerpts

"From the moment he left his employ as a draftsman in Le Corbusier's studio, Matta's goal had been to give visual form to a world in flux. Her persisted in describing himself not as a patiner, but as a montreur - one who makes visible. In his earliest attempts to realize this goal he used devices from drafting, like topographical contour lines and warped grids, as well as scientific devices such as the three-dimensional models that demonstrated the theories of mathematician Henri Poincaré, and botanical microphotographs. After he moved to New York from Europe at the start of World War II his dominant imagery was an earth in upheaval, convulsed by volcanic explosions. Then in the summer of 1943, as he described it, he 'passed from a sort of burning fire, mineral lights and that kind of thing into a space that was described by geodesic lines and waves.' A major catalyst for this transition was Marcel Duchamp and his The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, or (Large Glass), which in 1943 was placed on view at The Museum of Modern Art where it was seen for the public for the first time since its debut at the Brooklyn Museum in 1926. In the interim it had been shattered and painstakingly repaired by the artist, with the consequence that its transparency was overlaid by a scrim of cracks that betrayed a material surface interlayered with the rperception of what lay beyond, what was caught within and what was seen in reflection....Et At It may be seen as a sequel to two 1943 triptychs of similar dimensions...."

The lot failed to sell.

Another Matta is Lot 59, "Vert Je Te Veux Vert (Verde Que Te Quiero Verde)," an oil on canvas painted in 1954. It measures 45 by 57 3/8 inches. It has an estimate of $275,000 to $325,000. It sold for $361,000 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.

Lot 21, "Tres Personajes," is a great oil and sand painting on canvas by Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991). It measures 38 1/8 by 51 1/4 inches and was the cover illustration of Emily Genauer's book on the artist that was published by Harry N. Abrams Inc., in 1974.

The painting, which was executed in 1970, was reportedly discovered by Elizabeth Gibson in a pile of rubbish in front of the Alexandria apartment building on the northwest corner of Broadway and 72nd Street in 2003. It had been acquired at Sotheby's in 1977 for $55,000 by a Texas collector who put it in storage. It was found to be missing ten years later.

Ms. Gibson spent four years trying to get information about the painting and finally found out on the "Antiques Roadshow" website that it had been featured in May, 2005 on the popular PBS program and described as a missing masterpiece stolen in 1989.

The lot has an estimate of $750,000 to $1,000,000. It sold for $1,049,000 and news reports indicated that Ms. Gibson will receive a $15,000 reward for returning it to its owners plus a percentage of the auction price.

Ofthe 281 lots offered for sale, 71.4 percent sold for a total including buyers' premiums of $15,235,000.

Another fine painting by Tamayo, "Lot 60, "Dos Personajes de Frente," was consigned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to benefit its acquisitions of Latin American Art. An oil and sand on canvas, it measures 37 1/3 by 51 1/8 inches. It has an estimate of $300,000 to $350,000. It sold for $493,000.

Another Tamayo is Lot 63, "Heads in White (Pareja)," an oil and sand on masonite that measures 12 3/8 by 32 1/8 inches. Executed in 1965, it has an estimate of $150,000 to $200,000. It sold for $181,000.

Lot 10 is a very good oil on masonite by Remedios Varo (1908-1963) that is entitled "Au Bonheur des Dames (Au Bonheur des Citoyens)." Executed in 1956, it measures 35 by 23 3/4 inches.

According to the catalogue, "the subject and title of the painting are based on the 19th Century novel by the French writer, emile Zola. Set in late 19th Century Paris, it tells the story of Denise, a young woman who moves to Paris with her two brothers after their father dies. Life's circumstances thrust her into the realities of modern life and she is obliged to take a job at Bonheur des Dames, a fictitious department store....Varo used Zola's novel as a point of departure to create a a fantastical world of hybrid females creatures or homo rodans - a term coined by the artist - who possess human characteristics along with inanimate or mechanized body parts, such as wheels in place of legs. these hybird creatiures glide about propelled by their own self-sufficient systems of locomotion stopping briefly only to shop at the stylish Bonheur des Dames to replenish old or worn body parts...Varo employs a number of formal techniques associated with surrealism - decalomania (blotting), frottage (rubbing), and grattage (scraping) - all of which further intensify the painting's overall ottherworldly quality."

It has an estimate of $600,000 to $800,000. It sold for $881,000.

