Monday, April 28, 2014

Sotheby's May 7 2014 Sale: Monet and Matisse, Degas and Renoir

Sotheby’s spring Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art will be held in New York on 7 May 2014. It will include art by Monet and Matisse, Degas and Renoir.
CLAUDE MONET IN THE GARDEN, BY THE SEA AND IN THE CITY

The Evening Sale will offer three impressive canvases by Impressionist master Claude Monet, including 


Le pont japonais

which he painted at Giverny from 1918–24 (est. $12/18 million). Monet’s spectacular images of the Japanese bridge spanning the lily pond of his lush garden are among the most recognizable images of 20th century art. These pictures capture the mystique of the meticulously-landscaped environment that served as Monet’s inspiration during his later career. The present picture, which is one of the most richly painted in the series, can be seen in a photograph of the artist’s Giverny studio, where it hangs in completion among other notable examples of the artist’s late production.


Monet’s Sur la falaise à Pourville

– on offer from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, sold to benefit its acquisitions fund – was one of the first major Impressionist landscapes to arrive in the United States (est. $5/7 million). The picture was purchased shortly after its completion in 1882 by the artist’s Parisian dealer Durand-Ruel, who was instrumental in establishing Monet’s reputation throughout Europe and abroad. In 1886, the work was acquired by William H. Fuller, the director of the National Wallpaper Company and a devoted early collector of Monet’s art, who organized the first American exhibition of the artist’s paintings at the Union Club in New York in 1891. This show effectively introduced Monet to an American audience which would include some of his most important patrons.

Also in the sale:


 
Estimate   2,000,000 — 3,000,000 

Henri Matisse




Henri Matisse’s La Séance du matin (est. $20/30 million) 

depicts the artist’s studio assistant Henriette Darricarrère, whose own interest in painting he encouraged by offering her lessons during their working time together. In another version of this same subject, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Matisse depicts a nude model alongside the studious painter. The present composition instead features Henriette alone, completely absorbed in her own work. The canvas boasts all of the elements of the artist's most desirable Nice-period paintings, with its colorful patterning and gleaming white highlights, and has gone on to become one of Matisse's most beloved canvases from this period.

HENRI MATISSE LA FEMME EN JAUNE
Estimate   9,000,000 — 15,000,000

is another exceptional portrait from the artist’s early Nice-period.

 Degas and Renoir

EDGAR DEGAS LA CONVERSATION
Estimate   3,500,000 — 5,000,000


EDGAR DEGAS DEUX DANSEUSES ASSISES
Estimate   3,000,000 — 5,000,000


PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR LA TOILETTE
Estimate   4,000,000 — 6,000,000 


PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR TULIPES
Estimate   1,500,000 — 2,000,000