MODERN PRINTS
1894 The Monotype of the Idol
2015 SOLD for £ 266K including premium
The technique of monotype has not been widely used. Creating a single copy, it is paradoxical compared to the engraving whose purpose is to allow for a wide dissemination of images. William Blake created monotypes to anticipate the effect of his projects of prints. Edgar Degas, always keen to do the opposite of everyone else, wanted to use it for a work of art.
In 1894, Paul Gauguin has returned from his first trip to Tahiti, with a renewal of his mystical themes and of his dreamlike impulses. He is very interested in prints whose proper artistic possibilities have recently been demonstrated by Edvard Munch.
The line of Gauguin's drawing is sharp and his bold colors meet the partitioning. The Polynesian mystery deserves better. Gauguin is neither Manet or Monet and he is even less Van Gogh. Probably too impatient to put by the brush the delicate shades of colors, he seeks a solution through the monotype.
On September 16 in London, Christie's sells a monotype 27 x 24 cm made by Gauguin in 1894, lot 17 estimated £ 200K. Three other proofs are known from the same basic drawing but are the result of different monotypes, probably made with the same glass plate that had been successively cleaned.
A thoughtful young woman sitting beside a pool is ambushed by an idol behind the columns. The deliberately less readable background probably hides other ghosts. This work enters the Arearea no varua ino series (the spell of the devil), suggesting that this observer is a tempting spirit.
This monotype was prepared on a glass plate in watercolor or gouache interspersed with various pigments in a thick texture that left mixed traces on the paper of the final print. The handling pressure created the blurring effect sought by the artist for this supernatural scene.
This print was recently discovered. It is mounted in a frame made by Degas who was probably its first owner. Its disassembly was exciting. It is demonstrated in the video shared by Christie's.
In 1894, Paul Gauguin has returned from his first trip to Tahiti, with a renewal of his mystical themes and of his dreamlike impulses. He is very interested in prints whose proper artistic possibilities have recently been demonstrated by Edvard Munch.
The line of Gauguin's drawing is sharp and his bold colors meet the partitioning. The Polynesian mystery deserves better. Gauguin is neither Manet or Monet and he is even less Van Gogh. Probably too impatient to put by the brush the delicate shades of colors, he seeks a solution through the monotype.
On September 16 in London, Christie's sells a monotype 27 x 24 cm made by Gauguin in 1894, lot 17 estimated £ 200K. Three other proofs are known from the same basic drawing but are the result of different monotypes, probably made with the same glass plate that had been successively cleaned.
A thoughtful young woman sitting beside a pool is ambushed by an idol behind the columns. The deliberately less readable background probably hides other ghosts. This work enters the Arearea no varua ino series (the spell of the devil), suggesting that this observer is a tempting spirit.
This monotype was prepared on a glass plate in watercolor or gouache interspersed with various pigments in a thick texture that left mixed traces on the paper of the final print. The handling pressure created the blurring effect sought by the artist for this supernatural scene.
This print was recently discovered. It is mounted in a frame made by Degas who was probably its first owner. Its disassembly was exciting. It is demonstrated in the video shared by Christie's.
1895 The Scream (Skrik)
2008 Unsold
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The "Scream" (in Norwegian, "Skrik"), painted by Edvard Munch in 1893, is one of the most famous works of art history. The artist made four versions of this painting.
Edvard Munch is also one of the engravers who are the most sought after. His Madonnas, Angst (anxiety) and Vampyrs were already the subject of an article in French in this group in May. Some among the best prints are valued around $ 1 million.
So, the presentation by Sotheby's in New York on October 31 of the "Scream" by Munch in a lithographic issue of 1895 is an event. The press release tells us that, out of 25 known examples, only three (including the example to be sold) are still in private hands. The picture is very close to the painting, but without colors.
I have not found a reference at auction for other copies of this work. Although black and white, its characteristics as an icon of art history and as a rarity can really make it reach the estimated price announced by the auction house, $ 2 million.
The "Scream" (in Norwegian, "Skrik"), painted by Edvard Munch in 1893, is one of the most famous works of art history. The artist made four versions of this painting.
Edvard Munch is also one of the engravers who are the most sought after. His Madonnas, Angst (anxiety) and Vampyrs were already the subject of an article in French in this group in May. Some among the best prints are valued around $ 1 million.
So, the presentation by Sotheby's in New York on October 31 of the "Scream" by Munch in a lithographic issue of 1895 is an event. The press release tells us that, out of 25 known examples, only three (including the example to be sold) are still in private hands. The picture is very close to the painting, but without colors.
I have not found a reference at auction for other copies of this work. Although black and white, its characteristics as an icon of art history and as a rarity can really make it reach the estimated price announced by the auction house, $ 2 million.
1896 Munch and Bonnard with Vollard
2019 SOLD for £ 540K including premium
Ambroise Vollard becomes an art dealer in Paris in 1890. He is passionate about the avant-gardes and builds his know-how with the purchase and sale of paintings and drawings, the second market of prints and the organization of exhibitions in his gallery.
In the 1890s the prints begin to be considered as a major art, inviting to a mural display. Vollard has no scruples. In 1896 he prepares an album and an exhibition under the title Les Peintres-Graveurs, plagiarizing the name of the Société des Peintres-Graveurs Français created in 1889 which has at that time a temporary decline of activity.
The project is ambitious, artistically and technically. Vollard collaborates with Auguste Clot, the best art printer in Paris, to promote chromolithography. As for the artists, he chooses the Nabis and the foreigners, two groups that were little represented in the plagiarized Société.
The portfolio is published in 110 copies of which 100 are serialized. It consists of 22 images made by 22 different artists. Color lithography was used for 11 images, the other 11 being scattered over a wide variety of techniques, in colors and in black and white. Most artists sign all copies of their image.