Another haunting work by a major woman artist is Lot 12, "El baño," by Leonora Carrington (b. 1917). An oil on canvas, it measures 25 7/8 by 44 3/8 inches and was executed in 1957.

The catalogue provides the following interesting commentary by Susan Aberth:

"Carrington often complained to her friend, the surrealist painter Remedios Varo, that she wished she had a 'wife' to take care of the domestic chores associated with child rearing. The year 1957 was a busy one for the artist who in addition to her usual prodigious output of work, was in the process of producing her play Pénélope in Mexico City, for which she also designed and made the stage sets and costumes. Although Carrington adored her sons Gabriel and Pablo, then aged 11 and 9, it must have been difficult juggling such a great variety of tasks....Two boyish heads peer out from the surface of the water in a small pool....with the relentless stare of children everywhere who demand the attention of their parents and to be rescued from boredom and entertained, her sons look to their mother in the same way that audiences will be looking at the theatrical unfolding of Pénélope. Carrington rises to the challenge, like all desperate mothers, and with the magic of a Celtic bard invokes the realm of faerie. The family dogs, in all probablity two of the mainly ungainly mongrels she adopted out of her passionate concern for animal welfare, now resemble the mystical creatures found guarding the thorses of exotic rulers. To the far...[left] is a tall marble herm festooned with a beribboned laurel wearth as if demarcating sacred space, while ancient looking amphorae on a nearby shelf hint at ritual offerings. In the foreground a ghostly white woman in a tight black sheath, looking remarkably like the artist replete with a glorious thick mane of hair, balances a pinkish egg on her nose that seems to be miraculously suspended from the sky on a gossamer string. Her kneeling pose is that of a preistess beside a reflecting pool upon whose surface she is about to read the future, but only after the creepy spectral hands clinging to the stairs either disappear into the water or pull out whatever is lurking in the deep. Overhead a large pink-winged dragonfly is suspended, as if summoned by the oracle. Eggs lie here and here, hinting of tempera paint and art production, motherhood, and fecundity in general. In front of the boys are black and white spheres and figures that presumably function as toys. Like the articulated clay figures unearthed in pre-Columbia tombs, or the carved wooden dolls made by her friend José Horna, these playthings are arranged with all of the precision and solemnity of objects on an altar. Carrington has turned the poolside into a proscenium, with seated figures in a draped bleacher as if about to view a medieval jousting tournament...."

The lot has a modest estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. It sold for $541,000.

Another work by Carrington is Lot 18, "Animals," an oil on canvas that measures 24 by 39 5/8 inches. It was executed circa 1965 and has an estimate of $175,000 to $225,000. It sold for $241,000.

Lot 135 is a superb and powerful landscape by David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974). A pryosilin on masonite, it measures 23 1/8 by 47 1/8 inches and was painted in 1971. It has a conservative estimate of $50,000 to $60,000. It sold for $67,000.

Lot 25, "Nino tarahumara" is a pryoxilin on masonite by David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974). It measures 29 58 by 24 inches and was executed in 1939. It has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It sold for $529,000, an auction record for the artist.

Lot 8 is an amusing version by Fernando Botero (b. 1933) of Edouard Manet's famous "Le Déjeuners sur l'Herbe." Botero'soil on canvas measures 70 7/8 by 74 7/8 inches and was executed in 1969. It has an estimate of $1,400,000 to $1,800,000. It sold for $1,329,000.

Lot 109 is a strong work by José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949). Entitled "Tres Cabezas," it is an oil on canvas laid down on masonite. It measures 18 1/4 by 14 5/8 inches. It has an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 33 is a fine landscape painting of an aqueduct by Diego Rivera (1886-1957). An oil on canvas, it measures 21 1/2 by 25 1/2 inches and was painted in 1918. It has an estimate of $500,000 to $600,000. It sold for $741,000.

Lot 35 is an excellent work by Armando Reveron (1889-1954). An oil and tempera on burlap, it measures 37 1/4 by 41 3/8 inches. It was painted circa 1938. It has an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $529,000, an auction record for the artist.

Lot 57 is a marvelous maple wood breadbox by Los Carpinteros: Dagoberto Rodriguex and Marcos Castillo. Made in 2004 and number 2/5, it measures 34 1/2 by 123 1/2 by 18 inches. It has an estimate of $35,000 to $45,000. It failed to sell.