sotheby’s announces two major highlights of its impressionist & modern art evening sale in new...

7/27/2019 Sothebys Announces Two Major Highlights Of Its Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale In New York 6 Novem

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New York | Lauren Gioia / Darrell Rocha | [email protected] | [email protected] | +1 212 606 7176

Sculptural Masterpiece byAlberto Giacometti

To Lead Sothebys Evening Sale of

Impressionist & Modern Art on 6 November

GRANDE TTE DE DIEGOESTIMATED TO SELL FOR $35/50 MILLION

NEW YORK, 3 October 2013 Sothebys Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art in New Yorkon 6 November 2013 will be led an exceptional cast of Alberto Giacomettis Grande tte de Diegothe most ambitious in a series of innovative sculptures by the artist that personified the Existentialist

movement during the Cold War. The artist's younger brother Diego served as the model for this

expressive work, whose facial similarity to his brother invested Giacomettis work of the 1950s

with an autobiographical narrative.

Conceived in 1954 and cast in bronze the following year, Grande tte de Diego is estimated to sell for

$35/50 million*. The work will be on view in Hong Kong, London and Moscow before returning to

New York for exhibition beginning 1 November**.


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Simon Shaw, Head of Sothebys Impressionist & Modern Art

department in New York, commented: Of all his

representations of the human figure, Grande tte de Diego is

perhaps Giacometti's most radical, visually engaging

and emotionally impactful. The exaggerated profile and knife-

edge frontal view allow one to experience two radically

different views of his brother. Along with Giacomettis iconic

Lhomme qui marche, Grande tte de Diego represents the

definitive expression of his aesthetic.

The current auction record for Alberto Giacometti was set at

Sothebys London in February 2010, when L'homme qui

marche I achieved $103.9 million. That price remains the world

auction record for any piece of sculpture. The most recent cast

of Grande tte de Diego to appear at auction sold for $53.3

million at Christies New York in May 2010.

By the 1950s, Giacometti shifted his attention from the elongated figures of his post-war years and

turned to figural sculptures that were more naturalistic in scale. Many were heads and half-length

busts, completed between 1951 and 1957 and often executed from memory. For the most part, these

sculptures were solid, designed without a base, and executed with the matire ptrie, or kneadedmethod, which heightened the expressiveness of the figure. In the present work, the viewer clearly

can see how the artist relied on intense modeling to create the jacket and the sharp bridge of the

nose.

Like the hauntingly-beautiful paintings of his brother Diego that Giacometti executed at the same

time, Grande tte de Diego demonstrates the artist's fascination with the emotive power of the face.

It represents his most ambitious experiment in representation and reshaping of the head, resulting

in a work of art that captures multiple incarnations of the model in one single form.

The first owner of this sculpture was Richard K. Weil (1902-1996), the St. Louis manufacturer and

trustee of Washington University. Weil and his wife Florence Steinberg Weil were avid collectors of

modern art and major benefactors of the University's Art Department and Gallery. The couple


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acquired this bronze from Giacometti's European dealer Maeght in 1957 and sold it to the present

owner in 1980.

**EXHIBITION CALENDAR

Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center

3 7 October

Sothebys London

12 16 October

The Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow

24 & 25 October

Sothebys New York

1 5 November

FOR MORE NEWS FROM SOTHEBYS

Visit: www.sothebys.com/en/inside/services/press/news/news.html

Follow: www.twitter.com/sothebys

Join: www.facebook.com/sothebys & www.weibo.com/sothebyshongkong

Watch: www.youtube.com/sothebys

Sothebys has been uniting collectors with world-class works of art since 1744. Sothebys became

the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to

conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973) and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction

house in China (2012). Today, Sothebys presents auctions in eight different salesrooms, includingNew York, London, Hong Kong and Paris, and Sothebys BidNow program allows visitors to view all

auctions live online and place bids in real-time from anywhere in the world. Sothebys offers

collectors the resources of Sothebys Financial Services, the worlds only full-service art financing

company, as well as private sale opportunities in more than 70 categories, including S|2, the gallery

arm of Sothebys Contemporary Art department, as well as Sothebys Diamonds and Sothebys

Wine. Sothebys has a global network of 90 offices in 40 countries and is the oldest company listed

on the New York Stock Exchange (BID).

*Estimates do not include buyers premium and prices achieved include the hammer price plusbuyers premium.