This set includes two major artworks. Edvard Munch is in Paris where he has just released with Clot or Lemercier a woodcut of his masterpiece Angst. By printing the volutes of the clouds in red blood, Vollard and Clot bring to this opus re-titled Le Soir the dramatic expression that had escaped the smokey black version. Bonnard prepared La Petite Blanchisseuse, a work with a deep social meaning in a daring oblique diving.
The sale of the portfolios is a commercial failure and Vollard gives up publishing other issues under the same title. The operation is however a great personal success for the dealer, because he has trained the young artists in his circle and their friends about the color printing processes.
Most portfolios were early split by Vollard for selling the prints individually. Yet a copy including the cover, the table of contents and the 22 images has just surfaced. Its serialization is composite : this set was probably assembled by Vollard himself in the 1920s from his remaining stock of original copies. This is the only known complete collection of this outstanding edition. It is estimated £ 500K for sale by Sotheby's in London on September 17, lot 112. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the 1890s the prints begin to be considered as a major art, inviting to a mural display. Vollard has no scruples. In 1896 he prepares an album and an exhibition under the title Les Peintres-Graveurs, plagiarizing the name of the Société des Peintres-Graveurs Français created in 1889 which has at that time a temporary decline of activity.
The project is ambitious, artistically and technically. Vollard collaborates with Auguste Clot, the best art printer in Paris, to promote chromolithography. As for the artists, he chooses the Nabis and the foreigners, two groups that were little represented in the plagiarized Société.
The portfolio is published in 110 copies of which 100 are serialized. It consists of 22 images made by 22 different artists. Color lithography was used for 11 images, the other 11 being scattered over a wide variety of techniques, in colors and in black and white. Most artists sign all copies of their image.
This set includes two major artworks. Edvard Munch is in Paris where he has just released with Clot or Lemercier a woodcut of his masterpiece Angst. By printing the volutes of the clouds in red blood, Vollard and Clot bring to this opus re-titled Le Soir the dramatic expression that had escaped the smokey black version. Bonnard prepared La Petite Blanchisseuse, a work with a deep social meaning in a daring oblique diving.
The sale of the portfolios is a commercial failure and Vollard gives up publishing other issues under the same title. The operation is however a great personal success for the dealer, because he has trained the young artists in his circle and their friends about the color printing processes.
Most portfolios were early split by Vollard for selling the prints individually. Yet a copy including the cover, the table of contents and the 22 images has just surfaced. Its serialization is composite : this set was probably assembled by Vollard himself in the 1920s from his remaining stock of original copies. This is the only known complete collection of this outstanding edition. It is estimated £ 500K for sale by Sotheby's in London on September 17, lot 112. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The rediscovery of a rare 19th century portfolio of prints made headlines this week □ Learn about its eminent Parisian publisher, Ambroise Vollard, here: https://t.co/KVu985U7SV #SothebysPrints pic.twitter.com/qJilXr5iNl
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) August 15, 2019
1896 The Old Story of Summer Time
2017 SOLD for $ 610K including premium
Edvard Munch was spending his summer vacation at the seaside near Christiania soon to become Oslo. Artists gather here and play the great game of life. In 1891, aged 28, Edvard watches his 21-year-old friend Jappe who becomes madly in love with a married woman ten years his senior.
The woman finally discards her lover. Such a story is not uncommon. Edvard views Jappe's despair as a mirror of his own affair with another girl a few years earlier. Eager to express extreme feelings, Edvard begins a series of paintings on the theme of Melankoli. We do not know if Edvard's creativity comforted Jappe but their friendship survived.
In 1895 and 1896 Edvard collected his most significant pictures to prepare engravings. The lines are in conformity with the paintings but the colors vary from one copy to another, certainly for the use of the artist himself who finds by such a process an easy way to master the emotional impact.
On October 23 in New York, Sotheby's sells Evening - Melancholy I realized in 1896, lot 95 estimated $ 850K. The woodcut print 38 x 46 cm was made from two blocks. This copy in black, gray and ocher is particularly gloomy. A more gentle copy was sold for £ 960K including premium by Sotheby's on September 17, 2013.
In 1902 Munch realized a new series in the same size, titled Melancholy III. The left-right composition is inverted from the 1896 version but in conformance with the original painting. A copy was sold for $ 420K including premium by Sotheby's on November 1, 2007. Another one is estimated $ 300K in the same sale as above on October 23, lot 84.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM :
Evening Melancholy : $ 610K
Melancholy III : $ 470K
The woman finally discards her lover. Such a story is not uncommon. Edvard views Jappe's despair as a mirror of his own affair with another girl a few years earlier. Eager to express extreme feelings, Edvard begins a series of paintings on the theme of Melankoli. We do not know if Edvard's creativity comforted Jappe but their friendship survived.
In 1895 and 1896 Edvard collected his most significant pictures to prepare engravings. The lines are in conformity with the paintings but the colors vary from one copy to another, certainly for the use of the artist himself who finds by such a process an easy way to master the emotional impact.
On October 23 in New York, Sotheby's sells Evening - Melancholy I realized in 1896, lot 95 estimated $ 850K. The woodcut print 38 x 46 cm was made from two blocks. This copy in black, gray and ocher is particularly gloomy. A more gentle copy was sold for £ 960K including premium by Sotheby's on September 17, 2013.
In 1902 Munch realized a new series in the same size, titled Melancholy III. The left-right composition is inverted from the 1896 version but in conformance with the original painting. A copy was sold for $ 420K including premium by Sotheby's on November 1, 2007. Another one is estimated $ 300K in the same sale as above on October 23, lot 84.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM :
Evening Melancholy : $ 610K
Melancholy III : $ 470K
@Sothebys Sale of Important Prints & Multiples of @cathywoodard & @NelsonBlitz, #NewYork,Oct 23 & 24https://t.co/QL41A6LWIe#Blouin_Artinfo pic.twitter.com/4RYKMC5KYR
— BLOUIN ARTINFO (@artinfodotcom) October 18, 2017
1896 Levitation in the North
2017 unsold
In search of feelings that are offbeat from the social conventions, Edvard Munch is much appealed by the theme of loneliness within the group. His allegory is a tall young standing woman with golden hair in a long immaculate white dress, turning her back to the viewer for looking at the sea.
