reliquary head, Fang, Gabon, late 19th century
Private collection of Hélène Leloup, Sotheby’s, Paris, June 21
Estimate: approximately €4 million
The Fang people of Gabon, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea historically believed that ancestral relics held great spiritual power. After the death of important elders, their skulls were kept in cylindrical bark containers and guarded by carved wooden heads or figures, such as this example. The fibers of this “Fang byeri” sculpture have been impregnated with a bituminous mud to give it a black patina. His hairstyle, with braids and incisions, as well as the Adam’s apple, confirm that he represents a male ancestor figure. Described by scholars as a major example of 19th century African statuary, it has been exhibited numerous times at the musée du quai Branly in Paris, and has seen its image reproduced notably for an exhibition at the Center de la Vieille Charité, Marseilles , in 1992. While Western colonizers used Fang’s obsession with corpses to portray them as violent and backward, justifying their subservience and enslavement, this aspect of their culture and the art it produced also inspired enormously avant-garde European artists of the 20th century. . The latter was the object of the prolific African art dealer, Hélène Leloup, who was the first female dealer in the category when she opened her Paris gallery in 1956. She acquired this work from Helena Rubinstein, herself the one of the most eminent collectors of African art. “arts negres”, as the category was called when it was actively buying. This work is at the origin of the first sale of the private collection of Leloup; a second volume of this sale will take place at Sotheby’s New York in 2024.
Raoul Dufy, The bay of Sainte-Adresse (1906) Courtesy Bonhams
Raoul Dufy, The bay of Sainte-Adresse (1906)
Alain Delon: 60 years of passion, Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, June 22
Estimate: €600,000 – €800,000
This fauvist representation of the French coast, by Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), comes from the collection of French actor and sex symbol Alain Delon. Delon has received critical acclaim in France and around the world for now classic films such as the Samurai (1967) and The leopard (1963). The landscape in The bay of Sainte-Adresse (the bay of Sainte-Adresse) was also a long-time source of inspiration for Monet, who painted the small Normandy town at least 14 times. Dufy painted this region of France on several occasions, and an abstract version of the same beach landscape sold for £187,500 at Christie’s Paris in 2020. Of all his variations on this theme, this painting is the “most accomplished”, says Arnaud Cornette de Saint Cyr, the managing director of Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr. Delon’s collection has been built up over 60 years, beginning with the purchase of his first painting in London at the age of 24. This offer of cross-category and cross-period sculptures and drawings includes works by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Eugène Delacroix. The total collection, made up of 81 lots, is estimated between 4 and 5 M€.
Albert Giacometti, Head of Diego in a turtleneck (1951) Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Albert Giacometti, Head of Diego in a turtleneck (1951)
Face Off, Sotheby’s London, June 27
Estimate: £4-6 million
Depicting arguably Giacometti’s most enduring model, his brother Diego, this sculpture is one of a dozen examples of a bronze painting by the artist to ever come to auction. It was previously part of the collection of Adrien Maeght, who acquired it directly from the artist. Maeght is the president of the Fondation Maeght in France, created by his art dealer and publisher parents Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, who helped shape the careers of 20th century titans such as Giacometti and Picasso, artists who, to their in turn, helped create the Foundation. The sculpture also belonged to Jan Krugier, a Polish-born Swiss collector who was one of the most prominent dealers of the last century. Stylistically, the catalog entry notes, it “embodies the transition in Giacometti’s post-World War II style from elongated stick-like figures to more naturalistic and substantial depictions of the human form.” Diego is depicted here wearing a thick turtleneck sweater, reflecting the ascetic conditions of the studio but also the artist’s renewed sense of realism. This work is included in Sotheby’s London’s inaugural Face Off auction, an evening sale focusing on portraiture from antiquity to the present day.
Wisteria table lamp, Tiffany Studios (circa 1903) Courtesy of Christie’s
Wisteria table lamp, Tiffany Studios (circa 1903)
The Ann & Gordon Getty Collection: Temple of Wings, Christie’s, New York, June 14
Estimate: $400,000 to $600,000
The second installment in the Ann & Gordon Getty collection, focusing on 19th- and 20th-century furniture and design from the couple’s Greco-Roman-inspired Berkeley Hills home, the Temple of Wings, comes after a first installment the last year which totaled $150 million. . The three-part sale includes this lamp from Tiffany Studios. The market for Tiffany’s work has seen “upward momentum over the last eight to ten years,” says Victoria Tudor, specialist and head of sales at Christie’s. The world’s most expensive Tiffany lamp sold for $3.3 million at Christie’s in 2018. Although unlikely to break auction records, the Wisteria model, designed by Clara Driscoll, is a notable example of early 20th century decorative art by a female artist. , many of which were neglected in their time.
Alexei von Jawlensky, Mädchen mit Zopf (1910) Webphotography
Alexei von Jawlensky, Mädchen mit Zopf (1910)
Evening Sale, Ketterer Kunst, Munich, June 9
Estimate: €3.5m-€4.5m
Mädchen mit Zopf (girl with a braid) by Russian painter Alexej von Jawlensky was last sold in 2007 at Christie’s New York for $5.1M against an estimate of $3.8M-$4.5M. It is now offered in roughly the same price range, once adjusted for inflation, suggesting an easing of the Jawlensky market, for which the auction record of $18.6 million was achieved in 2008; no sale in the past five years has made it into the artist’s top 20 at auction. Nevertheless, this oil painting, executed on “thin cardboard”, bears an important provenance. It comes notably from the collection of Clemens Weiler, who wrote the first biography on Jawlenksy. Moreover, it was created in Jawlensky’s most requested period, between 1908 and 1911, when he was a pivotal member of Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider), the Munich-formed group of artists who were a strand founder of the German expressionist movement. .
