By Carter B. Horsley
This day sale of Impressionist and Modern Art is highlighted by a strong work by Georges Roualt, a couple of nice still lifes by Odile Rédon, an interesting work by Salvador Dalí that adorns the catalogue cover, a very nice watercolor by Wassily Kandinsky, some good works by Giorgio de Chirico, a fine André Masson, some Joan Mirós, some Jean Metzingers and the usual smattering of Pablo Picassos, Fernand Légers, Henry Moores, Raoul Dufys and the like.
Lot 299, "Acrobat XIII," is a gouache on paper laid down on canvas, 41 1/4 by 29 inches, dated 1913, by Georges Roualt (1871-1958). This large work, shown above, was formerly in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Heinz II and has a high estimate of $350,000. It failed to sell. Although its muted palette of black, grays, browns and blues is not as rich as some of his other works, the composition of two figures is very strong with two figures despite some strange lines in the left leg of the full-length figure. The gouache is very painterly and brings to mind the better works of Matisse and Picasso. Unlike many of the artist’s oils, which have a textural richness that encrusts them with dignity, this gouache has an impressive fluidity that that is dynamic and dramatic. Lot 456, in fact, is a very strong and vibrant Roualt of a man on a horse that is a 17-by-13-inch oil on paper, mounted on card, laid down on canvas. It has a conservative high estimate of $60,000. It sold for $134,500.
While it is easy to think of the first decade or so of the 20th Century as the era of the Cubists, the Fauves and the Futurists, artists like Roualt and Odile Rédon (1840-1916) were applying the freer techniques to representational works with great individuality. Rédon, of course, is best known for his lush, jewelly, poetic, mystical, Symbolist paintings, but his still lifes are also highly prized. This auction has two good examples, Lots 229 and 239. The former, "Vase de Coquelicots," is a 21 1/2-by-25 3/4-inch oil on canvas, painted 1905-9 that was formerly in the collections of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block of Chicago and Leonard N. Stern. It depicts a blue vase with flowers floating in a yellow-beige background and has a high estimate of $600,000. It failed to sell. The latter, "Bouquet de Fleurs," is a 25 1/4-by-19-inch oil on canvas executed between 1903 and 1905. A more colorful work, it was formerly in the collection of John Quinn, a major collector of modern art in New York, and has a high estimate of $800,000. It failed to sell.
The cover illustration, Lot 388, "Eclipse et Osmose Vegetale," a 25 3/4-by-20-inch oil on canvas, dated 1934, by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) is a very good, somber example of this Surrealist’s work as it shows a scrawny white horse with branches growing out of his body standing next to a tree with a solitary man standing far away in the distance. The painting’s first owner, Aubrey Janion, became a member of a group of the artist’s friends who would financially support him for a month and when asked by the artist to choose a painting the catalogue notes that "he replied that being an ‘old cavalry soldier’ he would like a horse. Simple and stark and typically irrational, this is a good Dalí and has a high estimate of $800,000. It sold for $607,000.
Another excellent Dalí is Lot 420, "Southern California," a watercolor, gouache, pen and ink, pencil and collage on paper, 14 7/8 by 11 3/4 inches. This colorful and intricate work has a conservative high estimate of $60,000. It sold for $101,500.
Kandinsky (1866-1944), of course, is one the few artists that rarely is off and Lot 331, "Vibrierend," shown above, is a beautiful watercolor and pen and India ink on paper mounted on card, 14 1/4 by 13 1/4 inches, dated 1928. The catalogue notes that the title of this work, which means "vibrating," refers to the artist’s "attempt to combine his abstract vocabulary of geometric shapes and lines to achieve a resonance with the viewer, a universal vibration similar to a musical chord." It has a high estimate of $300,000. It sold for $354,500. Another, later and darker Kandinsky, Lot 233, a gouache on black paper mounted on card, 19 1/2 by 10 inches, has a high estimate of $150,000. It sold for $134,500.
Sculptures by Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) are often stronger works than his paintings, at least in terms of their modeling. Lot 390, "Il Poeta Solitario," for example, is a very good 20-inch-high bronze, number 3/9, executed in 1970 that has a conservative high estimate of $60,000. It sold for $74,000. Lot 418, "Il Grande Metafisico," is a slightly smaller and brighter work that is not quite as powerful, executed the same year and number 9/9. It has a high estimate of only $40,000 and both lots are stunning sculptures. It sold for $46,000. There are also three paintings by the artist in the auction, the best of which is Lot 416, "Piazza d’Italia con Cavallo," a 17 3/4 by 21 3/4 inch oil on canvas that has a high estimate of $80,000, a pleasant minor work. It sold for $57,000.