In 1895 the artist realized a series of spectacular engravings synthesizing his haunted vision of the human condition : Scream, Madonna, Vampyr.
During his stay in Paris from 1890 to 1892 Munch had begun to take inspiration from post-impressionist styles to express his symbolism. Back to Paris in 1896 he reworked his Young woman on the beach by liberating her from any companion. A single person is indeed enough to express the loneliness. This quiet image is one of the artist's strongest messages.
The 1896 engraving of the lonely young woman on the beach in 29 x 22 cm image size is made in an aquatint burnished in imitation of a mezzotint which is then hand colored by the artist. Within a total of eleven or twelve impressions only, Gerd Woll distinguishes no fewer than seven color combinations that offer impressionistic variations comparable to Monet's practice.
A copy in the Woll 3 variant was sold for £ 2,13M including premium by Christie's on March 20, 2013. The woman offers a striking contrast against the saturated colors of shore and sea.
On October 23 in New York, Sotheby's sells a copy in the Woll 5 variant, lot 92 estimated $ 3M. Its pastel tones in which the surrounding details are again erased reduce the contrast but reinforce the psychic mystery of this young woman levitating out of space, time and society.
In 1895 the artist realized a series of spectacular engravings synthesizing his haunted vision of the human condition : Scream, Madonna, Vampyr.
During his stay in Paris from 1890 to 1892 Munch had begun to take inspiration from post-impressionist styles to express his symbolism. Back to Paris in 1896 he reworked his Young woman on the beach by liberating her from any companion. A single person is indeed enough to express the loneliness. This quiet image is one of the artist's strongest messages.
The 1896 engraving of the lonely young woman on the beach in 29 x 22 cm image size is made in an aquatint burnished in imitation of a mezzotint which is then hand colored by the artist. Within a total of eleven or twelve impressions only, Gerd Woll distinguishes no fewer than seven color combinations that offer impressionistic variations comparable to Monet's practice.
A copy in the Woll 3 variant was sold for £ 2,13M including premium by Christie's on March 20, 2013. The woman offers a striking contrast against the saturated colors of shore and sea.
On October 23 in New York, Sotheby's sells a copy in the Woll 5 variant, lot 92 estimated $ 3M. Its pastel tones in which the surrounding details are again erased reduce the contrast but reinforce the psychic mystery of this young woman levitating out of space, time and society.
Munch, Picasso, Kirchner & Johns prints from Catherine Woodard & Nelson Blitz Collection headline #SothebysPrints https://t.co/pSusfjZFbU pic.twitter.com/QUl5dpZX6q
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 10, 2017
1896 daily life of women in montmartre
2014 unsold
Toulouse-Lautrec did not disturb the women of Montmartre familiar to the continuous presence of the disabled and alcoholic artist. He loved to draw and paint the details of their everyday lives.
In 1896, the series Elles is edited in 100 copies by Gustave Pellet, specialist of erotic prints and of Félicien Rops. This portfolio consists in twelve lithographs 52 x 40 cm including a cover page and a frontispiece.
The project was certainly prepared in a hurry : the disparity in tone is due to the fact that some originals were oil paintings while the others were drawings.
These women are busy in their private activities such as grooming and rest, with no allusion to their work of prostitutes or actresses, at times of the day when men have a secondary role in their lives. The title, Elles, is significant.
The artist was inspired by the Japanese ukiyo-e and by Degas's backstage. One only of these women is identifiable: the clowness Cha-U-Kao. This odd-sounding name is meant to evoke the gardens of Asian delights but also the chahut-chaos that was her favorite cancan.
She was openly lesbian and the dominating presence of her image indicates that this series is made to represent feminity or feminism instead of sexual life. The threat of syphilis began perhaps to change the behavior of the artist.
A complete portfolio is estimated $ 900K, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 5, lot 121.
In 1896, the series Elles is edited in 100 copies by Gustave Pellet, specialist of erotic prints and of Félicien Rops. This portfolio consists in twelve lithographs 52 x 40 cm including a cover page and a frontispiece.
The project was certainly prepared in a hurry : the disparity in tone is due to the fact that some originals were oil paintings while the others were drawings.
These women are busy in their private activities such as grooming and rest, with no allusion to their work of prostitutes or actresses, at times of the day when men have a secondary role in their lives. The title, Elles, is significant.
The artist was inspired by the Japanese ukiyo-e and by Degas's backstage. One only of these women is identifiable: the clowness Cha-U-Kao. This odd-sounding name is meant to evoke the gardens of Asian delights but also the chahut-chaos that was her favorite cancan.
She was openly lesbian and the dominating presence of her image indicates that this series is made to represent feminity or feminism instead of sexual life. The threat of syphilis began perhaps to change the behavior of the artist.
A complete portfolio is estimated $ 900K, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 5, lot 121.
1905 Saltimbanques and Harlequin
2012 SOLD 170 K€ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
On March 28 in Paris, Binoche et Giquello in association with Sotheby's will auction an exceptional collection of 32 books illustrated by Picasso, including the five oldest titles in this category.
The first and fourth, each estimated € 80K, are extremely rare.
In 1905, André Salmon, born in the same year as Picasso, is 24 years old. This is the time of the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre, with its atmosphere of cooperation between artists and writers (Salmon moved there later). To support the project of his friend to publish his first book of poems, Picasso inserts his first illustration print, showing two young acrobats.
Only 25 copies of this book, 20 x 14 cm, were printed on deluxe paper and have benefited from this illustration. Very few remained intact.
Picasso liked to work with Max Jacob. In 1917, le Cornet à Dés, 22 x 16 cm, is their third project together. Picasso provides the image of a cubist Harlequin which, printed in 14 copies, is one of his rarest book illustrations.
