Leading the Impressionist & Modern Art Online Sale (now open for bidding through 6 February) is a selection of works from the collection of Dr Arthur Brandt. After the stunning success of Collection Arthur Brandt: Dada, Surréalisme et au-delà at Sotheby’s Paris in October 2017, additional works from the collection are now on offer as part of the forthcoming online sale. Dr Brandt collected in all mediums, assembling one of the finest collections of Surrealist and Dada paintings, sculpture, objects, works on paper and photographs.
DR ARTHUR BRANDT.
A dedicated and exacting collector, Brandt was originally introduced to the world of modern art by chance. As a longtime player of chess, Brandt unknowingly entered into a match with Marcel Duchamp in Washington Square Park. Brandt did not recognize Duchamp, but admired his hand-painted pipe and proposed they wager their pipes on the outcome of the game.
DORA MAAR, PAYSAGE CUBISTE, CIEL ROSE. ESTIMATE $8,000–12,000.
After many more chess matches and cups of coffee at Café Grecco in Greenwich Village, Brandt ultimately learned the identity of the artist and would go on to collect many of his pieces. This served as the collector’s introduction to modern art, and he spent the next four decades passionately acquiring works belonging to the Dada and Surrealist movements, both in his native New York and in Europe.
AFTER LE CORBUSIER, ICÔNE, CONCEIVED IN 1963 AND CAST IN 1993 IN AN EDITION OF 6 BY MODERN ART FOUNDRY. ESTIMATE $25,000–35,000.
Highlights from the Brandt collection include five works by Man Ray. One of the few American artists associated with Dada and Surrealism, Man Ray, like Brandt, was enamored with Paris and spent much of his life there. Many of Brandt’s works by the artist come from Man Ray’s final decade of production before his death in 1976.
MAN RAY, L'HÔTEL MEUBLÉ DE 1921, CONCEIVED IN 1969 AND CAST IN 1980 IN A POSTHUMOUS EDITION OF 8 BRONZES PLUS ARTIST'S PROOFS AFTER THE ORIGINAL WOOD ASSEMBLAGE OF 1969. ESTIMATE $3,000–5,000.
Often praised as one of the fathers of conceptual and contemporary art, Man Ray was the best represented artist in Brandt’s collection. Often small in scale, works such as Le Tour and La Vierge apprivoisée are representative of the multitude of treasures that covered the walls, and even the floors, of Brandt’s home.
