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Philippe Heim
abie loy kemarre
Abie Loy Kemarre (Australia, 1972) Bush Hen Dreaming, 2019 Acrylic on canvas 122 x 183 cm Provenance: Utopia, Central Desert, Northern Territory, Australia Collections: The Metropolitan Museum, New York; Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; Musée des Confluences, Lyon; The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adélaïde; The Adelaide University Art Collection, Adélaïde; The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, etc. The 'Bush Hen Dreaming', for which Abie Loy Kemarre has custodial rights inherited from her grandfather, was the first story Abie was allowed to paint. The bush hen, also referred to as a bush turkey or Australian bustard (Ardeotis australis), is Abie’s Dreaming Ancestor, an association commonly but erroneously referred to as a ‘totem’. These paintings refer to women’s sacred ceremonies, including a sacred waterhole site, and narrative elements from the peripatetic habits of the bush hen as it searches for food. The geometry in Abie’s Bush Hen Dreaming compositions is generated from her intimate familiarity with the hen, its habitat, and what we would recognise as the science of ethology - the study of animal behaviour.
Whitford Fine Art
reinhold koehler
Reinhold Koehler (Germany, 1919-1970) Thorax contrecollage, 1963-64 Dessin trouvé Décollage with ink, paper and smashed glass laid down on canvas 72.5 x 50 cm Signed and dated lower right and signed, dated, titled and inscribed verso The work is included in the Koehler Archives as RK 58 Provenance: private collection, Germany
Kunsthaus Kende
Ane Christensen (Copenhagen, 1972) Dented bowl Sterling silver London, 2000 H 10.3 x W circa 35 x D circa 30.1 cm Weight 966.2 gr. The body with a fully frosted surface, divided in the centre. A decorative, modern fruit bowl in sterling silver by one of Britain’s most important modern female designers and silversmiths. The silversmith and designer Ane Christensen, born in 1972 in Copenhagen, studied at the Royal College of Art, London and London Guildhall University, whilst also working as an assistant to Howard Fenn and Alfred Pain. Since 1999, she has worked as a professional artist silversmith in London. The incomparable formal language of her objects quickly brought her international renown as well as numerous exhibition participations and awards. Her artworks can be found in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the Koldinghus Museum, Kolding (Denmark) and in the Birmingham Museum Collection.
Samuel Vanhoegaerden Gallery
Panamarenko (Antwerp 1940-2019 Brakel) Archaeopterix III, 1990 Mixed media sculpture: balsa, strings, twelve servos, electronic chips ... H 36 x W 33 x D 25 cm Signed Certificate of authenticity by the Panamarenko Foundation dated 2 October 2024 Provenance: Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York Literature: Toyama-The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, 1992, n° 47, ill.; Moderne Museet, Stockholm, Metafor och Materia, Panamarenko, Rollof, Shannon, 1991, ill. p. 78; Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium, Selectie Belgische Kunstenaars voor Documenta IX, Deurle, 1992, ill. p. 114; H. Theys, Panamarenko: A book by Hans Theys, Brussels, 1992, ill. Exhibitions: Ronny Van de Velde Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, Nam Jun Paik-Joseph Beuys-Panamarenko, 1990; Städtische Galerie im Lehnbachhaus, Munich, Paradoxe des Alltags, 1991; The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Irony by Vision, 1991; International Art Center, Hasselt, Panamarenko, 1991; Toyama-The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, 1992; The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1992; The National Museum of Art, Osaka, 1993; Fukuyama Museum of Modern Art, Fukuyama, 1993
Willow Gallery
Raoul Dufy (Le Havre 1877-1953 Forcalquier) Le Bal, 1920 Oil on canvas 55 x 65 cm - framed: 70 x 80 cm Signed lower right 'Raoul Dufy' Provenance: Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (in March 1924); Max Pellequer, Paris (acquired from the latter in January 1925); Marcel Kapferer, Paris (before 1928); Doctor Alexandre Rudinesco, Paris (before 1951); its sale, Parke-Bernett Galleries Inc., New York, October 10, 1968, lot 22 (titled 'Le Bal du quatorze Juillet à Antibes', dated '1910'); B. Gerald Cantor, New York (before 1970); private collection; private collection, France Literature: C. Zervos, Raoul Dufy, Paris, 1928, n° 29 (ill.; titled 'Antibes'; dated '1921'); M. Gauthier, Raoul Dufy, Paris, 1949 (ill., pl. VIII; dated '1912'); P. Courthion, Raoul Dufy, Geneva, 1951, p. XII, n° 62 (ill., pl. 62; titled 'Le Bal à Antibes'; dated '1910'); M. Brion, Raoul Dufy, Paintings and Watercolors, London, 1958, pl. 13 (ill.: titled 'Ball at Antibes, 14 July'; dated '1910'); Maurice Laffaille, Raoul Dufy, Catalogue Raisonné de l’Oeuvre Peint, Tome IV, Editions Motte, Geneva, 1977, p. 147 n° 1581 Exhibitions: Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Plaisir