Lot 398 is an interesting oil on canvas, 51 by 63 3/4 inches entitled "Les Parques," dated 1961 by André Masson (1896-1987) that is being deaccessioned by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Three figures are discernible in the strong calligraphic brushwork and the lot has a conservative high estimate of $45,000. It sold for $79,500.
Lot 370 is a 36 1/4-by-28 3/4-inch oil on canvas, entitled "Personnage Dans La Nuit," by Joan Miró (1893-1983) that is bold in composition although a little weak in execution. It is dated "X.77" and has an ambitious high estimate of $700,000. It sold for $640,500. Far stronger and more spirited is Lot 363, "Figure Devant Le Soleil," pastel, gouache and charcoal on paper, 26 3/8 by 20 1/8 inches, dated Barcelona, 28-12-1942. This work, also being deaccessioned by the Hirshhorn, has a conservative high estimate of $300,000. It sold for $173,000. Another Miró is Lot 362, "Personnages," signed and dated 1949, a 6 3/4-by-31-inch oil on canvas with four of his famously whimsical figures. It has a high estimate of $400,000. It sold for $387,500.
A more difficult but quite interesting Miró is Lot 368, "Personnage," a 25-by-34 1/2-inch brush and India ink and paper collage on a map of Barcelona. This quite stunning work has a conservative high estimate of $150,000. It was passed.
A lovely and unusual gouache by Paul Klee (1879-1940) is Lot 328, "Sieht Hell (Brilliant Sight)," 13 by 8 1/4 inches on paper, dated 1933. It is a head of a man depicted in a limited and muted palette of blues, grays and yellows and done in a palette knife style. It has a high estimate of only $60,000. It sold for $48,300.
A good, typical gouache on paper, 19 1/2 by 25 5/8 inches, by Léger is Lot 374, "Les Plongeurs," painted circa 1942. It has a high estimate of $120,000. It sold for $85,000. A larger Léger is Lot 377, "Deux Oiseaux Dans Les Fleurs," a 74 1/2-by-106 3/4-inch gouache on paper, executed circa 1950. The catalogue notes that "only two tapestries were executed based on the present work, one of which is in the collection of the Musée Léger, Biot." This lot has an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. It sold for $332,500.
There are numerous works by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) in the auction and the most attractive is Lot 401, "Le Homard Dans Un Panier," a 35-by-45 3/4-inch oil on canvas, executed in 1965. The painting of a blue lobster in a pan is being sold by the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Philanthropic Fund and was formerly in the collection of Norman Grantz. It has an estimate of $700,000 to $900,000. It sold for $772,500.
Other good paintings include Lot 259, "Voiliers Sur L’Oise," a pleasant Impressionist river scene by Gustave Loiseau (1865-1935) that is being deaccessioned by the Detroit Institute of Arts and has a high estimate only $80,000, and which sold for $200,500; Lot 297, a good, large oil by Chaim Soutine (1894-1943) of a man praying that has an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000, and which sold for $607,500; Lot 309, a slight but very good drawing of a man in a hat by Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) that has a high estimate of $40,000, and which was passed; Lot 313, a good Cubist landscape of 1924 by David Burliuk (1882-1967) that has a high estimate of $45,000, and which was passed; Lot 314, a stunning abstraction by Georges Valmier (1885-1937) that has a high estimate of $120,000, and which sold for $123,500; Lot 316, a beautiful, small abstract sculpture in white marble by Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) that was executed in 1935-6 and has a high estimate of $150,000, and which sold for $288,500; Lot 381, another Hepworth, this time a brass and string sculpture that has a high estimate of $60,000, and which sold for $93,250; Lot 361, a very pleasant still life mostly in greens and grays by Georges Braque (1882-1963) that has a high estimate of only $300,000, and which passed; Lot 397, "Rives d’Amour," a nice blue gouache, chalk and pastel on paper by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) that has a high estimate of $350,000, and which sold for $387,500; Lot 422, a charming and decorative large horizontal oil by Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) that has a high estimate of $150,000, and which was brought in; and Lot 442, a scene in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris by Balthus (b. 1908) that has a high estimate of only $150,000, and which was sold for $178,500.
Slightly less than 80 percent of the lots sold.