ZURICH.- Works by Paul Signac, the Giacometti family – Alberto, Giovanni and Augusto, Fernando Botero, Ferdinand Hodler, Domenico Gnoli are among the selection of high-quality Modern, Contemporary and Swiss Art at Koller Auctions in June.


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‘Saint-Tropez, port en fête’ from 1895 is a key work in Paul Signac’s oeuvre that was hidden in a German private collection for over one hundred years, only now rediscovered and for the first time at auction since 1903 (lot 3233). It was painted shortly after Signac’s arrival in St Tropez, where he was inspired by the light and colours of the Riveria harbour town to free up his colour palette, marking a crucial point in his artistic development and influencing his treatment of the Pointillist style of Post-Impressionism. The work is a major rediscovery, known only from a sketch until now. It is predicted to bring between CHF 2 and 3 million in the 27 June auction at Koller.

Other significant works in the Impressionist & Modern Art auction include ‘Composition (dite cubiste I, couple)’, circa 1926/27, by Alberto Giacometti (lot 3288, CHF 350 000 / 500 000). This was Giacometti’s first major cubist sculpture, and displays his own particular version of the artistic style which the young artist had admired in the works of Brancusi, Zadkine and Lipchitz, all of whom he encountered during his formative years in Paris. Also by Alberto Giacometti is a bronze lamp, ‘Lampe modèle ‘flambeau’, petit modèle’, from circa 1934 (lot 3299, CHF 150 000 / 250 000). Gustave Loiseau’s ‘Les peupliers au bord de la rivière’ is estimated to fetch between CHF 150 000 and 250 000 (lot 3209), and a rare bronze by Rembrandt Bugatti, ‘Deux vautours, l'un couché’ (lot 3276, CHF 120 000 / 180 000) is certain to elicit interest among collectors of the Italian artist’s works.

Continuing a successful string of sales of major works by Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler, the Swiss Art auction features a painting from an important phase in the artist’s career, made in the same year, 1891, as his ground-breaking work ‘Night’. ‘The Salève in Autumn’ comes from a prestigious Swiss private collection, and was until recently exhibited in the Kunstmuseum in Lucerne (lot 3022, CHF 800 000 / 1 400 000). Another work by Hodler in the auction is the iconic ‘View to Infinity, head study’ from circa 1914 (lot 3030, CHF 350 000 / 500 000).

The Post-War & Contemporary and Prints & Multiples auctions include a large selection of important works, headed by ‘Zipper no. 2’, 1968, by Domenico Gnoli. In the artist’s brief career, he played on extreme closeups of everyday items, in this case a simple zipper (lot 3469, CHF 1 / 1.5 million). Gnoli was the subject of an important retrospective at the Prada Foundation in Milan in 2021-22. Fernando Botero’s ‘Monalisa’ from 1959 is a work from his early career which possesses all of the characteristics of his unique style, combined with his love for the works of Old Masters (lot 3446, CHF 250 000 / 350 000). Two large-format paintings by a central figure in Czech post-war art, Mikuláš Medek, belong to a brief period of cultural liberty in the years preceding the Prague Spring, in which he experimented with a unique visual language (lots 3493 and 3494, CHF 250 000 / 350 000 each).


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