de France, June 1951, n° 62 (titled 'July 14'); Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Plaisirs de la campagne, June 1954, n° 61 (titled 'July 14'); Albi, Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Raoul Dufy Exhibition, Paintings, watercolors, drawings, tapestries, July-September 1955, p. 24, n° 11 (ill., pl. VIII; titled 'The Ball in Antibes, July 14'; dated '1910'); Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune-Dauberville, Masterpieces of Raoul Dufy, For the benefit of mutual aid of intellectual workers, April-July 1959, n° 9 (ill., pl. 5; titled 'Antibes'; dated '1910'); Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Les Fauves, 1962, n° 55 (titled 'July 14'); Mexico, Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno, Cien años de pintura en Francia, De 1850 a nuestros dias, October-November 1962, p. 118, n° 47 (titled '14 de Julio'); Des Moines, Art Center; Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art; Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Art Museum; Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Fort Worth, Fort Worth Art Center Museum, Selections from the B. Gerald Cantor Collection, December 1970-August 1971, n° 4 (ill. in colour, titled 'Fourteenth of July Dance at Antibes'; dated '1910') Born in 1877 in Le Havre, Dufy entered the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1900. During this period, he was heavily influenced by Impressionism. He exhibited his work for the first time at the 1901 Salon des Artistes, and then at the Salon des Indépendants in 1903. He also met Berthe Weill in 1902, and began to show his work in her gallery. Dufy received a boost to his confidence when the artist Maurice Denis was one of the first buyers of his work. For the next few years, Dufy painted in the vicinity of Le Havre, made famous by Eugène Boudin and Claude Monet. In 1905 Dufy saw Matisse’s painting ‘Luxe, Calme et Volupté’ in the Salon des Indépendants and his work became influenced by the Fauves until about 1909 when exposure to the work of Paul Cézanne led him to adopt a more subtle technique. In 1911, he and the couturier Paul Poiret founded the ‘Petite Usine’, a company that printed fashion and decorative textiles. Initially interested in engraving, he then began to work in lithographs and watercolours before moving into ceramics alongside the Catalan artist Llorens Artigas. He also illustrated books. After also showing interest in cubism, Dufy finally began to develop his own distinctive approach in 1920. Skeletal structures, foreshortened perspective, and thin, quickly-applied washes of colour became his trademark, in a manner he referred to as stenographic. As subject matter, he chose yachting scenes, views of the French Riviera, parties, and musical events. He had also become fascinated with horseracing, which developed into one of his main subjects. Dufy initially focused on the fashionable racegoers, but soon also became fascinated by the racing itself. The colour and atmosphere of horseracing gave Dufy the opportunity to use and explore his ‘colour-light’ technique, which put the focus on using colour rather than black and white to imply light and shade. Throughout his career, the colour blue was a constant presence in his work. As he once remarked, ‘Blue is the only colour which maintains its own character in all its tones…it will always stay blue…whereas yellow is blackened in its shades and fades away when lightened: red when darkened becomes brown, and diluted with white is no longer red, but another colour – pink’. During this period, Dufy was prolific, working in a variety of materials producing ceramics, tapestry hangings, and large-scale architectural decorations. Dufy’s success continued to grow, and in 1937 he (with the help of his brother Jean) was asked to create what was then the largest painting in the world for the Electricity Pavilion at the Universal Exhibition. ‘La Fée Electricité’ covers over 600 square meters, and was donated the Musée d’Art Moderne by Électricité de France and installed in 1964. Despite the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, Dufy exhibited in the annual Salon des Tuileries during the late 1940s and early 1950s and was awarded the grand prize for painting at the 26th Venice Biennale in 1952, the year before his death. Today, Dufy’s work is held in the collections of the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and many others. An explosion of colour with a dense yet carefully organized patchwork of lines and shapes convey the almost electric atmosphere of this festive dance scene painted by Raoul Dufy. Sometimes referred to as the 14th July, or the 14th July in Antibes, other times just as a dance or ball, Le Bal, is one of the most ambitious renderings of those two subjects combined into one that Dufy explored several times throughout his career. For example, Dufy painted a Bal Populaire in his Fauvist years in 1906, much less constructed and dominated by the green tones of the scene’s setting