POST SALE COMMENT
These early books supported by Picasso deserved to be discussed. Salmon's poems were sold € 170K including premium, and le Cornet à dés € 157K including premium.
The sale is presented in a video prepared by Sotheby's and Connaissance des Arts.
On March 28 in Paris, Binoche et Giquello in association with Sotheby's will auction an exceptional collection of 32 books illustrated by Picasso, including the five oldest titles in this category.
The first and fourth, each estimated € 80K, are extremely rare.
In 1905, André Salmon, born in the same year as Picasso, is 24 years old. This is the time of the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre, with its atmosphere of cooperation between artists and writers (Salmon moved there later). To support the project of his friend to publish his first book of poems, Picasso inserts his first illustration print, showing two young acrobats.
Only 25 copies of this book, 20 x 14 cm, were printed on deluxe paper and have benefited from this illustration. Very few remained intact.
Picasso liked to work with Max Jacob. In 1917, le Cornet à Dés, 22 x 16 cm, is their third project together. Picasso provides the image of a cubist Harlequin which, printed in 14 copies, is one of his rarest book illustrations.
POST SALE COMMENT
These early books supported by Picasso deserved to be discussed. Salmon's poems were sold € 170K including premium, and le Cornet à dés € 157K including premium.
The sale is presented in a video prepared by Sotheby's and Connaissance des Arts.
1909 Dodo was a Modest Milliner
2008 SOLD 980 KCHF before fees
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
I have recently discussed some lithographs by Munch. With Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, we change of century and fashion. Gentle, colorful, stylized, these are the adjectives that come to describe this portrait of Dodo with Japanese umbrella, Dodo mit japanischem Schirm. It is a work of the artist's youth, printed no later than 1909.
Despite the small size of this print (39x34 cm on a sheet of 53x43 cm), Galerie Kornfeld expects 800 KFS from this colour lithograph, which is the lot number 63 in its sale of June 6 in Bern. The woman is sitting in a modest attitude, and it is the color balance that makes the value of this resolutely modern work.
A quick glance in Artvalue shows us that the auction house got from 1988 to 1999 some of the best results on lithographs by Kirchner, with prices around the estimate indicated above. However, it appears that very little works of this value passed recently at auction. This makes our friendly Dodo (Doris Grosse, a milliner from Dresden) the undisputed star of the section of the sale devoted to prints.
POST SALE COMMENT
Galerie Kornfeld recorded excellent results on lithographs by Kirchner.
Dodo stopped at 980 KCHF excluding fees. If we take into account costs, it exceeds the psychological threshold of one million, in the currency of the country.
Another lithograph, representing pines, was presented. It was sold 1.3 MCHF before fees from a low estimate of 900 KCHF.
I have recently discussed some lithographs by Munch. With Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, we change of century and fashion. Gentle, colorful, stylized, these are the adjectives that come to describe this portrait of Dodo with Japanese umbrella, Dodo mit japanischem Schirm. It is a work of the artist's youth, printed no later than 1909.
Despite the small size of this print (39x34 cm on a sheet of 53x43 cm), Galerie Kornfeld expects 800 KFS from this colour lithograph, which is the lot number 63 in its sale of June 6 in Bern. The woman is sitting in a modest attitude, and it is the color balance that makes the value of this resolutely modern work.
A quick glance in Artvalue shows us that the auction house got from 1988 to 1999 some of the best results on lithographs by Kirchner, with prices around the estimate indicated above. However, it appears that very little works of this value passed recently at auction. This makes our friendly Dodo (Doris Grosse, a milliner from Dresden) the undisputed star of the section of the sale devoted to prints.
POST SALE COMMENT
Galerie Kornfeld recorded excellent results on lithographs by Kirchner.
Dodo stopped at 980 KCHF excluding fees. If we take into account costs, it exceeds the psychological threshold of one million, in the currency of the country.
Another lithograph, representing pines, was presented. It was sold 1.3 MCHF before fees from a low estimate of 900 KCHF.
1912 Art and Music at the Blaue Reiter
2009 SOLD 37 K$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The "Almanach der Blaue Reiter", published in Munich in 1912, is a manifesto of modern art. This movement created by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc in the previous year aimed to promote an art that would escape from the material world to express spiritual values.
This album includes texts by Kandinsky, Marc and Macke, musical scores of Schönberg, Berg and Webern, and hors texte prints including "The Archer" by Kandinsky and "Fabeltier" by Marc.
It was printed in 1200 copies. One of 50 deluxe copies bound in leather and including original color woodcuts of Kandinsky and Marc is coming at Christie's in New York on April 28 with an estimate that seems reasonable: 40 K$ only.
The idea of the founders was a yearly checking of the development of the Expressionist movement, but the almanac had no other following than a reissue in 1914.
POST SALE COMMENT
37 K$ including premium for this historical edition. It is far below the estimate, and it's almost a gift ...
The "Almanach der Blaue Reiter", published in Munich in 1912, is a manifesto of modern art. This movement created by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc in the previous year aimed to promote an art that would escape from the material world to express spiritual values.
This album includes texts by Kandinsky, Marc and Macke, musical scores of Schönberg, Berg and Webern, and hors texte prints including "The Archer" by Kandinsky and "Fabeltier" by Marc.
It was printed in 1200 copies. One of 50 deluxe copies bound in leather and including original color woodcuts of Kandinsky and Marc is coming at Christie's in New York on April 28 with an estimate that seems reasonable: 40 K$ only.
The idea of the founders was a yearly checking of the development of the Expressionist movement, but the almanac had no other following than a reissue in 1914.
POST SALE COMMENT
37 K$ including premium for this historical edition. It is far below the estimate, and it's almost a gift ...
1913 entertainers from the période bleue
2018 SOLD for $ 125k including premium
A print 46 x 38 cm from the 1913 edition of 250 by Vollard of Le Repas Frugal was sold for $ 108K including premium by Swann Galleries in New York on September 24, 2009. It is now estimated $ 100K for sale by the same auction house on November 1, lot 332. This copy had been discussed in this column in 2009.
