By Carter B. Horsley

This Latin American Art auction at Christie's November 17 and 18, 2009 at Christie's is highlighted by some fine works by Rufino Tamayo, Wilfredo Lam, Francisco Toledo and Juan Soriano as well as excellent paintings by Leonore Carrington, and Gunther Gerzso.

Lot 51, "Mujeres," is a great and wonderful oil and sand on canvas by Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991). It was painted in Paris in 1960 and measures 51 1/2 by 77 1/4 inches and was once in the collection of the Gulf America Corporation. It has been widely exhibited and published.

The catalogue provides the following commentary:

"Set in a room with a louvered window, two female figures, reduced to elemental lines and circles, stand before a large, looming form of an animal, inspired by Cubism, the geometric shapes overlap and conflate the figures, thereby challenging traditional perspective and composition. The tight spatial relationship between the women and the animal suggests the interconnectedness of humanity and nature. Likewise, modernity and antiquity fuse in Mujeres."

The lot has a modest estimate of $600,000 to $800,000. It sold for $698,500 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.

The evening auction was very successful with 89 percent of the 76 offered lots selling for a total of $14,691,900, both very respectable figures. The auction was more crowded than normal.

Lot 45 is a good "Adam and Eve" by Rufino Tamayo that was painted in 1972. An oil and sand on canvas, it measures 39 1/2 by 32 inches. It has an estimate of $300,000 to $400,000. It sold for $386,500.

Lot 59 is a strong Tamayo oil and sand on canvas entitled "Hombre en el espacio." It measures 51 3/8 by 38 1/2 inches and was painted in 1970. It has an estimate of $350,000 to $450,000. It failed to sell and was passed at $320,000.

Lot 69, "Dos Hombres en un paisaje," is an oil and sand on canvas by Tamayo that measures 38 1/4 by 51 1/4 inches. It was painted in 1977 and is property of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and was exhibited at the 1979 exhibition on the artist at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. It has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $314,500.

Lot 121 is a fine and very nicely colored. untitled oil on canvas by Wilfredo Lam (1902-1982) that measures 19 7/8 by 27 5/8 inches. It was created in 1973. It has an estimate of $70,000 to $90,000. It sold for $96,100.

Lot 46 is a very complex composition by Wilfredo Lam that is entitled "Les Compagnons." An oil on canvas, it measures 39 by 27 5/8 inches and was painted in 1976. It has an estimte of $150,000 to $200,000. It sold for $176,500.

An even better Lam is Lot 131, "Personnagessur fond vert clair," an oil on canvas that measures 25 3/4 by 21 1/4 inches. It was painted in 1973. It has a modest estimate of $50,000 to $70,000. It sold for $80,500.

Lot 21 is a superb oil and ink on paper by Jose Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), entitled "Prometheus." It measures 20 by 16 1/4 inches and was executed in 1945. It has been widely exhbited and has a modest estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. It sold for $134,500, a world auction record for a work on paper by Orozco.

Lot 114 is a lively composition, "Gestaltica," by Rene Portocarrero (1912-1985). An oil on canvas, it measures 17 3/4 by 23 7/8 inches and was painted in 1946. It has an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000. It sold for $50,000.

Lot 22 is a good painting by Matta (1911-2002) entitled "Sketch-Etude au temps du 'Le forcat de la lumiere." An oil on canvas, it measures 20 by 25 inches and was painted in 1942. It was once in the collection of James Thrall Soby. It has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $338,500.

Lot 24 is a very strong and colorful Matta. An oil on canvas that measures 35 by 29 inches, it is titled "Horror is not Truth." It was created in 1948. It has an estimate of $150,000 to $200,000. It sold for $146,500.

Lot 26 is a large and bold abstration of surprising few forms with a limited palette by Matta. An oil on canvas, it is titled "Crucisphere" and measures 50 by 69 inches. It was painted in 1948. It was included in the Matta show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1957. It has an estimate of $350,000 to $450,000. It sold for $398,500.

Lot 28 is an abstraction entitled "Epure" by Matta. An oil on canvas, it measures 50 by 38 inches and it was painted in 1944. It has an estimte of $350,000 to $450,000. It sold for $386,500.

Alejandro Xul Solar (1887-1963) was an Argentinian artist with a fine sense of pre-Columbian history and a colorful style that combined Art Deco and minatures. Lot 32 is a fine example of his work and is entitled "Ofrenda." A watercolor and gouache on paper, it measures only 6 by 8 3/8 inches and was drawn in 1920. It has a modest estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It sold for $64,900.

The catalogue notes that the artist was influenced early by the Der Blaue Reiter group of German Expressionists while he was in Europe as well as an intense study of the mystical world making "contact with the magical fraternity Astrum Argentum, with London's Theosophical Society, and in Stuttgart with Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy." according to the catalogue. "The two winged females figures...have a markedly Egyptian countenance expressed through their elongated profiles and stylized features," it also noted.