in park. In 1912, his interpretation of the 14th July festivities seems the closest in terms of composition to Le Bal, with its interlocked diagonals in the upper part – referring to the ball’s tent and flag garlands – and its animated dancing floor in the lower part rendered through spontaneous and vibrant brushstrokes suggesting the figures and their movements. In 1920, Raoul Dufy appears to have painted two very different dancing scenes, both titled Le Bal: the present work and another painting now in a private collection. Dufy opted for a setting in a park for the latter – closer to that of the 1906 painting – as opposed to setting the ball in a colourful almost circus-like tent, as seen in this example, recalling the painting of the 14th July (corresponding to ‘Bastille Day’, the national French public holiday marking the beginning of the French Revolution on 14 July 1789) dating from 1912. These similarities and differences with other works from Dufy’s oeuvre explain the ambiguity of the present work’s dating, given it was exhibited at Galerie Charpentier’s themed exhibition on Fauvism in 1962 and there dated ‘1908’. In other bibliographical references, it is often dated 1910, yet Fanny Guillon-Laffaille adamantly dated Le Bal of 1920 in the corresponding entry of her catalogue raisonné. The daring colour code and combinations, and the broad brushstrokes barely defining the figures are reminiscent of his Fauvist years. The wide bands of colours covering more than half of the composition show Dufy’s awareness of the slightly later avant-gardist movements steering towards abstraction, such as Orphism. Whether or not Le Bal depicts one of the traditional festivities of Bastille Day, and whether or not it is effectively set in Antibes, its vibrant composition is so full of life that it translates a sort of timelessness. Dufy presents us with a snapshot of modern life – it is colourful, dynamic and never stops – and there is no doubt that the 14th July was a perfect pretext to stage and glorify this exhilarating modern life. Judi Freeman wrote that Dufy ‘shared the Impressionist enthusiasm for the annual transformation of cities and towns for Bastille Day on July 14th and other flag-waving celebrations. Whereas Manet and Monet occasionally painted Parisian boulevards adorned with flags for patriotic holidays, Dufy and Marquet regularly depicted the festivities. For the Impressionist the flag-draped streets provided an opportunity to show a colorful festival of modern life, occasionally tinged with political overtones. For Dufy and Marquet the holiday provided motifs that could be situated within the Impressionist tradition but more loosely rendered, with the sketchier brushworks and scattered, almost random color ('The Distant Cousins in Normandy: Braque, Dufy and Friesz', in The Fauve Landscape, New York, 1990, p. 221-222).
De Jonckheere
Pieter Neefs The Elder (Antwerp 1578/1590-after 1656/1661), and the participation of Frans Francken The Younger (Antwerp, 1581-1642) for the figures Church Interior, inspired by Antwerp Cathedral Oil on panel 41.5 x 71 cm Signed Peeter De Neef Franck In. Stamped on the back with the mark MV of the manufacturer Michiel Vriendt, active in Antwerp between 1615 and 1637, and the arms of the City of Antwerp Provenance: Letizia Bonaparte Collection (1750-1836); Charles Talbot Collection (1753-1827), through Lucien Bonaparte; Bertram Arthur Talbot Collection, 17th Earl of Shrewsbury, 17th Earl of Waterford (1832-1856) Alton Towers, Stafford; Sale, Shrewsbury, Christie & Manson, London, 4 July, 1857, lot 300; Sholto Charles John Hay Douglas Collection, 20th Earl of Morton (1906-1976); Sotheby’s, London Belgravia, 28 July 1976, lot 42; private collection, Spain
Alexis Lartigue
alexander calder
Alexander Calder (Lawnton 1898-1976 New York) Untitled, 1967 Gouache and ink on paper 50 x 66 cm Signed and dated lower left CA.68 This work is registered in the Calder Foundation Archives under n° A30212 Provenance: Galerie Jacques Verrière, Lyon; private collection, France; sale Artcurial, Paris In 1968, Alexander Calder created this gouache in his studio in Saché, near Tours, where he had settled in 1953. This work, made using gouache and ink, is distinguished by a palette of black, blue, red, and orange. Like all his gouaches, it reflects the spontaneity and simplicity that characterise Calder's work. The pieces created by Calder in Saché, where he founded "La Gouacherie" after moving there, are imbued with a minimalist poetry. This poetry emerges from pared-back means: elemental symbols, basic figures, and a palette of primary colours. Calder's gouaches directly echo his mobiles and stabiles. Although movement is physically absent from his gouaches, it is nevertheless suggested and imagined, introducing a temporal dimension that is frozen in space. This is how Calder captures a moment of movement in a static form. This 1968 piece is no exception. Through planes of black, blue, red, and orange, Calder manages to convey a sense of balance and fluidity.
