10 May 2011

Picasso,Dodie Rosekrans & an evening auction at Sotheby's

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The Picasso's have been sold.
You missed it! Sadly Picasso waits for no one.

The room above belonged to none other than late Dodie Rosekrans & was designed for her by the late great Michael Taylor in the 1970's.  Last year when the charming and charmed Dodie Rosekrans died, author Diane Dorrans Saeks offered up this celebration of Rosekrans sparkling life here, at the Style Saloniste. The timelessly  chic interior design of the Michael Taylor room sits well with the heft of the Picassos.  For devotees of interior design & of Taylor, the dissolution of these rooms is a poignant farewell to both Taylor and Rosekrans.

Charles Moffett of Sotheby's said of Dodie Rosekrans:  She"was blessed with a great eye. Her eclectic tastes & interests were not bounded by strictures, regulations or other people's values. She could always discern what was special, lively &  lovely, often in the most idiosyncratic ways. Whether collecting couture, Old Master, Modern or Contemporary paintings, decorative arts or jewelry, the common threads were freshness, character, and above all, quality."



Dodie Rosekrans
images courtesy of Sotheby's



A trio of Picasso's sold last week at Sotheby's

(from left to right) Picasso's painting of daughter, Paloma at age 7 in 1956, "Fillete aux nattes e au chapeau vert. "Couple a la guitare" painted when the artist was 88 years old. The subject of romantic love filled Picasso's late works and the couple here is the artist himself & his wife Jacqueline.  The last of the Picasso's from the Rosekrans collection is "Femme" from his Surrealist period painted in 1930.  Driven by the 16th c. anatomical drawings, Picasso produced a small series of paintings known as Bones-this work -of his wife Olga. (all images courtesy of Sotheby's)







The results of the sale are listed here, and the subject of each painting is explored at the Sotheby's site. The Paloma portrait sold for 5,906,500, the Couple sold for  9,602,500 and Femme for 7,922,500.




another view of the Rosekrans room
Sotheby's image


This evening Sotheby's offers other works from Dodie Rosekrans estate. Two important Warhol's will be up for auction. The works are considered some of Warhol's most important. The "Round Jackies", silkscreen and gold paint, were completed in 1964 and offer  indelible images of Jacqueline Kennedy using photographs taken on the day of the Kennedy assassination. With this pair of images, Warhol captures the loss of the nation and a woman that carried much of the burden and sense of loss for the entire country. The tondos are part of eight of Warhol's finest screens in this series and also thought to be the first images of Jackie the artist worked with. The two offered this evening show a smiling Jackie & and the second a Jackie with all the tragedy of the day's events etched on her face.  Interestingly the two Round Jackies have always been under the same ownership, this  evening they will be offered individually. I guess the big question will be-if the bidder for the first Lot will secure the second.


May 10 at 7 p.m.






Three works from artist Jacques Dubuffet. The three paintings represent a significant period in the artist's work, 1945-1954. Studying paintings of the insane and the art of children, Dubuffet set out to paint friends and sitters with a style of his own, working from the ideas in these studies. Bracing and sometimes grotesque paintings resulted.


"Portrait de Edith Boissonnas"




If you need another Picasso shot-Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L’amour fou brings together the paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints inspired by one of Picasso’s most ideal models and enduring passions. The exhibition is curated by the eminent Picasso biographer, John Richardson, together with Marie-Thérèse’s granddaughter, art historian Diana Widmaier Picasso, who is currently preparing a catalogue raisonné of Picasso’s sculptures. (from the Gagosian Gallery site)
With Picasso's suggestions that he paint a portrait, the many works of Marie Therese began-

'You have an interesting face. I would like to do your portrait. I have a feeling we will do great things together'.--Pablo Picasso






Pablo Picasso with his painting of Marie Thérèse Walter. 1932
"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust"
photograph by Cecil Beaton


"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust"
 


Picasso's obsession produced the layered paintings seen in "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" with Picasso using other of his works of Marie Therese , the bust (shown below) in the painting. Picasso's "Visage" at left. and "Tete de Femme" at right










The Gagosian exhibition takes up Picasso's work with more than 80 pieces from the years 1927 to 1940, including several works shown in the States for the first time.
for those that can not venture a Picasso fortunately Gagosian has a book to preorder here





more more more:
from the Style Saloniste here
Picasso at little augury here
Michael Taylor at little augury here
Warhol at little augury here
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5 comments:

  1. Sorry I missed it....
    But kidding aside I adore his categoric break with traditions and his radical new and wild movement oriented way of expressing himself and the world he sees through his mind!
    It's all in the head!
    PS: My Mother's day post included on of his works, which moves me deeply!
    As always, I enjoyed your post! Thank you!

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  2. Still trying to pick myself up off the floor with how much the Picasso's went for, not surprising, but it's still amazing! As a confidence building excercise in my art classes, I have the students draw me 'without' looking at their paper, and with a Sharpe. They have one minute and as they're drawing, I tell them about Picasso, that his paintings sell for millions, and that what they are about to create will look just like one! We have fun, and they get over the fact that sometimes an eyeball ends up where a mouth (or a foot) is supposed to be (the kids range from 6-10).
    I do hope the Jackie's will be able to stay together...so sad to see collections and beloved objects broken up.
    xo J~

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  3. Another beautiful story of Love and Beauty - Dodie and Michael is now forever lost.

    An Iconic San Francisco home that surely a Getty or Traina will buy...but a book of the rooms, a public tour for Charity for a last look at least. Better another Isabella Stewart Gardner like museum would have been tops.

    Lost Beauty...like the Mcqueen Exhibition - Lost Genius to never be seen again, but thank you for sharing your madness with the World. Now we all have a baseline point for 21st Century Fashion.

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  4. With extraordinary generosity to San Francisco, she lived up to her collection in a way which will always keep its assemblage together in the memory of those who've shared the city with her. That counts.

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  5. I only wish to clarify the MADNESS I spoke of above...it refer to the Mad Genius of McQueen, for I saw the exhibition firsthand at the Gala. I am not implying you are mad...for on the contrary, your ENLIGHTENED!

    Missing the Dodie/Michael love shack already...San Fran is not the same without her Grande Dame!

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