Le Repas Frugal had been in 1904 the first successful attempt by Picasso to transfer a deep emotion through a printed image. It was made at the end of the Période Bleue.
Le Repas Frugal is an allegory of poverty staging the meagre meal of a couple of acrobats whose job is to entertain the crowds in the circus. Both are desperately emaciated. The man is blind. The meal is finished but they are still hungry. They do not expect anything.
Vollard purchased the plates from the series of Saltimbanques in 1913. The job made by Picasso in 1904 was a masterpiece in terms of imaging but the printing was altogether beautiful and clumsy. The about thirty original prints of Le Repas Frugal had been made from a second-hand plate which Vollard had to make strengthened for preparing the edition of 250.
Le Repas Frugal had been in 1904 the first successful attempt by Picasso to transfer a deep emotion through a printed image. It was made at the end of the Période Bleue.
Le Repas Frugal is an allegory of poverty staging the meagre meal of a couple of acrobats whose job is to entertain the crowds in the circus. Both are desperately emaciated. The man is blind. The meal is finished but they are still hungry. They do not expect anything.
Vollard purchased the plates from the series of Saltimbanques in 1913. The job made by Picasso in 1904 was a masterpiece in terms of imaging but the printing was altogether beautiful and clumsy. The about thirty original prints of Le Repas Frugal had been made from a second-hand plate which Vollard had to make strengthened for preparing the edition of 250.
1913-1914 Discomfort in Berlin
2017 unsold
When he settles in Berlin in 1911, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is already a virtuoso of engraving. A copy of his 1909 color lithograph Dodo mit japanisches Schirm was sold for CHF 980K before fees by Galerie Kornfeld on 6 June 2008.
His stay in Berlin is a failure. The private school of modern painting which he creates with Pechstein closes almost immediately. The enthusiast of outdoor nudism is oppressed in the big city. He watches with a sorrow mingled with anxiety the anonymous passers-by in the street. Their stylized expression is unfriendly. Groups are tight but communication is absent.
The artist expresses this discomfort from 1913 in his Strassenszenen. An oil on canvas 122 x 91 cm painted in 1913-1914 in saturated colors was sold for $ 38M including premium by Christie's on November 8, 2006.
The woodcut engraving allows saturated blacks that match the rejection of city life by the artist. A Fünf Kokotten 52 x 39 cm printed in 1914 was sold for CHF 920K before fees by Galerie Kornfeld on 15 June 2012.
On October 23 in New York, Sotheby's sells the woodcut print 26 x 27 cm of a Strassenszene, lot 99 estimated $ 500K. It is marked 12 in pencil. This is not reliable as a date. The auction house dates the print from 1913-1914.
The discomfort is carried to its paroxysm by the vision in top down and by the fleeing perspective of the vertical edges. This picture is known in five copies. Among them the print for sale is the only one on which the artist added dark purple shadows with the technique of the monotype. By its stifling atmosphere this copy is a masterpiece of expressionist engraving.
His stay in Berlin is a failure. The private school of modern painting which he creates with Pechstein closes almost immediately. The enthusiast of outdoor nudism is oppressed in the big city. He watches with a sorrow mingled with anxiety the anonymous passers-by in the street. Their stylized expression is unfriendly. Groups are tight but communication is absent.
The artist expresses this discomfort from 1913 in his Strassenszenen. An oil on canvas 122 x 91 cm painted in 1913-1914 in saturated colors was sold for $ 38M including premium by Christie's on November 8, 2006.
The woodcut engraving allows saturated blacks that match the rejection of city life by the artist. A Fünf Kokotten 52 x 39 cm printed in 1914 was sold for CHF 920K before fees by Galerie Kornfeld on 15 June 2012.
On October 23 in New York, Sotheby's sells the woodcut print 26 x 27 cm of a Strassenszene, lot 99 estimated $ 500K. It is marked 12 in pencil. This is not reliable as a date. The auction house dates the print from 1913-1914.
The discomfort is carried to its paroxysm by the vision in top down and by the fleeing perspective of the vertical edges. This picture is known in five copies. Among them the print for sale is the only one on which the artist added dark purple shadows with the technique of the monotype. By its stifling atmosphere this copy is a masterpiece of expressionist engraving.
1914 The Kokotten Tribe
2012 SOLD 1.06 MCHF including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Kirchner could not fit into the big city. That is great for us because his street scenes in Berlin, viewed with a corrosive derision, are masterpieces of Expressionist printmaking.
On June 15 in Bern, Galerie Kornfeld sells a copy of Fünf Kokotten, estimated CHF 600K. Kirchner considered engraving as a major art and was a master of the color image. He practiced with an equal success the woodcut, and this sheet 52 x 39 cm made in 1914 is beautifully printed in deep blacks.
The five Kokotten are standing and waiting for the lover or the customer. This scene from almost one hundred years ago yet looks familiar and modern.
First, they wear extravagant feathered hats offering a parallel with the hairstyles of the fetishes of tribal art highly sought after by the European artists of that time. Then these half-worldly women are five figures like their Spanish colleagues from Carrer d'Avinyo (Avignon) immortalized on canvas by Picasso in 1907, and also have a face stylized to the extreme.
POST SALE COMMENT
Kirchner is one of the greatest masters of engraving. This print was sold CHF 920K before fees, CHF 1.06 million after calculating the premium announced by the auction house.
Kirchner could not fit into the big city. That is great for us because his street scenes in Berlin, viewed with a corrosive derision, are masterpieces of Expressionist printmaking.
On June 15 in Bern, Galerie Kornfeld sells a copy of Fünf Kokotten, estimated CHF 600K. Kirchner considered engraving as a major art and was a master of the color image. He practiced with an equal success the woodcut, and this sheet 52 x 39 cm made in 1914 is beautifully printed in deep blacks.
The five Kokotten are standing and waiting for the lover or the customer. This scene from almost one hundred years ago yet looks familiar and modern.