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Mearini Fine Art
Venetian Master (Michele Linder from Hamburg?) Crucifix, circa 1490 Alder wood H 115 x W 92 x D 16 cm Recto and verso hollowed out and juxtaposed to recompose the figure Expertise Prof.ssa Serenella Castri Provenance: private collection, Italy Exhibition: 'Sculptura' Capolavori Italiani dal XIII al XX secolo, Modena 2023 This is an absolute masterpiece in the corpus of wooden Crucifixes of the late fifteenth century in Venice. This is a sculpture of exceptional technical skill. The ‘construction’ technique is unique: the figure of the Christ has been obtained from two alder wood valves hollowed out and then fitted together more then perfectly. Even more emblematic is the dramatic introspection of its carving, whose executive value is comparable to that of ivories, and, above all we can date it to circa 1490, the apex of the Venetian Renaissance. In Venice, the reference model for the production of wooden crucifixes was the famous monumental Crucifix (ca.1468/75) of the basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, from which a varied series of examples derived until the first decades of the sixteenth century. The expressive suggestion of ‘German’ models certainly contributed to the very original characteristic of these sculptures, especially thanks to the presence in Venice of skilled carvers from Northen Europe. The attribution to Michele Linder from Hamburg, resident in the district of Santi Marcuola and Fortunato, has been strongly corroborated. Linder was one of the most estemeed wood carvers in Venice and the most famous sculptor of ivory crucifixes.
Gallery de Potter d’Indoye
victor de jonquieres (active from 1838 to 1870)
Victor-Philippe-A. de Jonquieres (French, active from 1838 to 1870) The Prince President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte with Prince Jérôme and his staff reviewing the mobile gendarmerie, acclaimed by the crowd, Place de la Concorde, 2 December 1851 Oil on canvas 160 x 230 cm Signed and dated lower right '1865' History: We will quote the monitor of the arts of November 3rd, 1865 relating to the exhibition of fine arts applied to industry: 'We have said a word about the painting by M. Victor de Jonquières, exhibited at Disdéri. The scene takes place in the Place de la Concorde which extends between the Obelisk and the gate of the Tuileries Gardens. An equestrian procession, accompanied by an enthusiastic crowd, advances towards the spectator. The atmosphere is reminiscent of a December morning. Napoleon III is surrounded and followed by Prince Jérôme, Prince Murat, Marshal Exelmans, Count de Flahaut, General Roguet, Generals Daumas and de Bourjolly, Baron Vast Vineux, Colonel Fleury, Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Ney, Baron Béville, Marquis de Toulongeon, Count Lepic, Baron de Méneval, Baron Ducasse, Count de Nieuwerkerke, Commander Jolly de Fleury, etc. All these figures are very similar, provided that we go back fourteen years (note: we are in 1865). M. de Jonquières showed himself to be both a faithful historian and a talented artist, skilfully grouping his characters and leaving no detail to chance. The horses especially are of a very true and very conscientious design'. Provenance: acquired by the Emperor Napoleon III by order of 10 May 1865 for 2.000 francs from the Encouragement budget; returned to the Empress after the judgment of 1881; former collection of Mr. Firmin Rainbeaux Literature: Le Moniteur des arts, November 3rd, 1865, p. 1; Catherine Granger, The Emperor and the Arts, the civil list of Napoleon III, Ecole des Chartes, 2005, p. 557; Michael Forrest, Napoleon III Bronzes, The Antique Collector, January 1990, Vol. 61, n° 1, pp. 43-49; Christopher Forbes, Napoleon III: The Other Napoleon and His Empire, Antiques, December 