Picasso Tops Old Master Through Modern Prints Auction at Swann
Scarce Rembrandt Etching Draws Major Interest
Our sale of Old Master Through Modern Prints opened with lively bidding in the room, online, and on the phones bringing over $1.7M. The November 1 sale set six auction records as well as earning top prices for both old master and modern artists.
Pablo Picasso
The top lot in the sale was Pablo Picasso’s early drypoint, Le Repas Frugal, 1904, won for $125,000.
An iconic color linoleum cut, La Femme au Chapeau, 1962, featuring the artist’s second wife, Jacqueline Roque, brought $81,250.
Also available by Picasso was the 1956 color aquatint, La Corrida, which garnered $17,500.
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt van Rijn drew significant interest with seven works by the old master earning top prices. His etching Bust of an Old Bearded Man, Looking down, Three Quarters Right, 1631, saw its auction debut with a price realized of $37,500 after a brief bidding war.
Records for Rembrandt’s work included the etching Head of Saskia (Three Heads of Women, One Lightly Etched), circa 1637, with $37,500.
The 1631 etching, Bust of a Bearded Old Man with a High Forehead, sold over the high estimate for $33,750; and the etching The Statue (Image Seen by Nebuchadnezzar: Four Illustrations to a Spanish Book), 1655, was won for $22,500.
Old Masters
Additional old masters included Albrecht Dürer with the 1514 engraving, Melencolia I, and Four Naked Women, 1497, ($47,500 and $18,750, respectively).
Martin Schongauer’s The Madonna and Child with an Apple, circa 1475, performed well, earning $27,500.
Nineteenth-Century & European Prints
A selection of nineteenth-century and European prints brought record figures. Édouard Vuillard’s colorful lithograph, La Pâtisserie, 1899, reached $32,500, above the high estimate of $18,000, a record for the work.
The 1893-94 color woodcut Maruru, by Paul Gauguin, sold for $19,500.
Joan Miró’s color etchings with aquatint, Le Pitre Rose, 1974, and Le Chef des Équipages, 1973, each sold for $35,000 and $30,000, respectively.
Salvador Dalí’s complete set of 25 lithographs, Les Chevaux Daliniens, 1972, earned $30,000.
American Artists
Standout prices for American artists included Thomas Hart Benton’s 1939 lithograph, Departure of the Joads, which set a record with $17,500.
Martin Lewis was available as well with the circa 1915-16 etching and drypoint, Madison Square, Rainy Night, and Winter on White Street, a drypoint from 1934 ($22,500 and $18,750, respectively).
Complete Results.
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