Lot 24, "Vue de l'asile et de la
Chapelle Saint-Paul de Mausole (Saint-Remy)," by Vincent van Gogh, oil
on canvas, 17 3/4 by 23 3/4 inches, 1889
Lot
24, "Vue de l'asile et de la Chapelle Saint-Paul de Mausole
(Saint-Remy)," is a beautiful landscape oil on canvas by Vincent van
Gogh (1853-1890). It measures 17 3/4 by 23 3/4
inches and was painted in 1889.
It was
once owned by Elizabeth Taylor. It has been widely
published and exhibited.
Detail of Lot 24
It has an estimate of $35,000,000 to
$55,000,000. It sold for
$39,687,500.
Lot 19, "La jeune fille sophistiquée
(Portrait of Nancy Cunard)," by Constantin Brancusi, bronze with an
artist's carved marble base, 31 1/2 inches high overall, conceived 1928
and unique cast 1932
Lot
19, "La jeune fille sophistiquée (Portrait of Nancy Cunard)," by
Constantin Brancusi, is a bronze with an artist's carved marble base,
31 1/2
inches high overall, conceived 1928 and unique cast 1932. It is
from the collection of Elizabeth Stafford and was acquired by her
family from the artist in 1955.
It was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and
the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1956 and was on loan to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art frm 1978 to March, 2018. It has been very
widely published.
The catalogue entry provides the following commentary:
"Brancusi's inspiration for this equisitely refined, unconventional
portrait, La jeune fille sophistiquée,
was Nancy Cunard, a legendary personality of the Parisian années
folles. British-born and heir to the Cunard shipping fortune, she
settled in France in 1920, eschewing the aristocracy for the
avant-garde; she soon became muse and lover to some of the era's most
brilliant writers, including Louis Aragon and Ezra Pound. An
archetypal beauty of the Jazz Age mold, Cunard was tall and
pencil-thin, with wavy, chestnut hair worn modishly short and a
proclivity for outré, trend-setting fashions....Brancusi rendered Nancy
Cunard as a study in contrasts - in straight and curving, smooth and
twisted forms - with a distilled, featureless bulb of a head supported
on a sliver of a neck and surmounted by a cruller-shaped chignon of
hair. In profile, the head displays Cunard's prominent forehead
and small, receding chin, while the corkscrew topknot can be read as a
transposition into three dimensiuons of the stylish spit-curls that the
sitter wore on either side of her face."
A wood version of the sculpture is at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
in Kansas City and there is a "working" model in plaster at Musée
National d'Art Moderne.
The lot has an estimate of request. It sold for $71,000,000.
Lot 23, "Le Pont de l'Europe, esquisse,"
by Gustave Caillebotte, oil on canvas, 25 1/2 by 32 inches, 1876
Lot 23, "Le Pont de l'Europe, esquisse,"is a striking,
almost monochromatic oil on canvas by Gustave Caillebotte
(1848-1894). It measures 25 1/2 by 32 inches and was painted in
1876.
It is a highly finished
study for his most famous work that the artist executed in two
different versions, one of which is in the collection of the
Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and the other in the Petit Palais
in Geneva. The catalogue [for its inclusion in the November 2, 2002
auction at Christie's New York] notes that there are at least five
other
oil sketches for the composition but the present picture is the
only known study for the painting in the Kimbell. The Kimbell
version is tightly cropped and has a predominantly blue and gray
palette while the Geneva painting has a different perspective
and golden palette. An oil on canvas, this lot measures 25 1/2
by 31 7/8 inches and was executed in 1876. It has an estimate
of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000. It sold for $4,409,500. "What
the two paintings share," the catalogue noted, "is an
unabashed focus on the Pont de l'Europe's modernity. Wheras Manet
and Monet had chosen to temper the industrial severity of the
bridge's iron trellises by cloaking them in vapor, Caillebotte
instead depicts the structure in sharp focus, exploiting its ruthless
geometry to organize his composition.The top-hatted figure at
the center of the Pont de l'Europe is traditionally said
to represent Caillebotte himself, and his placement alongside
a member of the working class may be intended to evoke the artist's
own dual social identification."