2002, pp. 83-91; Armand Dayot, The Second Empire, December 2nd, 1851-September 4th, 1870, Ernest Flammarion, Paris, p. 33; Benjamin Genocchio, The Imperial French Style, The New York Times, June 19th, 2009, repr. in colour; Napoleon III, Le Magazine du Second Empire, n° 16, October-December 2011 Exhibitions: Napoleon III and the Prince Imperial: Selections from the Collection of Christopher Forbes, The Grolier Club, New York, November 10th, 1985-January 10th, 1986; Napoleon III: The Other Napoleon and His Empire, The Forbes Galleries, New York, December 2nd, 2002-April 10th, 2003; Napoleon & Eugenie: Opulence and Splendor of France's Second Empire, Nassau County Museum of Art, Glen Cove, New York, June 7th-September 7th, 2009, repr. in colour, p. 34
Victor Werner
luigi carrubba
Luigi Carrubba (Tunisia 1907-? Rome) Diana the Huntress, circa 1937 Bronze with black patina H 108 x L 100 x D 47 cm Signed 'Carrubba Luigi Roma Febbraio XV' Literature: E. Zorzi, Uno sguardo d'insieme alla XXI Biennale d'Arte di Venezia, in 'Le vie d'Italia turismo nazionale, movimento dei forestieri, prodotto italiano', XLIV, 6, 1938, p. 750 Luigi Carrubba, a Tunis-born sculptor who later settled in Rome, rose to prominence in the late 1930s, gaining recognition through major Italian art exhibitions. His works, including bas-reliefs and sculptures, were featured in events such as the Venice Biennale and regional exhibitions, where they were celebrated for their quality and scale. One of his notable sculptures, The Hunt, which may correspond to the work presented here (based on the similarity of subject and date) highlights Carrubba's mastery of dynamic forms and stylised bodies. This work exemplifies his skill in capturing movement and emotion through simple, refined lines. Carrubba continued to display works like Maternità and L’estate at the Venice Biennale, where he earned recognition amongst the emerging talents of the time.
Boon Gallery
günther uecker
Günther Uecker (Germany, Wendorf 1930) Wind, 2005 Nails and oil on canvas laid down on wood 200 x 160 cm Signed on reverse This artwork is registered in the Uecker Archive with the number GU.05.011 and will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné Günther Uecker has for six decades developed his reliefs comprising dynamic arrangements of nails. Born in 1930 in Wendorf, Germany, Uecker studied at the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee and Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, where he lives and works today. In the 1950s, influenced by Eastern philosophy and Gregorian chanting, he began a ritual of hammering nails. These materials signify protection and creation to the artist, who remembers nailing planks over the windows of his home to deter Soviet troops after the Second World War. By 1957, he was hammering nails onto canvas to achieve a 'sundial' optical effect, casting light and shadow in ephemeral patterns. In 1961, Uecker joined Heinz Mack and Otto Piene in the anti-expressionist movement Group Zero, which prioritised expanding beyond the traditional dimensions of the canvas into kinetic, serial, and participatory realms. After the group's dissolution in 1966, Uecker's work incorporated aspects of conceptual and land art, and he began designing stage sets for operas. Uecker's work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at museums worldwide. Retrospectives of his work have been organised by the Central House of Artists, Moscow (1988) and Kunsthalle München (1993), and he participated in Documenta (1964, 1968, 1977) and the 1970 Venice Biennale. His work resides in such collections as the Art Institute of Chicago; Guggenheim and MoMa in New York; Museum Ludwig in Cologne; Centre Pompidou in Paris; Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; and Tate Modern in London.