Images are available upon requestAll catalogues are available online at www.sothebys.com or through Sothebys Catalogue iPad App.

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New York | Lauren Gioia / Darrell Rocha | [email protected] | [email protected] | +1 212 606 7176

PICASSOS GOLDEN MUSESTARS AT SOTHEBYS NEW YORK

Highlight of The

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale

On 6 November 2013

NEW YORK, 3 October 2013 A radiant image fromPablo Picassos celebrated series depicting Marie-

Thrse Walter, his young lover and muse, will

highlight Sothebys Evening Sale of Impressionist &

Modern Art in New York on 6 November 2013.

Tte de femme is one of the most vibrant examplesof these euphoric and fantastical pictures from theearly 1930s, which rank among the most instantly

recognizable works of 20th century art. Painted in

March of 1935, the work is distinguished as perhaps

the last major canvas that the artist completed before

taking a year-long break from painting, during the

time of his contentious divorce from Olga Khokhlova

as well as Marie-Thrses pregnancy with their child, Maya.

Tte de femme is estimated to sell for $20/30 million in the November auction*. The work will be on

view in Hong Kong, London and Moscow before returning to New York for exhibition beginning 1

November**.


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David Norman, Co-Chairman of Sothebys Impressionist & Modern Art Department Worldwide,

commented: Of all the manifestations of Picasso's prolific career, it was during the reign of his

golden muse Marie-Thrse Walter that his creativity was at its most powerful. His work was

refreshed by his young love, inspiring him to paint the most colorful, joyful and ambitious

compositions of his entire oeuvre. The market has demonstrated a great appreciation for this series

Picassos depictions of Marie-Thrse have proven the most desirable of his works among todays

collectors, and enjoy a truly global appeal.

In the last five years, six of Picassos depictions of Marie-Thrse have achieved prices of more than

$20 million at auction. The most recent examples were sold at Sothebys in London and New York:

Femme assise prs d'une fentre, which sold for $44.8 million in London in February 2013, and

Nature morte aux tulipes, which sold for $41.5 million in New York in November 2012.

Picasso first saw Marie-Thrse Walter on the streets of Paris in 1927, when she was 17 years old,

and while he was entangled in an unhappy marriage to Olga Khokhlova. The couple's relationship

remained a well-guarded secret for many years. But the covertness of the affair only intensified

Picasso's obsession with Marie-Thrse, and many of his pictures, with their dramatic contrasts of

light and dark, allude to their secret interludes held under cover of darkness.

Soon after learning on Christmas Eve of 1934 that Marie-Thrse was pregnant with his child,

Picasso promised to file for a divorce from Olga. His lawyers advised him to separate from his loverduring the proceedings, which devastated the artist during this intimate time in their relationship.

Soon after painting Tte de femme on 12 March 1935 when Marie-Thrse was just ending her first

trimester of pregnancy he ceased all work on painting for a period of nearly a year. The present

work stands as the last major canvas completed before this hiatus, drawing on Renaissance

iconography to create a magnificent image of his Madonna.

**EXHIBITION CALENDAR

Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center

3 7 October

Sothebys London

12 16 October


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The Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow

24 & 25 October

Sothebys New York

1 5 November

FOR MORE NEWS FROM SOTHEBYSVisit: www.sothebys.com/en/inside/services/press/news/news.html

Follow: www.twitter.com/sothebys

Join: www.facebook.com/sothebys & www.weibo.com/sothebyshongkong

Watch: www.youtube.com/sothebys

Sothebys has been uniting collectors with world-class works of art since 1744. Sothebys became

the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to

conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973) and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction

house in China (2012). Today, Sothebys presents auctions in eight different salesrooms, including

New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris, and Sothebys BidNow program allows visitors to view allauctions live online and place bids in real-time from anywhere in the world. Sothebys offers

collectors the resources of Sothebys Financial Services, the worlds only full-service art financing

company, as well as private sale opportunities in more than 70 categories, including S|2, the gallery

arm of Sothebys Contemporary Art department, as well as Sothebys Diamonds and Sothebys

Wine. Sothebys has a global network of 90 offices in 40 countries and is the oldest company listed

on the New York Stock Exchange (BID).

*Estimates do not include buyers premium and prices achieved include the hammer price plus

buyers premium.

Images are available upon requestAll catalogues are available online at www.sothebys.com or through Sothebys Catalogue iPad App.

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sotheby’s announces two major highlights of its impressionist & modern art evening sale in new...

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