At this auction, it has an estimate of $6,000,000 to $9,000,000. It sold for $8,187,500.
Lot 9, "Odalisque, mains dans le dos," by
Henri Matisse, oil on canvas, 26 1/8 by 19 3/4 inches, 1923
Lot
9 is a nice odalisque with her hands behind her back by Henri Matisse
(1869-1954). An oil on canvas, it measures 26 1/8 by 19 3/4
inches and was painted in 1923. It is from the collection of Dr.
and Mrs. Jerome S. Coles. It has an estimate of $15,000,000 to
$20,000,000. It sold for
$14,375,000.
Lot 1, "Deux Nus," by
Pablo Picasso, colored wax crayons and black conté crayon over pencil
on paper, 9 1/2 by 11 5/8 inches, 1962
Lot 1 is a lovely crayon and
pencil on paper by Pablo Picasso entitled "Deux nus." It measures
9 1/2 by 11 5/8 inches and was drawn in 1962. It is from the
collection of Preston Robert Tisch and his wife Joan. It has a
very modest estimate of $700,000 to $1,000,000. It sold for $3,372,500.
Lot
18, "Les trois femmes au bouquet," by Fernand Léger, oil on canvas, 25
7/8 by 36 3/8 inches, 1922
Another
Tisch oil on canvas is Lot 18, "Les trois femmes au bouquet," a very
nice work by Fernand Léger (1881-1955). It measures 25 7/8 by 36
3/8 inches and was painted in 1922. It is one of three versions
and the last. It has an estimate of $12,000,000 to
$18,000,000. It sold for
$12,968,750.
Lot
5, "Femme entendant de la musique," by Joan Miró, 51 by 63 5/8
inches, 1945
Lot 5, "Femme entendant de la
musique" is a large oil on canvas by Joan Miró (1893-1983). It
measures 51 by 63 5/8 inches and was painted in 1945. It is
property of Preston Robert Tisch and Joan Tisch. It once belonged
to Evelyn Sharp of New York and has been widely published. It has
an estimate of $10,000,000 to $15,000,000. It sold for $21,687,500.
Lot 17,
"La Claririere," by Alberto Giacometti, bronze, numbered 5/6, 23 3/8
inches high, 1950-2
Lot
17 is another Tisch property that is entitled "La Clairiere." It
is a bronze, numbered 5/6, by Alberto Giacometti that is 23 3/8 inches
high and was made 1950-2. It has an estimate of $10,000,000 to
$15,000,000. It sold for
$15,781,250.
Lot 16,
"Trompenblaser I," by Lyonel Feininger, oil on canvas, 37 1/8 by 31 1/2
inches, 1912
Lot
16 is a colorful but very busy oil on canvas by Lyonel Feininger
(1871-1956) entitled "Trompenblaser I." It measures 37 1/8 by 31
1/2 inches and was painted in 1912. It was once owned by Mark
Goodson and acquired by Preston Robert Tisch and Joan Tisch in
1995. It was included in the 2011 Feininger exhibition at the
Whitney Museum of American Art. It has an estimate of $5,000,000
to $7,000,000. It sold for
$6,162,500.
Lot 15,
"Iris
and Stiefmuitterchen," by Emil Nolde, oil on panel, 28 3/4 by 34 1/3
inches, 1929
:
Lot
15 is a strong floral painting by Emil Nolde that is not a watercolor
but an oil on panel. It is entitled "Iris and Stiefmutterchen"
and measures 28 3/4 hy 34 1/2 inches. It was painted in
1929. It is property of Preston Robert Tisch and Joan
Tisch. It has an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,500,000. It failed to sell and was passed at
$950,000.
Lot
25, "Fillette au pendentif," by Pablo Picasso, oil on canvas, 25 1/4 by
21 1/4 inches, 1901
Lot
25 is a nice oil on canvas by Picasso entitled "Fillette au
pendentif." It measures 25 1/4 by 21 1/4 inches and was painted
in 1901. It has an estimate of $8,000,000 to $12,000,000. It sold for $8,750,000.