Stern Pissarro Gallery
marc chagall
Marc Chagall (Vitebsk 1887-1985 Saint-Paul de Vence) Les Glaïeuls, 1950 Gouache, watercolour, pastel and coloured wax crayons on paper 65 x 50.7 cm Signed lower left 'Marc Chagall' This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Comité Marc Chagall Provenance: private collection, USA, circa 1985; thence by descent
Galerie Lowet de Wotrenge
Jacob van Loo (Sluis 1614-1670 Paris) Portrait of a woman and her son as Venus and Cupid, circa 1670 Oil on canvas 87.5 x 77.5 cm Signed and dated lower right 'J. v. Loo f / An. o 16 (...)' Provenance: sale, Angers, November 25th, 1970, lot 198; Galerie Heim-Gairac, Paris, 1971; sale, Sotheby’s, London, May 2nd, 2018, lot 35; where acquired by the previous owner Literature: K. Bender, The Venus of the Low Countries. A topical catalogue of sculptures, reliefs, paintings, frescos, drawings, prints and illustrations of identified artists of the Low Countries, 2010, p. 80; D. Mandrella, Jacob van Loo 1614-1670, Paris, 2011, p. 203, fig. 146, ill. Jacob van Loo was one of the greatest artists of the Dutch Golden Age. Born in Sluis, a town in the Dutch Republic, in 1614, he trained with his father, the genre painter Jan van Loo. At some point in the 1630s, van Loo moved to Amsterdam, marrying Anna Lengele, the sister of painter Maerten Lengele, in 1642. During his first ten years in the city, van Loo mostly produced complex historical and mythological scenes inspired by the Flemish school and the work of Van Dyck. In the 1650s, the artist started painting scenes of galanterie, featuring musicians, soldiers and young women engaged in conversations, gambling and flirting, which were a source of inspiration for similar works by Johannes Vermeer. Van Loo was also highly esteemed as a painter of nudes and portraits, and received important public commissions. In the autumn of 1660, the artist fled Amsterdam after fatally stabbing the wine merchant Hendrik Breda during an altercation at an inn. Sentenced to death in absentia, he escaped to Paris, where he settled with his family and continued enjoying great success. In 1663, he was admitted to the Académie and, four years later, obtained French citizenship. Following his death in 1670, his two sons Jean and Abraham followed in their father’s footsteps, continuing a painterly family tradition that would successfully last until the nineteenth century. According to David Mandrella, the author of Jacob van Loo's catalogue raisonné, the present painting is one of the latest known by the artist, dating from 1670, the year of his death. It shows a woman in half-length, with dark, curvy long hair embellished by a shimmering string of pearls. She wears an all’antica dark green robe, revealing her nude breasts to the viewer. Set before a landscape, she hands a golden apple to her son, a smiling child half-dressed in a classicising drape. The Greek myth The Judgement of Paris, narrating the contest between the three most beautiful goddesses of Olympus – Venus, Hera and Athena – for the prize of a golden apple addressed “to the fairest,” allows us to identify the subject as Venus with her son Cupid. By the time the present work was painted, this subject had become very popular amongst Dutch painters, including, for example, Govert Flinck and Rembrandt’s pupils. Throughout his career, van Loo treated this subject on at least two other occasions, as exemplified by his Venus and Cupid (1649, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen) and An Allegory of Venus and Cupid (1654, Speed Art Museum, Kentucky). The former is exemplary of van Loo’s compositions, with few isolated figures reminiscent of Jacob Adriaensz Backer. In the latter, the artist exploited the mythological subject to create an allegory of wealth, highlighting the vanity and futility of earthly pleasures. During his Parisian years, the artist is believed to have approached mythological subjects exclusively with the purpose of disguising portraits – a practice probably born in Venice in the seventeenth century, which later spread to the Netherlands and France. The ambivalent fusion between these two genres is exemplified by a now lost painting by the artist, Ulysse découvrant Achille parmi les filles de Lycomède (1666), commissioned by a member of the Van Gangelt family, where the figures bear the traits of the daughters of the banker Caspar van Gangelt and those of the explorer François Caron. Similarly, the figure of Venus in the present work is believed to be a portrait of a real woman, possibly the wife of an élite Parisian patron who commissioned the painting, depicted together with their son. As per other similar mythological portraits by van Loo, such as the Portrait de femme en Diane (1668), the woman’s features are individualised and her gaze confronts the viewer, as if inviting him to recognise her. The present canvas is an exquisite example of the refined yet sensuous classicism of van Loo’s late oeuvre. The woman’s beautifully rendered, half-nude figure recalls the eroticised charge of van Loo’s works of the Amsterdam period, when he was celebrated for the exceptional quality of his nudes. According to the contemporary chronicler Arnoud Houbraken, van Loo excelled at “painting nudes, and female nudes in particular,” to the extent that his mythological scenes featuring naked gods and goddesses were more sought after and considered superior to those of his competitor Rembrandt. Van Loo was able to develop a type of academic nude, classical yet imbued with life, that succeeded in fulfilling the ambitions and social aspirations of the élite of the time. In paintings such as the present one, van Loo excelled in achieving the so-called welstant, or the art of standing well, which allowed his aristocratic clients to distinguish themselves from the inferior classes, by creating parallelisms with the classical world and its aesthetic canons. In the seventeenth-century Netherlands, a mythological subject such as Venus and Cupid was often used to justify the depiction of erotic images, which would have otherwise have been considered inappropriate. For a considerable part of the aristocratic and even burgher élite, a certain amount of erotic playfulness was permitted in both painting and literature, with Venus and Cupid being particularly appropriate subjects for love poems and marriage-related paintings. Works such as the present one had voyeuristic implications and aimed to stimulate the senses: by having the woman looking out at the viewer – which, in this case, would probably be her husband –, van Loo expressed the contemporary belief that the gaze of a woman could send out a powerful force that entered through the eyes of the beloved, inflaming his heart. In accordance with the sixteenth-century Italian tradition, contemplating images of beautiful nudes in the privacy of one’s own room was believed to increase the chances of generating beautiful and healthy offspring, such as the present handsome child.
