AVANT-GARDE(S) INCLUDING THINKING ITALIAN
Paris - This 20th of October, following the success of last year’s 66.7-million euro auction, Christie’s will present the exceptional Avant-garde(s) including Thinking Italian sale – a tribute to the greatest artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Headlined by the extraordinary Peintures (Femmes, lune, étoiles) (1949) by Joan Miró from La Colombe d’Or, the sale will feature a variety of museum-quality works by Yves Klein, Marcel Duchamp, Jean Paul Riopelle, Pablo Picasso, Zao Wou Ki and François-Xavier Lalanne. Other highlights will be works with rare and prestigious provenances, such as an Yves Tanguy work from the Matisse family collection and a large Dorothea Tanning
painting, formerly the property of Alain Jouffroy.
For the second consecutive year, Christie’s Paris will also feature a curated selection of works by the 20th century’s greatest Italian masters.
The Thinking Italian section will include an exceptional canvas by Lucio Fontana, a major painting by Domenico Gnoli, and works by Mario Schifano and Alighiero Boetti. This sale of around forty lots will take place the same week as Paris+ par Art Basel, building on the series of unmissable events dedicated to modern, postwar and contemporary art.
A. LUCIO FONTANA
CONCETTO SPAZIALE, ATTESE, 1966. ESTIMATE: €2,500,000 - 3,500,000
B. LUCIO FONTANA, CONCETTO SPAZIALE,
1961. ESTIMATE UPON REQUEST
C. ALIGHIERO BOETTI,
OGGI VENTISEIESIMO QUINTO
MESE ANNO UNO NOVE OTTO NOVE, 1989. ESTIMATE: €400,000 - 600,000
D. DOMENICO GNOLI, GIRO DI COLLO 15%, 1966. ESTIMATE: €1,500,000 - 2,500,000
THINKING ITALIAN
“Concetto Spaziale is part of the prestigious Venezia series – in my opinion, the most significant ever made by the artist This painting belonged to the same owner from 1961 to 2009 – a historic Italian family with ties to the artist’s intellectual circles in the 1960s. The work was then transferred to an international collection. I'm delighted to see it back on the market.”
Mariolina Bassetti, Postwar and Contemporary Art for Continental Europe President, Italy President Several major works by one of Italy’s foremost contemporary artists, Lucio Fontana, will be offered for auction, including Concetto Spaziale (1961; estimate upon request) – one of the most skilfully-executed works in the artist’s signature Venezia series. The sale will also feature Concetto spaziale, Attese painted in 1966 (estimate: €2,500,000 - 3,500,000), formerly in a private Italian collection. Under private ownership for decades, this last work is a magnificent example of the artist’s iconic and famous tagli (cuts) series. Throughout his artistic career, Lucio Fontana explored the relationship between surface and dimensionality. Punching holes and slicing through the canvas – here painted a vivid, monochromatic red – Fontana exposes the dimensional space beneath the planes of the painting. Amid the remarkable works in the Thinking Italian section is a 1966 painting by Domenico Gnoli: Giro di collo 15 V (estimate: €1,500,000 - 2,500,000) is from the prestigious private art collection of Swiss-Polish art dealer Jan Krugier.
This painting was notably loaned to the Kassel Documenta in 1968, as well as to the legendary Italian Metamorphosis exhibition at the Guggenheim in NYC in 1994. Gnoli is known for the care and importance he gives to the minor details of everyday life, in a manner reminiscent of Morandi and De Chirico’s metaphysical paintings. Despite their two-dimensionality, Gnoli’s sculptural subjects draw the viewer’s gaze towards a sensuality and theatricality normally hidden from daily life. The October sale will also spotlight Grande verde by Mario Schifano, an example of the artist’s rare and emblematic Monochrome series. The painting, estimated at €700,000 - 1,000,000, was displayed in Paris’ Centre Pompidou in 1981 during the Identité italienne, L'art en Italie depuis 1959 exhibition. Other major works in the sale include Oltreblu by Piero Dorazio (estimate: €250,000 - 300,000), Oggi ventiseiesimo quinto mese anno uno nove otto nove by Alighiero Boetti (estimate: €400,000 - 600,000), and Omaggio a Debussy by Tancredi, from the artist’s own collection (estimate: €180,000 - 250,000).
RENÉ MAGRITTE, LE PALAIS DE RIDEAUX, 1965. ESTIMATE: €500,000 - 800,000
IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN ART
“Despite the shifting abundance of detail and nuance in nature, I was able to see a landscape as though it were only a curtain placed in front of me. I became uncertain of the depth of the fields, unconvinced of the remoteness of the horizon.”
(Magritte, in S. Whitfield, Magritte, exhibition catalogue, London 1992, p. 1315)
Also featured is Le Palais de rideaux by René Magritte (1965; estimate: €500,000 - 800,000). As part of the artist’s eponymous series, this gouache illustrates Magritte’s constant trompe-l’œil technique, as well as how words resonate with representations – a question he explored from the 1920s onwards. Set against a wood-panelled wall, both side-by-side geometric shapes contain the Belgian master’s leitmotif of a cloud-studded blue sky – one with imagery and the other with language.