First, they wear extravagant feathered hats offering a parallel with the hairstyles of the fetishes of tribal art highly sought after by the European artists of that time. Then these half-worldly women are five figures like their Spanish colleagues from Carrer d'Avinyo (Avignon) immortalized on canvas by Picasso in 1907, and also have a face stylized to the extreme.
POST SALE COMMENT
Kirchner is one of the greatest masters of engraving. This print was sold CHF 920K before fees, CHF 1.06 million after calculating the premium announced by the auction house.
1918 The Silent Scream
2015 SOLD for £ 220K including premium
Emotion is easily expressed through sound. Edvard Munch translated into graphic art the extreme feelings on the edge of madness. The silent scene with the three girls on the bridge, painted for the first time in 1901, is a continuation of the Scream. No one will see the real cause of the anguish of the screamer or why the three characters are so tightly grouped, one beside the other without communicating.
The three girls are a great theme for the new experiences of color printing realized by the artist in 1918. He used a mixing of woodblock for the black scars in sky and road, and of three to four zinc plates for the lithography of colors. The chosen format is 50 x 42 cm.
Before printing the colors, Munch tried several variations by hand coloring black and white prints. One of them, with four colors in a rather lugubrious arrangement, was sold for $ 845K including premium by Christie's on October 29, 2013.
On September 29 in London, Sotheby's sells a color print of The Girls on the bridge, lot 66 estimated £ 200K.
In this version, the artist used the green, the blue and a strident red-orange that draws attention to the strong point of the composition. This red drowns any detail from the middle dress in a striking contrast of blood between the clear and dark clothing of the other two girls. Their attitude does not differentiate their feelings. Red extends the silent anguish to the entire group.
The three girls are a great theme for the new experiences of color printing realized by the artist in 1918. He used a mixing of woodblock for the black scars in sky and road, and of three to four zinc plates for the lithography of colors. The chosen format is 50 x 42 cm.
Before printing the colors, Munch tried several variations by hand coloring black and white prints. One of them, with four colors in a rather lugubrious arrangement, was sold for $ 845K including premium by Christie's on October 29, 2013.
On September 29 in London, Sotheby's sells a color print of The Girls on the bridge, lot 66 estimated £ 200K.
In this version, the artist used the green, the blue and a strident red-orange that draws attention to the strong point of the composition. This red drowns any detail from the middle dress in a striking contrast of blood between the clear and dark clothing of the other two girls. Their attitude does not differentiate their feelings. Red extends the silent anguish to the entire group.
Munch's rare woodcut of 'The Girls on the Bridge' leads our #London Prints sale next week http://t.co/BBUJ4UzqJP pic.twitter.com/G2I6X9BUBm
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) September 22, 20151960 Dissolution of the Flag
2019 unsold
In the 1950s Jasper Johns chooses some models of images whose meaning is obvious to the general public. He is with Rauschenberg one of the pioneers of pop art. With these figures devoid of any emotion, Johns varies techniques, materials, colors. The messages inscribed on the deep layers are hidden, reduced at best to a ghost iridescence.
In 1957 in West Islip NY, Tatyana Grosman created the Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), exploiting her own know-how in all engraving techniques : aquatint, etching, lithography, offset, photolithography, screen printing, xylography.
Johns' unprecedented creativity is of interest to Grosman. In 1960 she invites him to try lithography. The artist understands that this technique will allow him to create multiples with the same complexity of structures as his paintings.
In this first year, ULAE publishes on various papers Johns' monochrome re-interpretations of his favorite themes : three versions of Flag successively in black, white and gray, Target, 0 through 9, as well as two variants of Coat Hanger. Flag I and III are printed on 56 x 76 cm Arches paper and Flag II on 61 x 81 cm Kraft paper.
On October 24 in New York, Sotheby's sells four sheets that demonstrate how Johns wiped out the visible elements of the flag. The first three are unique trials, the fourth is a copy of the final Flag III. This set is estimated $ 1.8M, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The three unique prototypes were respectively printed on Kraft, laid paper and vellum. The Flag II and III trials are inked in white on white. The experimental Flag I still reveals a memory of the thirteen stripes of the US flag despite its strictly monochromatic impression of a regular texture. For the others, the flag is reduced to a removed step of the artistic process.
In 1957 in West Islip NY, Tatyana Grosman created the Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), exploiting her own know-how in all engraving techniques : aquatint, etching, lithography, offset, photolithography, screen printing, xylography.
Johns' unprecedented creativity is of interest to Grosman. In 1960 she invites him to try lithography. The artist understands that this technique will allow him to create multiples with the same complexity of structures as his paintings.
In this first year, ULAE publishes on various papers Johns' monochrome re-interpretations of his favorite themes : three versions of Flag successively in black, white and gray, Target, 0 through 9, as well as two variants of Coat Hanger. Flag I and III are printed on 56 x 76 cm Arches paper and Flag II on 61 x 81 cm Kraft paper.
On October 24 in New York, Sotheby's sells four sheets that demonstrate how Johns wiped out the visible elements of the flag. The first three are unique trials, the fourth is a copy of the final Flag III. This set is estimated $ 1.8M, lot 16. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The three unique prototypes were respectively printed on Kraft, laid paper and vellum. The Flag II and III trials are inked in white on white. The experimental Flag I still reveals a memory of the thirteen stripes of the US flag despite its strictly monochromatic impression of a regular texture. For the others, the flag is reduced to a removed step of the artistic process.
1961 Chagall published by Tériade
2011 SOLD for JPY 26.6M including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Being originally an art critic, Tériade was influenced by Zervos and worked with Skira. He specializes in the publishing of art, creates for this purpose the magazine Verve in 1937 and cooperates with leading artists including Chagall.
On a suggestion made in 1952 by Tériade, Chagall provides his vision of Daphnis and Chloe, the bucolic romance novel from the antiquity. The artist was of course attracted by this theme of the meeting of two lovers, but he took his time, even visiting Greece in order to better live its atmosphere.