Dr. Nöth kunsthandel + galerie
gustave loiseau
Gustave Loiseau (Paris, 1865-1935) Falaises d'Yport en hiver, 1924 Oil on canvas 54 x 65 cm Signed and dated lower left 'G Loiseau 1924' This work will be included in the forthcoming Gustave Loiseau catalogue raisonné which is currently being prepared by Didier Imbert Provenance: Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, by whom acquired directly from the artist on 31 May 1924; Marie Louise d'Alayer, by descent from the above in 1949; anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 30 November 1972, lot 46; private collection, Europe, by whom acquired at the above sale; private collection, Japan; acquired from the above by the present owner
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Galerie Berès
Jean Degottex (Sathonay-Camp 1918-1988 Paris) IMPA-VIDE (II), 1959 Oil on canvas 199 x 130 cm Signed lower right ‘Degottex’; signed, titled and dated on the back: Degottex IMPA-VIDE (II) 1959 This work will be included in the catalogue raisonné of Jean Degottex Inclusion certificate n°2023-34 issued by Comité Jean Degottex dated 21 November 2023 Provenance: private collection Exhibitions: Les Alliances, Les Dix-huit vides, Galerie internationale d'Art contemporain, séquences sonores de Pierre Henry, Paris, 26 November-31 December 1959 Jean Degottex was born in Sathonay-Camp on 25 February 1918 and died in Paris on 6 December 1988. Degottex was a French abstract painter, best known for his initial proximity to the lyrical abstraction movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In his own words, his work gradually moved from gesture and sign to writing, and then from writing to line. Considered a major artist of abstraction in the second half of the 20th century, he drew inspiration from Far Eastern calligraphy and Zen philosophy to achieve the obliteration of the creative subject. In 1958, he joined the Galerie internationale d'art contemporain, directed by Maurice d'Arquian. There he rubbed shoulders with Pierre Henry, Yves Klein and Maurice Béjart. He became better known abroad, particularly in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. The period from 1956 to 1963 was particularly productive. He worked in series/suites: suite Ashkénazi (1957), suite Serto (March-April, November 1957), suite des Hagakure (November 1957), les 18 Vides (1959), suite des Roses (1960), suite des Alliances (1960), les 7 Métasignes (1961), Jshet (1962). Many of his works were then entitled Écriture, Suite Écriture. EXHIBITION Les Alliances, Les Dix-huit vides, Galerie internationale d'Art contemporain, sound sequences by Pierre Henry, Paris, 26 November-31 December 1959 Jean Degottex joined Maurice d'Arquian's Galerie Internationale d'Art Contemporain in 1958. Maurice d'Arquian was particularly keen on the confrontation between different forms of creation. He organised performances in his gallery and brought the composer Pierre Henry into contact with the painter. In 1959, the artist exhibited Alliances, eighteen empty forms, and Pierre Henry produced sound sequences inspired by the 18 empty spaces on display. The music will be played throughout the exhibition. The title ‘IMPA-Vide’ (II) corresponds to the eighteen forms of emptiness listed in the Mahâ-prajnâpâramitâ (The Treatise on the Great Virtue of Wisdom).
