Man Ray, La Vierge apprivoisée, 1969. Starting Bid $1,200.
This small figure of a nude encased in a box, open on one side, is based upon two unique objects by Man Ray: Vierge apprivoisée (Domesticated Virgin, 1960), a wooden mannequin figure in a box and Vierge non-apprivoisée (Undomesticated Virgin, 1964), a mannequin chained inside a box. The work comes from the collection of Dr Arthur Brandt, a passionate collector of Dadaist and Surrealist art.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
Hans Bellmer, Cadavre exquis; Cadavre exquis II: A double-sided work. Starting Bid $2,600.
Surrealist artist Hans Bellmer is best known for his life-sized female dolls produced in the 1930s, a project he initiated in opposition to the fascism of the Nazi Party. These works were intended to be functionless, i.e. not useful for the new German state. Bellmer was inspired to work in this medium by the writings of Oskar Kokoschka. Bellmer also shared his fellow Surrealists’ enthusiasm for the creation of what is known as an exquisite corpse (cadavre exquis), a collaborative drawing method beloved by Surrealist-in-Chief André Breton. The present work is a great example this practice, whereby artists draw in turn on a sheet of paper, fold to conceal what they have drawn, and pass it on to the next person. The other artists in this collaborative work have not been positively identified.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, Portrait de Kikou Yamata , 1926. Starting Bid $6,500.
This arresting drawing by Foujita depicts Kikou Yamata, a renowned French-Japanese author known for her narratives about Japan, the strength of Japanese women, and autobiographic reflections about the duality of a Franco-Japanese existence. Born in Lyon, Yamata spent her childhood in Tokyo and moved to Paris at the age of 26, where she joined the French literati milieu. During the course of her life Yamata frequently moved between Japan and France, forming a hybrid identity that influenced her writing throughout her career.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
Antoni Clavé, Scène de rue, 1945. Starting Bid $3,500.
Antoni Clavé was the master of many media: painting, prints, sculptors, stage sets and costume designs. His baroque, ornamental style slowly evolved to a minimalist aesthetic over his 70-year career. The present work, painted in 1945, was created shortly after Clavé met Picasso, after which Clavé’s figurative works would be deeply influenced by Picasso’s themes and styles. This work, however, remains true to Clavé’s own aesthetic and is a beautiful example of his expressive lines and bold use of colour, emblematic of the middle period of his career.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
Jean Dufy, Flamenco. Starting Bid $2,000.
Although primarily known for his depictions of Parisian society and entertainment, this beautiful rendering of Spanish dance demonstrates Dufy’s love for joie de vivre themes and dexterity with colour application. His uniquely musical Post-Impressionist style captures the exuberance of early 20th-century France, and his loose, decorative approach to colour was influenced by his association with the Limoges porcelain manufacturer Théodore Haviland, for whom Dufy painted designs.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
Jean-Baptiste-Armand Guillaumin, Moulin bouchardon, circa 1910. Starting Bid $4,800.
A founding member of the Impressionist movement, Guillaumin also was its longest-surviving proponent. He studied alongside Paul Cézanne and met Camille Pissarro at the Académie Suisse in 1866. Guillaumin worked alongside them painting en plein air in Pontoise and Auvers-sur-Oise and would later exhibit with them at the First Impressionist Exhibition in 1874. His rich paintings of the bucolic French landscape as well as the bustling Paris cityscape gained him much praise and many great accolades throughout his career, and they proved to be of particular interest to Paul Gauguin as well as to Theo and Vincent van Gogh.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
Henri Le Sidaner, Fenêtre sur la Riviera, circa 1916. Starting Bid $3,500.
Le Sidaner was trained at the École de Beaux-Arts under the tutelage of Alexandre Cabanel, an Academic painter with whom Le Sidaner parted ways based on artistic differences. From 1885 to 1894, Le Sidaner lived at the Etaples art colony, a deeply inspirational environment with over 200 individuals from three continents where the plein-air method of painting was favoured by many of the residents. The present work is a beautiful, intimate example of the supremely atmospheric paintings for which Le Sidaner is celebrated.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
Aristide Maillol, Femme allongée. Starting Bid $1,900.
Primarily known for his work in bronze, Maillol’s affinity for sculpting the female form is clear in Femme allongée. His skillful and beautiful shading, alternating between heavy and light application of sanguine, lends the figure a vitality and sculptural presence.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
Dora Maar, Paysage cubiste, ciel rose. Starting Bid $3,500.
Many will recognize the name “Dora Maar” as the protagonist of Pablo Picasso’s entrancing portraits from 1936 to 1946, but Maar was more than just the artist’s partner and muse. Born Henriette Theodora Markovitch, Maar adopted her pseudonym when she enrolled at the famed École de Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian in Paris. When Maar began an affair with Picasso in 1936, she was a rising star in Surrealist circles whose photography was exhibited at the International Surrealist Exhibition in London. Under Picasso’s influence Maar switched mediums – from photography to painting – but after their tumultuous breakup in 1946, Maar withdrew from public life for some time before becoming part of the same renowned post-war Parisian artistic circle as her dear friend Marie-Laure de Noailles, Vicomtesse de Noailles. The present painting remained in the artist’s collection throughout her life and was included in the revelatory studio sale of her work held in Paris in 1998.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
Marcel Dyf, Dejeuner sur l’herbe. Starting Bid $700.
Like many of his Impressionist contemporaries, Marcel Dyf (born Marcel Dreyfus in 1899 in Paris) trained in Arles in the early 1920s. There he painted frescos in the Museon Arlatan, the city halls of Saint-Martin-de-Crau and Saintes-Maries-de-la Mer, while also designing the windows inside the Église Saint-Louis in Marseille. Dyf focused his attention to painting on canvas when he moved to Maximilien Luce’s former studio on the Avenue du Maine in Paris in 1935.
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online
This season Sotheby’s is presenting a fantastic array of Impressionist & Modern Art – from Surrealist objects to bucolic landscapes – in an online only sale. Among these works are treasured pieces offered at very attainable prices. Click ahead to learn more about a selection of highlights under $10,000. –REBECCA FATTELL, IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN ART
Impressionist & Modern Art Online
23 January–6 February | Online