Another sale highlight is Tu t'évapores dans un buisson, a beautiful painting by the sought-after Czech surrealist Marie Cerminová, known as Toyen. The artwork executed in 1956 depicts a fantastical shape somewhere between an animal and a human figure (estimate: €700,000 - 1M). Leading the sale will be Peinture (Femmes, lune, étoiles) by Joan Miró (cover page — estimate upon request). Painted in 1949, this masterpiece could be one of the highlights in the French art market this autumn. Having been displayed at the Centre Pompidou, the Fondation Maeght, the Fundació Miró, the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, and the Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Peinture (Femmes, lune, étoiles) can be considered one of the artist’s finest works to ever appear on the art market. It is one of Miró’s most significant postwar artworks, and its sale is a rare opportunity unparalleled in Paris for many years. While the artwork is remarkable, its provenance is just as important, because it comes straight from La Colombe d’Or, a hotel in the south of France that hosted many of the 20th century’s greatest artists, including Picasso, Miró, Chagall, Pagnol, Signoret, Montand, Mallarmé, Prévert, and many more. Ever since its acquisition from the Galerie Maeght in 1950, Peinture (Femmes, lune, étoiles) has hung in the dining room of this legendary location founded in 1920 and run by three generations of the Roux family. Paul Roux’s passion for painting drew him to bring together what is now one of
the most desirable collections of 20th-century art in the world.
“The sale in Paris of such an important work by one of the greatest artists of the 20th century is an event in and of itself. The Colombe d’Or provenance only adds to the prestige and rarity of this painting as it embodies the Roux family's passion for art passed down through the generations. It also bears witness to every name that dined in its presence – Picasso, Chagall, Prévert, Montand, and so many more.” Valérie Didier, Director of Evening Sales and Collection Sales, Christie’s Paris
TOYEN (MARIE CERMÍNOVÁ, KNOWN AS; 1902-1980), TU T'ÉVAPORES DANS UN BUISSON DE CRIS, 1956. ESTIMATE:
€700,000 - 1,000,000
CONTEMPORARY AND POSTWAR ART
A magnificent Monochrome bleu sans titre (IKB102) by Yves Klein will also be included in the sale. Painted in 1956 and acquired shortly thereafter by a private European collection, this work (estimate: €1,500,000 - 2,000,000) embodies how the artist used blue for its mystical power and ability to forge a path towards what Klein called the “zone of the immaterial”.
DESIGN
The mysterious, textured expanse of this pure shade of blue is a highly physical manifestation of the conversation Klein hoped to spark between a viewer’s sensitivity and the vast monochromatic plane – both intense and immaterial – emanating from the painting’s surface.
Echoing Christie’s L’Enragé exhibition dedicated to Jean Fautrier in Paris in September (and coinciding with the publication of Marie-José Lefort’s catalogue raisonné at Editions Norma), the sale will also feature a Nu from 1957 (estimate: €700,000 - 1,200,000). This painting demonstrates how, in the postwar period, the artist devoted himself to deconstructing and reinventing painting with artworks vibrating with an outstanding materiality. An outrenoir by Pierre Soulages, belonging to a major private European collection, will be another highlight of the sale – Peinture 92 x 130 cm, 4 mai 2004 is estimated at €700,000 - 1,000,000.
YVES KLEIN, MONOCHROME BLEU SANS TITRE, 1956. ESTIMATE: €1,500,000 - 2,000,000
DIEGO GIACOMETTI,
TABLE 'CARCASSE AU NAVIGATEUR', MODEL CREATED CIRCA 1969. ESTIMATE: €300,000 - 500,000
This Avant-Garde(s) sale on 20 October will also showcase a selection of design pieces, such as Au navigateur, a rare variation of a significant Carcasse table by Diego Giacometti (estimate: €300,000 - 500,000). Also featured will be three iconic François- Xavier Lalanne sculptures in epoxy concrete and bronze: Bélier, Brebis and Agneau, part of his Nouveaux Moutons series, are each estimated at €250,000 - 350,000.
PHOTOGRAPHS
An edition of one of Man Ray’s signature photographs, Le Violon d'Ingres (estimate: €200,000 - 300,000) will also be for sale. There are only two existing old prints of what is undoubtedly one of the 20th century's most define artworks. One, purchased by André Breton, is now in the Musée National d'Art Moderne Centre Pompidou’s collection, while the other – the Jacobs’ collection print – was sold for 12,300,000 dollars in New York last May. The edition presented in the Avant-Garde (s) sale is one of eight prints – along with three artist proof prints – Man Ray made in 1971 from the negatives.
ART MODERNE ONLINE
From 11 to 24 October, Christie’s will also present the Art Moderne Online Sale bringing together around 150 lots. Highlights include a painting by Marc Chagall emblematic of his Circus series, and many sought-after and rare compositions by André Lhote and Jean Metzinger embodying the Section d’Or at its finest. Works from many particularly prestigious collections are at the heart of this sale, each the epitome of a refined, unique taste for collecting impressionist and modern art. Other highlights of the sale include impressive works by Pablo Picasso, Victor Brauner and Albert Marquet, and many others.
SELECTION OF WORKS
- LUCIO FONTANA, [CONCETTO SPAZIALE], 1961 ESTIMATE: €300,000 - 400,000
- PIERRE SOULAGES, SANS TITRE, 1952 ESTIMATE: €250,000 - 350,000
- DOROTHEA TANNING, LA DESCENTE DANS LA RUE, 1968 ESTIMATE: €200,000 - 300,000
- PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR, LA FERME DE MAGNANOSC (LA VILLA RAYNAUD, GRASSE), PAINTED IN GRASSE IN 1895-98 ESTIMATE: €700,000 - 1,000,000
- GIORGIO MORANDI, FIORI, 1863 ESTIMATE: €220,000 - 320,000
USEFUL INFORMATION
Avant-Garde(s) including Thinking Italian
20 October 2023, 5pm
Viewing from 12 to 20 October
Art Moderne Online
From 11 au 24 October 2023
Christie's 9, Avenue Matignon, 75008 Paris
