Many lots in our March 5 auction of 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings have provenance related to other important artists, printmakers and art dealers-- including works by Paul Cézanne, Honoré Daumier, Ernst L. Kirchner, Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. These records of ownership provide a glimpse into the artists' creative processes and their inspirations.
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| Lot 3: Daumier, Un homme aux cheveux longs, pen and ink and wash on paper. |
Honoré Daumier's drawing, Un homme aux cheveux longs is ex-collection the German artist Max Liebermann, a prominent member of the Berlin Secession who painted mainly genre scenes and portraits in an impressionist style. This portrait and others owned by Liebermann were loaned to a Daumier retrospective in 1930, indicating that Liebermann had a strong interest in Daumier's work.
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| Lot 61: Renoir, Nu endormi au bras levé, color pastel counter proof with additions in pencil, circa 1885. |
Over the years Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Nu endormi au bras levé has been in the possession of both Ambroise Vollard and Henri M. Petiet. Vollard was Renoir's principal art dealer and helped establish the market for the artist's work in Paris. His vast collection of prints--Vollard was both a collector and one of the leading publishers of his day--was later acquired by Henri M. Petiet. Petiet's collection of fine books and art has been dispersed at auction in Paris since the 1990s (see also lots 77, 84 and 151).
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| Lot 133: Cézanne, Les baigneurs (grande planche, color lithograph, circa 1896-98. |
Les Baigneurs (grande planche) is Paul Cézanne's most recognizable print--and also the subject of one of his most famous paintings. The impression up for auction on March 5 has a dedication reading, "A Belot en sympathie d'art P. Cezanne," likely by Paul Cézanne, the artist's son, to artist and printmaker Gabriel Belot. Belot was a prominent printmaker in Paris in the early 20th century and was involved with the Société de la Gravure sur Bois and the Société de la Gravure Originale. The younger Cézanne likely gifted this print due to Belot's involvement in the arts.
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| Lot 331: Picasso, Magicienne captant et renvoyant sur son plafond les rayons du soleil, etching, 1934. |
Pablo Picasso's Magicienne captant et renvoyant sur son plafond les rayons du soleil (lot 331) is dedicated "pour Frélaut," i.e. Jacques Frélaut the Lacouriére and Frélaut printmaking workshop in Paris. Frélaut was Picasso's primary intaglio printmaker from the 1950s through the 1970s. As a result of the collaboration, Frélaut received numerous signed and dedicated proofs from Picasso over the years.
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| Lot 449: Kirchner, Exzentrische Tänzerinnen, color crayon and pencil on paper, circa 1920. |
The Edward Ludwig Kirchner drawing Exzentrische Tänzerinnen (lot 449) once belonged to Lise Gujer, and has her ink stamp on the back. Gujer was an artist and a weaver as well as a friend and sometime model of Kirchner's. Kirchner designed several rugs for her in the 1920s.
Our thanks to Diana Flatto, who contributed this blog post.