LONDON.- An outstanding oil painting by one of Britain’s most famous war artists, Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, will highlight
Roseberys 30 June Fine Art auction. The painting will sit alongside work by a number of other leading artists including, Grayson Perry RA, Germaine Richier, Paul Gaugin and Mexican sculptor Armando Amaya.
A prolific pastoral scene painter, etcher, and lithographer, Christopher Nevinson was the son of H. W. Nevinson, the well-known author and war correspondent. Nevinson garnered much success as a futurist painter, and as an official First World War artist, but the subject matter of the urban landscape dominates his canvases of the 1920s and 1930s. Although after the war Nevinson declared that he had given up on futurism, the geometric forms of the autumn trees in this work demonstrate a debt to his involvement with the Futurist movement. The work was included in the 1937 exhibition “25 Years of Paintings by C.W.R. Nevinson” held at London’s Redfern Gallery. It is estimated at £10,000-15,000.
A vibrant cushion by Grayson Perry RA illustrates a small detail from his much larger 2009 work, “The Walthamstow Tapestry”. The cushion, which was made as a sample for the artist’s epic tapestry, was gifted by the artist to the present owner. The widely exhibited tapestry includes the names of a large number of famous brands including Marks and Spencer, Louis Vuitton, Lego and Sky. Stripped of their logos, and thus much of their identity, the tapestry acts as a social commentary and documentation of modern consumerist lifestyles, from birth to death. Perry’s distinctive, and often eccentric, style is reflected in his artwork, through which he challenges the viewer, gently forcing the subject on them through the unassuming nature of the work. The tapestry is a powerful representation of modern life, which leaves the viewer to reflect on the messages Perry communicates. This unique and rare sample cushion is estimated at £1,500-2,000.
A strong section of Modern Sculpture includes two bronzes by the Post-Impressionist master Paul Gauguin. The first of the two bronzes, entitled “Hina et Te Fatou”, depicts the Polynesian goddess, Hina and her son Fatou and is one of a number of sculptures created by Gauguin which portray Tahitian deities. The second bronze entitled "Cylindre Representant la Deesse Hina", likewise shows Hina. Both bronzes were cast posthumously in 1959 after the original wood carvings made by Gaugain in 1892 during the artist’s first stay in Tahiti.
Gauguin’s first travelled to Tahiti from France in June 1891, wanting to escape life in Western Europe, and a culture he viewed as restrictive. He lived with locals outside the capital of Papeete, and soon became enchanted by his exotic adopted home. Many of his most acclaimed works were painted or sculpted during his first brief visit to Tahiti. He left the island in 1893, but returned to French Polynesia a few years later and remained there until his death in in 1903. “Hina et Te Fatou” and “Cylindre Representant la Deesse Hina” are estimated at £6,000-8,000 and £8,000-12,000 respectively. [Lots 712 and 713]
Also included in the section, is an impressive bronze and patina sculpture by another French sculptor, Germaine Richier, entitled “Le Petit Fou” or Baby Elephant. The work forms part of, “l’Echiquier”, a set of five bronze sculptures by the artist designed to represent the theme of chess and the use of chess pieces on a board, which together comprise the last great work by the artist before her death in 1959. Conceived in 1955, and cast posthumously c.1961, the bronze is signed, numbered 0/6 and stamped with the Valsuani foundry mark. Richier, a distinguished sculptor and engraver studied at the Ecole des Beaux- Arts in Montpellier from 1922 to 1925 under Guigues, a former assistant of Rodin. As seen in “Le Petit Fou”, the hybrid of the human and animal forms was a signature subject choice of Richier’s, and together with her preference for sculpting from real life models, informs much of her work throughout her career.
This sculpture is offered from The Estate of the Late Mrs Eugene Rosenburg, the wife of one of the 20th century’s most pioneering architects. Rosenberg believed that art, and in particular sculpture, played an important role in the architectural aesthetics of a building and its grounds. Throughout his career he commissioned site specific work by contemporary sculptors of the time, including Henry Moore, F.E. McWilliam and Naum Gabo, Purchased from the Brook Street Gallery, London on the 8th October 1962, it is estimated to sell for £6,000-8,000. [Lot 704]
Three works by the Mexican sculptor Armando Amaya beautifully showcase the artist’s characteristic interpretation of the female form, for which he is most well-known. He first studied at the Mexican National School of Painting and Sculpture under the Costa Rican born Mexican artist, Francisco Zuñiga, and later undertook further training at the Esmeralda School. It was here Amaya was exposed to other artisans, and a variety of artistic movements that influenced the development of his Mexican figurative and modernist style.
Amaya’s sculptures typically portray graceful women in relaxed and unassuming postures, and are housed in private and public collections throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and other Latin American countries. Like Richier, Amaya prefers to sculpt using live models which allows him to create a distinctive authenticity to the female form in both his large-scale work, and in the smaller bronzes offered in this sale. The three sculptures “Mariposa”, “Tres Figuras Sentadas” and “Emilia Arrodillada con una mano en la cabeza” are estimated to sell for £3,000-5,000, £5,000-7,000 and £3,000-5,000 respectively. [Lots 706, 707 and 708]
The auction will be held on Tuesday 30 June and is available to view on the afternoon of Friday 26 June, and from Sunday 28 June until the morning of the auction at Roseberys London saleroom, 70/76 Knights Hill, SE27 0JD.