Juan Sorian (1920-2006) is a very colorful and bold Mexican artist. Lot 157 is a bright small oil on canvas by him entitled "La calavera Maria" that measures 13 3/4 by 11 inches and was painted in 1960. It has a modest estimate of $8,000 to $12,000. It failed to sell. Lot 158, "Paisaje portuges," is a 17-by-20-inch oil on canvas he did in 1958. It has a modest estimate of $18,000 to $22,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 161 is a much larger work by Soriano that could almost be mistaken for a great Rufino Tamayo. It is an oil on canvas that measures 23 1/4 by 48 3/4 inches and was executed in 1960. It has a modest estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 50 ai large painting of four fish by Francisco Toledo (b. 1940). An oil and sand on canvas, it measures 47 1/2 by 39 1/4 inches, it was painted circa 1975. It has an estimate of $300,000 to $400,000. It sold for $314,500.

The auction has several other striking works by Toledo including Lot 194, "Dos muertes con cachuca," a gouache and ink on paper. It measures 11 1/8 by 14 7/8 inches and was painted circa 1994. It has an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000. It sold for $22,500.

The auction has numerous sculptures and paintings by Fernando Botero (b. 1932)

Lot 35 is a classic and excellent watercolor and pencil on paper laid down on canvas by Fernando Botero (b. 1932). It measures 53 1/2 by 41 3/4 inches and was executed in 1990. It has an estimate of $450,000 to $650,000. It sold for $614,500, a world auction record for a work on paper by the artist. The work is the cover illustration of the auction catalogue and was also the cover illustration of the 1993 book, "Botero: Drawings and Watercolors" published by Rizzoli. The artist began to paint large watercolors late in his career and once remarked that he did so because it gave him "the sensation of painting al fresco," adding that he experiences them as "small frescos rather than as huge watercolor pictures."

Lot 34 is a processional work by Botero entitled "El Milagro de San Hilarion." An oil on canvas, it measures 15 3/4 by 74 7/8 inches and was painted in 1958-9. It was included in the 1979-1980 exhibition on the artist at the Hirschhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. It has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $290,500. A similar Botero painted executed in 1964 is also included in the auction, Lot 43. It is entitled "Vida de San Zenobio," and it measures 17 3/8 by 73 1/2 inches and has a similar estimate. It sold for $242,500.

Lot 40 is a large and marvelous bronze sculpture by Botero of a reclining woman smoking a cigarette and it was displayed during the auction exhibition in front of the entrance to Christie's on 49th Street. It has an estimate of $800,000 to $1,200,000. It sold for $1,142,500.

Lot 49 is a "Nativity" triptych by Leonora Carrington (b. 1917) that is egg tempera on masonite. It measures 23 7/8 by 54 1/4 inches and was painted in 1989. It has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It sold for $194,500. It was once in the collection of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and it sold it at Christie's May 28, 2003 for within its estimate for $130,700.

Lot 42 is a classic and sensational bravura work by Claudio Bravo (b. 1936), the photorealist painter, that displays his painting virtuosity. Entitled "White, Blue and Yellow Papers, it is an oil on canvas that measures 57 1/2 by 45 inches and was painted in 2004. The depicted colored papers convey a tremendous dynamic of energy and movement as if they have survived ferocious crumbling and titanic tornados. It has a modet estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $722,500.

Lot 153 is a good untitled painted plaster relief on wood panel by Gonzalo Fonseca (b. 1922-2000). It measures 20 1/2 by 13 3/4 by 1 1/2 inches and was created in 1962. It has an estimate of $20,000 to $25,000. It sold for $37,500.

Lot 56 is a oil on canvas by Gunther Gerzo (1915-2000) entitled "Mitologia." It measures 21 1/2 by 32 inches and was painted in 1961. It has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It sold for $104,500.

Lot 155 is a fine untitled oil on masonite by Gerzso that measures 14 7/8 by 18 7/8 inches. It was painted in 1953 and has a modest estimate of $25,000 to $30,000. It sold for $52,500.

One of the auction's most striking items is Lot 239, a group of connected sombreros by Pedro Reyes (b. 1972). It was created in 2004. It has an estimate of $8,000 to $10,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 130 is a good oil on canvas by Fernando de Szyszlo (b. 1925) entitled "El Innombrable." It measures 38 3/4 by 31 1/4 inches and was painted in 1980. It has an estimate of $12,000 to $18,000. It sold for $18,750.

Pablo Atchugarry (b 1954) is a very fine sculptor who is able to render marble into seemingly paper-thin slices and very dynamically interesting composition. Lot 71 is a very fine untitled white carrara marble sculpture by him that is 64 inches high and was executed in 2004. It has an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. It sold for $158,500.

Other auction records were set for Oswaldo Guyayasamin's "Study for Cartuchos," Lot 1, which sold for $98,500; Lot 7, "Carnaval," by Victor Manuel, which sold for $182,500; Lot 60, Historia de Amor," by Leon Ferrari, which sold for $43,750; and Lot 75, a bronze sculpture by Javier Marin entitled "Adan," which sold for $56,250.