antiquesandartireland.com

Amedeo Modigliani
Portrait de Paul Alexandre, 1911-12 (5-8 million). Copyright: Sotheby’s/ArtDigital Studio  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 13,537,500

A Modigliani portrait of his major patron Paul Alexandre comes up at Sotheby’s in Paris on June 4.  Never before on the market it portrays his patron during the seven years after his arrival in France in 1907.  It dates from 1911-12.  It has remained in the ownership of Paul Alexandre’s descendants to this day. Alexandre was Modigliani’s confidant, mentor and patron from his arrival in Paris until his conscription in 1914.  The painting is estimated at 5-8 million.

It is one of Modigliani’s five portraits of Alexandre (two of which are in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen). It was painted just after the death of Paul Alexandre’s mother, in dull tones and imbued with poignant melancholy. The picture has never left Paul Alexandre’s family, is in perfect condition, and boasts powerful paintwork, notably to the face and hands. It is one of the most individual and compelling Modigliani male portraits ever to appear at auction.

Tygers at Play by George Stubbs.

A masterful depiction of two leopard cubs by George Stubbs will lead Sotheby’s sale of Old Master and British paintings in London next July 9.  Tygers at Play, one of the most celebrated works by Stubbs, is estimated at £4-6 million. Painted c1770-75  it has been exhibited only four times in public since its original appearance at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Julian Gascoigne, Specialist, British Paintings at Sotheby’s commented: “Major big cat compositions by Stubbs very rarely appear at auction. Having only passed through two careful owners since it was painted, this work is in perfect condition, down to the delicate whiskers of the leopards, which is exceptionally rare for a work of this date. Never has the art market been so global and the universal beauty of Stubbs’s animals appeals today to an ever-growing array of collectors across the world. We therefore very much look forward to exhibiting this extraordinary work in Hong Kong, Moscow, New York and London in the three months leading up to the sale”. 

Fresh-to-market works by modern masters Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger from a Private American Collection lead Sotheby’s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York on May 7.

The works by Matisse and Léger never before have appeared at auction, while Le Sauvetage by Picasso was last seen a decade ago. La Séance du matin is one of Matisse’s celebrated paintings from Nice in the 1920’s ($20-30 million); Le Sauvetage depicts Picasso’s muse Marie-Thérèse Walter in the early 1930’s ($14/18 million) and Deux figures et une fleur is an example of Léger’s monumental imagery of the post-war period ($3/5 million).

The collection will be on view at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center from 3–7 April 3-7; at Sotheby’s London galleries from April 11-15 and in  New York from May 2.

Fernand Léger
Deux figures et une fleur UPDATE: IT MADE $6.325 MILLION.

Pablo Picasso
Le Sauvetage
Painted in 1932  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR $31.5 MILLION.

Henri Matisse
La Séance du matin
Painted in 1924  UPDATE: IT MADE $19,205,000 MILLION