In 1961, Tériade publishes the 42 illustrations prepared in gouache and pastel by Chagall for Daphnis et Chloé. 60 copies are printed on Arches paper, 54 x 38 cm for single images and 58 x 78 cm for 14 double images including broad margins. These sets were often separated, and a complete series signed by the artist constitutes the apex of the lithographic art of Chagall.
The regular edition was printed in 250 copies, 42 x 32 cm with no margins, conditioned as a slipcase portfolio. The copy 175/250 was sold for $ 444K including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2007.
The copy 169/250 is reasonably estimated 円 (yen) 18M, for sale by Mallet in Tokyo on January 28.
Tériade and Chagall also published together Le Cirque in 1967. In the same sale, a complete set of the 38 lithographs, numbered 248/250, is estimated 円 (yen) 12M.
POST SALE COMMENT
Daphnis et Chloé is confirmed as the most important set of lithographs by Chagall. The lot was sold for 円 (yen) 24 million before fees.
Le Cirque was sold for 円 (yen) 14 million before fees.
Being originally an art critic, Tériade was influenced by Zervos and worked with Skira. He specializes in the publishing of art, creates for this purpose the magazine Verve in 1937 and cooperates with leading artists including Chagall.
On a suggestion made in 1952 by Tériade, Chagall provides his vision of Daphnis and Chloe, the bucolic romance novel from the antiquity. The artist was of course attracted by this theme of the meeting of two lovers, but he took his time, even visiting Greece in order to better live its atmosphere.
In 1961, Tériade publishes the 42 illustrations prepared in gouache and pastel by Chagall for Daphnis et Chloé. 60 copies are printed on Arches paper, 54 x 38 cm for single images and 58 x 78 cm for 14 double images including broad margins. These sets were often separated, and a complete series signed by the artist constitutes the apex of the lithographic art of Chagall.
The regular edition was printed in 250 copies, 42 x 32 cm with no margins, conditioned as a slipcase portfolio. The copy 175/250 was sold for $ 444K including premium by Sotheby's on May 3, 2007.
The copy 169/250 is reasonably estimated 円 (yen) 18M, for sale by Mallet in Tokyo on January 28.
Tériade and Chagall also published together Le Cirque in 1967. In the same sale, a complete set of the 38 lithographs, numbered 248/250, is estimated 円 (yen) 12M.
POST SALE COMMENT
Daphnis et Chloé is confirmed as the most important set of lithographs by Chagall. The lot was sold for 円 (yen) 24 million before fees.
Le Cirque was sold for 円 (yen) 14 million before fees.
1962 Picasso hollows the Linoleum
2017 SOLD for $ 250K including premium
Picasso's first significant attempt of a linocut print is the Portrait of a young woman after Cranach the Younger in 1958. The result contributes to renew Picasso's engraved iconography but this achievement is a technical feat due to the difficulty in positioning accurately the individual blocks that bring the colors.
Pablo now lives throughout the year in the south of France far away from the Parisian printers and for some years his engraving activity in the more traditional techniques is limited.
He gradually invents an improvement that greatly facilitates the linocut. Instead of working with previously cut elements, he uses a single linoleum plate which he slices progressively before each inking of a new color.
His masterpieces in this new technique are a Déjeuner sur l'herbe printed in 50 copies in 1962 and a Nature morte avec un verre sous la lampe printed in the same year in 50 copies plus some artist's proofs in an image format 53 X 64 cm on a 62 x 75 cm sheet of Arches paper.
Two full-margin copies of the Nature morte come separately in New York. Each lot is estimated $ 200K. On April 18 Phillips sells the 31/50, lot 8. On April 19 Christie's sells the 44/50, lot 36.
RESULTS
Phillips : SOLD for $ 250K including premium
Christie's : unsold on April 19, SOLD on October 25 in same location for $ 250K including premium, lot 199.
Pablo now lives throughout the year in the south of France far away from the Parisian printers and for some years his engraving activity in the more traditional techniques is limited.
He gradually invents an improvement that greatly facilitates the linocut. Instead of working with previously cut elements, he uses a single linoleum plate which he slices progressively before each inking of a new color.
His masterpieces in this new technique are a Déjeuner sur l'herbe printed in 50 copies in 1962 and a Nature morte avec un verre sous la lampe printed in the same year in 50 copies plus some artist's proofs in an image format 53 X 64 cm on a 62 x 75 cm sheet of Arches paper.
Two full-margin copies of the Nature morte come separately in New York. Each lot is estimated $ 200K. On April 18 Phillips sells the 31/50, lot 8. On April 19 Christie's sells the 44/50, lot 36.
RESULTS
Phillips : SOLD for $ 250K including premium
Christie's : unsold on April 19, SOLD on October 25 in same location for $ 250K including premium, lot 199.
1972 The Perfect Face by Chuck Close
2012 Unsold
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Perfectionist photographer, hyperrealist painter, Chuck Close understood that he would have to overcome some ordeals before success. He became a portraitist. For anyone other than him, it would have been a commonplace.
Consciously or not, at least in the early stages, the artist thus shared his own universe, different from the others: he issuffering from a psychophysiological abnormality that prevents him to recognize faces.
Close specializes in very large format well above life size, since a normal vision does not suit his purpose. He assembles close-up photos of his sitter, each one dealing with a different part of the face. His painting reveals thegrain of the film, and later the pixel. He even tried Daguerreotypy.
We do not usually see faces on that way. Close's communication is successful: all his friends look similar, and look like him.
In 1972, Chuck Close made his first print. He chose the mezzotint process, unused for centuries but once renownedfor its difficulty and quality. Even more demanding than the ancient masters, Close required a very large size. It was atechnological challenge.
The portrait of Keith is his first mezzotint work. The huge plate, 113 x 89 cm, did not work beyond the 18th copy.One of them, on a 130 x 107 cm sheet, is estimated $ 600K, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2. Here is the link to the catalog.
