Lot 14
  • 14

Jean-Michel Atlan

Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Jean-Michel Atlan
  • Alaska
  • signed and dated Atlan 58 lower left; signed, titled and dated on the stretcher
  • oil on canvas
  • 60 by 91cm., 23½ by 36¼in.

Provenance

Private collection, Sweden (sale: Sotheby's London, 25 March 1993, lot 311)
Private collection, UK (purchased at the above sale)
Sale: Mes Loiseau, Schmitz & Digard, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 19 June 1994, lot 66
Private collection, Toulouse
Purchased by the present owner in 1995





Literature

Denise Atlan, Camille Atlan and Jacques Polieri, Atlan. Catalogue Raisonné of the Complete Works, Paris, 1996, pp. 334-335, no. 609, illustrated

Condition

The canvas has not been lined. With the exception of one small line of retouching in the far upper right corner, the work is in very good condition and ready to hang. Presented in a dark wooden frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

The time has come to celebrate a new language, to invent the forms, to create the shapes, to call up a world of lines and colours with no indebtedness to literature, one which does not resemble what one calls reality, but which constitutes, by itself, a reality. 

Jean-Michel Atlan, Continuity, no. 2 (1945)

Born and raised in Algeria into a Jewish family, Jean-Michel Atlan moved to Paris in 1930. During the Nazi occupation of the French capital Atlan managed to save himself by feigning madness - he was thus admitted to the Saint Anne Hospital as a mental patient, and it was at this time that he started to paint in earnest. 

Associated with the Surrealist Group, the artist also collaborated with the CoBrA Group and his studio on Rue de la Grande-Chaumière was indeed one of the favourite retreats for artist including Asger Jorn, Karl Appel (lot 40) and Corneille (lot 29). Atlan's work consolidated around the mid 1950s, with enclosed blocks of colour which evoke organic associations. Indeed, in the present work, painted in 1958,  thick black lines work as a contour to sinuous shapes, which, as primordial forces generating from the earth, vibrate amongst the white glaciers of Alaska. 

Atlan's work is included in the collections of major international museums, such as MoMA in New York and Centre Pompidou in Paris.