Perfectionist photographer, hyperrealist painter, Chuck Close understood that he would have to overcome some ordeals before success. He became a portraitist. For anyone other than him, it would have been a commonplace.
Consciously or not, at least in the early stages, the artist thus shared his own universe, different from the others: he issuffering from a psychophysiological abnormality that prevents him to recognize faces.
Close specializes in very large format well above life size, since a normal vision does not suit his purpose. He assembles close-up photos of his sitter, each one dealing with a different part of the face. His painting reveals thegrain of the film, and later the pixel. He even tried Daguerreotypy.
We do not usually see faces on that way. Close's communication is successful: all his friends look similar, and look like him.
In 1972, Chuck Close made his first print. He chose the mezzotint process, unused for centuries but once renownedfor its difficulty and quality. Even more demanding than the ancient masters, Close required a very large size. It was atechnological challenge.
The portrait of Keith is his first mezzotint work. The huge plate, 113 x 89 cm, did not work beyond the 18th copy.One of them, on a 130 x 107 cm sheet, is estimated $ 600K, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2. Here is the link to the catalog.
1973 The Many Flags of Jasper Johns
2009 SOLD 386 K$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In 1954, a young man of 24, familiar of the New York avant-gardes and close to Rauschenberg, decides to start his career with a bang. His name is Jasper Johns.
The subject of his first painting is the US flag, copied on a canvas in full frame with no border. The artist resolutely ignores the abstraction. He does not use the object, so his art is not a ready made. This painting shows an object that everyone can recognize, with a technique that the next generation would have described as hyperrealistic.
Since then, Johns has provided many variants of his original idea. In 1973, he produced a painting showing two similar flags, side by side vertically, identical except that one is painted in oil and the other in encaustic. This large size canvas, 133 x 176 cm, was sold $ 7.15 million including charges by Christie's in May 1999.
In 1973 also, he edited to 72 copies (including 7 artist's proofs) an engraving on the same theme, 70 x 89 cm, which is now considered one of the finest achievements of his printed work.
Coincidence: the serial number 36 is on sale at Christie's on October 28 and number 60 the next day October 29 at Sotheby's. The two copies will be auctioned in New York, with the same estimate: 350 K$.
The image of Christie's is shared by AuctionPublicity. We note with amusement that, against the artist intention, the flags are represented horizontally. I leave you to control the number of stars and stripes.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
I expected no surprises. Here is one, and it is bad: Christie's did not find a buyer for their copy.
2
Here is now the answer from Sotheby's: K $ 386 including premium.
In 1954, a young man of 24, familiar of the New York avant-gardes and close to Rauschenberg, decides to start his career with a bang. His name is Jasper Johns.
The subject of his first painting is the US flag, copied on a canvas in full frame with no border. The artist resolutely ignores the abstraction. He does not use the object, so his art is not a ready made. This painting shows an object that everyone can recognize, with a technique that the next generation would have described as hyperrealistic.
Since then, Johns has provided many variants of his original idea. In 1973, he produced a painting showing two similar flags, side by side vertically, identical except that one is painted in oil and the other in encaustic. This large size canvas, 133 x 176 cm, was sold $ 7.15 million including charges by Christie's in May 1999.
In 1973 also, he edited to 72 copies (including 7 artist's proofs) an engraving on the same theme, 70 x 89 cm, which is now considered one of the finest achievements of his printed work.
Coincidence: the serial number 36 is on sale at Christie's on October 28 and number 60 the next day October 29 at Sotheby's. The two copies will be auctioned in New York, with the same estimate: 350 K$.
The image of Christie's is shared by AuctionPublicity. We note with amusement that, against the artist intention, the flags are represented horizontally. I leave you to control the number of stars and stripes.
POST SALE COMMENTS
1
I expected no surprises. Here is one, and it is bad: Christie's did not find a buyer for their copy.
2
Here is now the answer from Sotheby's: K $ 386 including premium.
1987 The Deafman's Gaze
2020 SOLD for £ 275K including premium
In the last months of his life, Andy Warhol still finds themes recognizable by everyone. The portrait of Lenin, in painting in 1986 and in prints in 1987, is stylized to the extreme. Next comes Beethoven. After Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange in 1971, this series is an additional reference to the composer's modernity.
Warhol uses the portrait of Beethoven painted by Stieler in 1820, after the first four years of total deafness of the musician. The face is powerful under the lion's mane. The gaze is incisive and the closed mouth is both impatient and grumpy.
Stieler had shown Beethoven writing the Missa Solemnis. Screen printing allows an easy impression of the music staves over the portrait. Warhol chooses the Moonlight Sonata.
His Beethoven consists of four prints in different colors on a black background. This set is edited in 1987 in an individual image format 102 x 102 cm, in 60 copies numbered from 1 to 60 plus 20 copies numbered from I to XX including 15 artist's proofs.
The complete set number III/XX was sold for £ 300K including premium by Phillips on June 7, 2017 over a lower estimate of £ 120K. The set 51/60 is estimated £ 200K for sale by Sotheby's in London on March 19, lot 188. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Warhol uses the portrait of Beethoven painted by Stieler in 1820, after the first four years of total deafness of the musician. The face is powerful under the lion's mane. The gaze is incisive and the closed mouth is both impatient and grumpy.
Stieler had shown Beethoven writing the Missa Solemnis. Screen printing allows an easy impression of the music staves over the portrait. Warhol chooses the Moonlight Sonata.
His Beethoven consists of four prints in different colors on a black background. This set is edited in 1987 in an individual image format 102 x 102 cm, in 60 copies numbered from 1 to 60 plus 20 copies numbered from I to XX including 15 artist's proofs.
The complete set number III/XX was sold for £ 300K including premium by Phillips on June 7, 2017 over a lower estimate of £ 120K. The set 51/60 is estimated £ 200K for sale by Sotheby's in London on March 19, lot 188. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
